Mike Gibbins - A Place In Time
Sue Me
Picture Of You
Rocking The Boat
Time In
Overdue
Bad Boy Blues
Layaway
Please Please
A Place In Time
Warcloud
Day After Night
Egg
Label: Forbidden Records
Year: 1997
Producer: Mike Gibbins
Total Playing Time: 53:50
Apart from a little help from Rick Warsig on guitars & bass, Mike does everything else on the record (vocals, keyboards and drums), as well as writing the material, recording and producing. Mike Gibbins was formerly a member of Badfinger, has played with George Harrison and includes the Beatles as a major influence. Amongst his musical accomplishments he includes Bonnie Tyler's It's A Heartache. Mmmmm……….I'd have kept quiet about that one.
Mike plays Adult Orientated Rock with the emphasis on adult. When listening to this the following came to mind at various points Elton John, Billy Joel, post-Beatles George Harrison & Paul McCartney, and ELO. I'd describe this as pleasant listening. It isn't a style of music that I'd get really excited about. I'd prefer to hear the guitars cranked up a bit more somewhere along the line. This makes it difficult for me to assess how good I think the album is.
The songs that work best for me are the ELO-ish Overdue, Bad Boy Blues and the title track, which drifts along quite nicely for just short of the 8 min mark. The final track has got a Dire Straits vibe, but with the guitars replaced by piano. In the vocals department Mike falls into the OK category, but next time I'd recommend bringing in another stronger singer to add a bit of sparkle in this area.
Rating: 6
