The Day the World Stopped and Spun the Other Way

Remember how startlingly like his late father Julian Lennon sounded on his first single, "Valotte"? Well, the undeniable truth is that Texas-born singer/songwriter Colin Gilmore's South Plains twang is equally similar to that of his semi-legendary father, Lubbock mystic Jimmie Dale Gilmore. Yet, overall, Gilmore's debut album, The Day the World Stopped and Spun the Other Way, is strong enough and different enough (in a way that Julian Lennon's albums never were) from his dad's body of work that the vocal comparison becomes beside the point. This is a pop album with a few rootsy country touches, more along the lines of Marshall Crenshaw or Nick Lowe's recent work; even the one nod to Lubbock's rich musical history is a bluesy cover of eclectic eccentric Terry Allen's story-song "The Beautiful Waitress" instead of, say, one of Butch Hancock's more traditional-sounding tunes. (The album's other cover is a straightforward and unfortunately rather pointless version of the Clash's "White Man in Hammersmith Palais," which at least shows admirable bravado.) Gilmore has a knack for catchy choruses, and the album's loose, live-in-the-studio sound suits the unpretentious tunes.