Music Review: Fred Gillen Jr. – The Devil’s Last Word

In “The Devil’s Last Word” Fred Gillen Jr. sings “Well I’m staying on these tracks until I hear the Devil’s last word…” and it is perhaps a Freudian slip that the songwriter/vocalist is talking about his own recorded tracks, splashy and glorious with high production values and catchy guitar playing. The disc starts off with “Come and See Me” and, personally, I would have preferred the CD to launch with a more uptempo version of this same tune a la George Harrison’s “Isn’t It A Pity” with the opening rendition placed somewhere in the middle of this Match Against A New Moon album. Start the listeners off with a good boot in the pants to get the party started.

“Cecelia” reminds one of the Simon & Garfunkel classic about a fun girl on the Bridge Over Troubled Waters album while “Flicker” could be the hit on this excellent set, it utilizes lines from the title track. Fred Gillen Jr. often performs with Matt Turk as Gillen & Turk…both balladeers are worth keeping an eye on with these eleven selections on Match Against a New Moon a very good look inside the mind of Gillen, spiritual thoughts permeate most of this recording culminating in “Primitive Angels”. Lots of depth here demanding a need to explore it through repeated play. Spin on!

Joe Viglione is the Chief Film Critic at TMRZoo.com. He was a film critic for Al Aronowitz’s The Blacklisted Journal, has written thousands of reviews and biographies for AllMovie.com, Allmusic.com and produces and hosts Visual Radio. Visual Radio is a fifteen year old variety show on cable TV which has interviewed John Lennon’s Uncle Charlie, Margaret Cho, Ray Manzarek, John Densmore, Felix Cavaliere, Marty Balin, Bill Press and hundreds of other personalities.