Bob Hillman SOME OF US ARE FREE, SOME OF US ARE LOST

Bob Hillman
Some of Us Are Free, Some of Us Are Lost
Self-Release

Contemporary and Free-Thinking AOR.

I was sitting earlier today wondering what to write about next, as there are a couple of releases from ‘name acts’ that I’m having trouble getting my head around; so I put Bob Hillman’s fifth release in the player and was soon swept up in the deceptively ‘easy listening’ manner of his voice and the particularly luscious production on a few songs. Then I listened a bit more closely and these songs are really deep and quite edgy at times too.
Right up our street then!
The title track, Some of Us Are Free, Some of Us Are Lost opens the disc with a laid-back, Laurel Canyon vibe…… not a million miles away from Jackson Browne and Stephen Still if I’m not mistaken….. but I probably am!
Hillman’s storytelling isn’t exactly in the A-B style; there’s very much a poetic heartbeat to most of these songs; albeit in a Soft-Rock & Roll fashion.
I’ve quickly become smitten with Song For Sarah, Carveresque and Hypnotized; and I guess the more I play them each will unravel a bit more each time revealing really special secrets.
As I’m prone to do, I try to pick out an artistes influences for you and the names that spring to mind are the afore mentioned Jackson Browne but Steely Dan and Barenaked Ladies too …… I don’t know why either.
This is very much an articulate and ‘grown up’ album with plenty for the listener to wrap their cerebral matter around and discuss at length….. This Surfing Life and Cocaine Ruins Everything immediatly spring to mind, with the latter being about David Crosby.
My first choice as Favourite Song wouldn’t surprise regular readers who know what a sucker I am for a ‘love song’ so I nearly picked one of the two versions of I’m In Love With You; probably the latter Jazzier version too; but I’m going to surprise you and me by actually selecting You’re Off The Rails; a slightly off-kilter You’re Off The Rails; probably because bits (if not all) reflect a relationship I had with a friend; and the Alt. Electro Pop tune does it no harm at all and makes this the most Steely Danesque song here and a damn good one at that.

Released April 5th 2019
http://www.bobhillmanmusic.com/