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Editorial Reviews

At the ripe old age of 17, Billy Gilman is a young man with a grown-up voice, and he knows how to use it. Instead of just hitting notes, Gilman has learned to belt with some emotional authority and to deliver some soul and grit, as he demonstrates on funky ditties such as "Three Words, Two Hearts, One Kiss" and the surging "Missing You on Sunday." He's loaded the album with upbeat, anthemic numbers, all co-written and well crafted by his producer, Sandy Linzer (whose impressive resume includes writing and producing the Toys' 1965 Bach-inspired classic, "Lover's Concerto"). Multiple guitars laying on trebly solo lines, booming drums, and rich background choruses give most of the songs an epic feel, and Gilman has the pipes to match the music's roar. The propulsive "Something 'Bout Heaven" affords him room to get into some rhythmic phrasing, whereas the lush, string-laden love ballad "Everything and More" (which credits Sen. Orrin Hatch as co-writer) is a perfect vehicle for Gilman's silky, straight-ahead crooning, which ought to elicit swoons aplenty from his young female fans. The album's closing production number, "Awaken the Music," revisits Linzer's past efforts, as it's built on a familiar classical melody, but it broadens out to become a big, Baroque set piece with more than a few overtones of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" in Gilman's staccato vocal, the chanting background chorus, shifting time signatures, and stinging, soaring guitar lines. It's nice to see the lad taking some chances; and to all those Gilman wannabes on American Idol, take note of the real thing in full splendor, before you hit another sustained note of no particular import. David McGee, Barnes & Noble

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