Paul Gilbert –
Alligator Farm (DVD-Audio)
Music: B MLP
5.1: B+ DTS 5.1: B Dolby (2.0 only): B- Extras: D
The first thing that strikes you about the cover of Paul
Gilbert’s album Alligator Farm (2001) is what a clever throwback it is
to the great vinyl album cover picture graphics of the 1960s and 1970s. It is silly, witty, and sharply
produced. It also points to the content
inside, old fashioned Pop Rock of a time gone by, yet also offering some
attitude and style that feels authentic (for a change).
The 14 tracks are pretty consistent in these perimeters,
but also offers the same kinds of post-Beatles imaginative sounds and edits
that remind us of how fun and spontaneous music can (used to) be. Gilbert also has a good voice for this
stuff, especially when it gets a bit wacky as it does on Koto Girl,
Individually Twisted, Better Chords, Attitude Boy Will Overcome and the
tile song. He also offers
straight-forward vocals where applicable, but I get the idea that he is going
for something of a theme (if not concept) album, and believe there is enough
evidence here to say he is at least suggesting that this album is meant to
somewhat mirror George Orwell’s classic book Animal Farm beyond the
title.
Six Billion People, Lancelot Link, Dreamed Victoria, Let
The Computer Decide and 2-Becomes-1 are among the more
thoughtful and thought-provoking tracks dealing with relationships lost in a
sense of gigantification. This is
Gilbert’s third solo album. Whether he
is on to something big or not will have to be realized later, but this is an
ambitious work that any Rock fan should give a listen to.
The sound is not bad here, with the MLP 5.1 winning out
over the DTS equivalent, but the Dolby 2.0 is poor and best skipped. There is a good pallet of sound offered here
and anything less that 5.1 playback just seems to miss the point of
intent. This all seems to be limited to
48kHz/24bit, but still offers up effective music and effective surrounds anyone
can appreciate.
There are no extras, but stands well enough on its own
music. Alligator Farm is nice
for something different to listen to.
- Nicholas Sheffo
