Bob Theil – The Ghent Sessions – Vinyl LP

The recordings were originally meant as a demo for getting live gigs. It also features some violin from Philippe de Chaffoy (who had his own recording studio, where, since the 70s, some musicians like Patrick Conrad, Walter De Buck, recorded some album ; Philippe also worked with Rolan quiet a long time) on the opening track, Dave Foster on bass, and also mando-strat, keyboard/cello arrangement on two tracks. Many people were convinced that the core of Bobs music does not really need much more than guitar and voice. “Lady dont go” comes close to Roy Harper. “A moments Respite” is an alternative of guitar with keyboards to the way the Lawrence Woolfe project sounded on the now deleted CD “Bridging the Silence”. An instrumental like “Flux and Flow” shows equal expressiveness to songs. This song collection contains many of Bobs classics, many of my favourites. The songtext of “What are you doing tonight”, about romantic longing within an environmental artifiality and alienation, reminds in that context of one of Ann Clarcks early poetry songs where she wrote about the superficiality of people when going out. Songs like “Same old story”” “only what you think you are” and “heart beat” and the instrumentals refer clearly to the 70s singer-songwriter genre (songs with guitar) in which Bob is rooted in. In general the album is a very good starter because it shows Bob Theil who he is with his general core expression, in a timeless context.”

Side A
1 Nice And Easy Does It
2 Lady Don’t Go
3 A Moment Respite ( Instrumental)
4 It Matters To Me
5 What Are You Doing Tonight?

Side B
1 Same Old Story
2 Flux And Flow (Instrumental)
3 It’s A Shame
4 Heartbeats
5 Only What You Think You Are