Grab a handful of Brian Gladstone's Back To The Dirt       

By Gary Tate, Cover Story To-Nite Magazine, April 2000

Brian Gladstone's CD Back To The Dirt is a barrel of contradictions: light, breezy, and fun-loving one moment, then dark, brooding, and acerbic the next.

Even the author acknowledges this by prefacing his liner notes with a definition of the word "paradox." He sees himself as a paradoxical soul, in his own words "a package ... of apparently oppositional forces that allows for the creation of something new, unique, and quite out of the ordinary." Or, as he is fond of saying": "An analogue guy trapped in a digital world!"

Back To The Dirt is a mirror of one man's observations, emotions, feelings and memories captured in a basic acoustic setting, no electrical instruments required, no sonic manipulations needed. It's as basic as delving into an old black and white photo album of one's past, which can also be a weird experience.

There are 15 tracks of "psychedelic folk music", jam-packed with enough lyrics to cramp up a full 8 pages of liner notes. Brian often provides a running commentary on his writings. So "Tripping Around", originally based on the dismal topic of bagels and lox, was transformed into a more standard theme: the proverbial rabbit outsmarting the fox, thanks to a suggestion from Sister Bonnie. If this guy isn't a compulsive diary-keeper, then my name is Preston Manning!

Here are just some of the sundry topics explored on Back To The Dirt: bag ladies, the terrors of driving the Don Valley, cybernetics, the diminishing environment, fetishism, cars, black-bearded wonders, and of course, crazy, hard-hearted women. Ironically, the only instrumental is titled, if you please, "Lengthy Diatribe."

Gladstone also manages to cram, both in his written acknowledgements and directly or indirectly within the music itself, virtually all the "people" he has encountered or been touched by during his lifetime, including Johnny in the Basement, his ex-dog Oreo, Queen from another lifetime, Ms. Wrong, Caren 42, the poker boys, and about half of all the recording artists from the 1960's.

In all seriousness though, this undertaking is a very intimate voyage of self-discovery, and along with Sister Bonnie on harmony vocals it has a very definite Peter, Paul, and Mary-vibe to it, hardened by a Dylanesque edginess. Brian handles all stringed instruments, including guitar, Dobro, and acoustic bass, and his sure-fire finger-picking style testifies to years of practice.

"Who Killed Betty Two Shoes" is a darkly-humoured account of the disappearance of an eccentric dancing lady who one day mysteriously turns up at the bottom of Toronto Harbour, wearing a new pair of shoes Ñ suspended in cement! "Children Sleep In The Snow" captures the true horrors of homelessness, while the delightful ballad "Icy Northern Town" draws hope from the chill in the air, perhaps the bright northern lights leading him toward his chosen one in the hinterland. "Rosebottom" is a cleverly-written novelty with florid double entendres: "My but you have a nice rosebottom, I've always wished one like that for me, It must be so neat with a rosebottom so sweet, One that you can leave at home or take in company."

Then there's "Caren 42" and it's obvious this lady holds a special fascination to him, verging on obsessiveness. Apparently the number "42" has mystical, even cosmic implications. I once used that number in a computer password, so I too may be part of this zany cast!

My opinion: Grab a handful of Back To The Dirt, and maybe you too will find a part of yourself in this strange world according to Brian!

Brian Gladstone appears at The Silver Dollar [B22] Thurs April 20 as part of the Earth Day Benefit Concert. See Daily Listings for details.