"JOE THE KILLER" reviewed by Cam Bastedo

I'm no stranger to the work of Lord Bygon, but following Rossetti's maxim, we'll attend to the piece at hand. As it happens, the song in question is a fairly successful recording. Bygon's bouncy, slick, technique suits this ditty - entitled "Joe the Killer" - for the song glides along easily and smoothly. Stylistically and thematically the piece is reminiscent of Bobby Darin's classic, Mack the Knife, which is not to suggest anything remotely like plagiarism ­ it simply has a similar feel. Bygon"s vocal style does, in fact, remind me of a Latinate Bobby Darin. But while the vocals are well delivered, they could be brought up slightly higher in the mix to the song's general advantage. Nevertheless, the song has a cool, smooth edge, featuring good solid keyboard work; an interesting jazz, bass line and solid percussion.
The lyrics tell the story of an aging, jobless, killer who is determined to follow his course, until he "…meet[s] [his] sister, Death." The line: "I drink my beer for you, dear…" is a bit sad, in the wrong sense. However, other than that, the lyrics work.
As far as production is concerned, this song is quite good. There are some anomalous, aquatic sounds at the beginning of the track, which seem to serve no purpose. However, these don't hurt the recording particularly ­ and there are no other obvious flaws in the work. If the recording seems to lack bite or urgency, this is more likely a feature of the musical style than a flaw. On balance, I'd say this piece is worthy of a listen.

"ZENITH / THE DEFINITIVE ANSWER" reviewed by Bruce Satinover

That sitar section leading into the instrumental break and more intricate instrumentation works nicely. Prior to that the mix of prog and jazzy chord progressions are effective. The because of the timbre of his voice, very clear and well articulated, gives an almost show tune kind of quality but before being offended I often feel this way about Roine Stolt's (The Flower Kings) arrangments and I like the Flower Kings a lot. Since it's more song based and less so on proving instrumental prowess I like the song better although it sounds like you'd be able to hold your own with the hotshot players. I like the piano work too, lots of mood changes. The end where everything is backwards can sometimes seem hackneyed but it works well in the song.

LORD OF THE MELODY

by Frank Cotolo

The elements that which continue to compel me to listen to the works of Lord Bygon (Giuseppe Gambino) are all apparent in the track, "Take It Over." With Bygon, it is all about the music, how it moves and into what grooves his melodies take it. As is his trademark, to my ears, Lord Bygon weaves melodies into the most striking and pleasing chord changes imaginable. He has absorbed qualities from pop and jazz that guide his creations in a manner that surprises the listener while at the same time makes the listener feel a natural flow. ""Take It Over" is a simple piece but defines Lord Bygon's style to the max. It is a fearless approach, filled with confidence and zest, with quite the right dynamic expected from someone whose influences buzz in his head like a swarm of killer bees. The track is from his best-of collection, "Thirst,” which features the scope and range of his continental vocals and lofty lyrics. You have only to listen to the title tune to be exposed to how he arranges these complex pieces and presents them with just the right instrumentation. Lord Bygon doesn't over do any piece. He is loyal to the instrument that is his voice and his harmonies are the featured instruments. In "God Bless You” he orchestrates these voices so subtly and elegantly within the type of melody I have mentioned that you understand why he doesn't venture into extraneous arrangement. Understanding one's strengths as a performer is a rare quality in the days of digital-recording marvel, and Lord Bygon could teach a few performers out there now just how to focus on what is really important about a song one creates. "Elegantly Wasted" is testimony to this understanding. Another solid attribute about Lord Bygon is his allegiance to romance. His tunes reveal a strange, yet admirable acceptance of the chaos that is affection. How he presents this, especially in the masculinity of "The Twilight Is Coming," is unique and glorious in its allegory. Most other performers might take this out of its minstrel atmosphere and ruin the mood. Not Lord Bygon. He allows the melody to stand naked with the lyrics spinning in all of their pain and mourning. The jazz element is always the most difficult to blend into the pop element. It can shave the edge off of melodies and confuse a piece. It takes a true master of the spirit of jazz to be able to "hear” what could work or what could be damaging to a song. Failure after failure comes from the attempts to mix jazz and pop, but Lord Bygon appears to have an intrinsic talent for such adaptation. In fact, he can add classical influences, as in "Disease Of The World" and pull it all off with the acumen of a gourmet cook. The best part of it is that the best of Lord Bygon's work is probably still ahead of him.

"SISTER J" reviewed @ ArtistLaunch.com

This artist cites as an influence Steely Dan. I can hear that, and Earth, Wind, and Fire too. But also vocal groups like The Swingle Singers and Manhattan Transfer and some of the backup groups in mid-Sixties jazz. That could make it all pretty conservative to some ears. But then the other elements come in. There's that doo-wop "shoop dada shoop do wop da dada" at about 52 seconds in and "shu dowop shoop shoop do wah" repeated three times following 1:47 and, in between, a stretch of more doo wop sounding scat under a pure jazz bed highlighted by some cool by Bobby Troup "Route 66" piano. The dead simple lyric has a cool jazz feel that complements the music perfectly. This is quirky and eclectic and, well... wonderful! Bob MacKenzie

I'm really digging this swingin' cool jazz piece. The use of chords and changes are inventive and impeccable, both musically and lyrically. The playing is absolutely superb by all involved. My biggest issue with this song, and why I'm marking this down in the production area, is that while the backing is well produced, the processing of the lead vocals leaves a little to be desired. Too much reverb and chorus usage is killing it for me. The backing vocals, while inventively used on many of the verses, start to sound a little muddy toward the middle of the song. It's just a little too obvious that both parties collaborating were not in the same room when recording. Tone down the effects, and match the room. Outside of that, this is one SWEET tune. Kinda Ian Dury-ish, in his more jazzy moments. Shaky Tee