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Despite high profile gigs in Guided By Voices, Death of Samantha and Nada Surf, guitarist/singer/songwriter Doug Gillard has never gotten the attention he deserves for his own career. Perhaps that will change with Parade On, his third solo record and his best to date. Gillard’s normal MO for his own LPs is to dial back the six-string firepower and crank up the tunesmithery, and he does that in spades here. “Upper Hand,” “Your Eyes” and “Oh My Little Girl” simply sparkle with hooks and accessible textures, while “Ready For Death” is practically a tribute to late-period Electric Light Orchestra. “No Perspective” and the title cut rock harder than anything else on the record, accenting the power in power pop; “Come Out and Show Me” allows him to stretch out in a more psychedelic direction. Through it all Gillard maintains a keen pop sense – melody remains at the forefront of everything. Whether or not Parade On makes Gillard a star, at least in the pop underground remains to be seen. But it’s definitely a calling card on which to proudly emboss his name.
