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"A remarkably compelling collection" -- James Gordon, veteran Canadian singer/songwriter.
Timepieces - Selected Lyrics, by Canadian songwriter/poet/lyricist Howard Gladstone, is a compilation of his best lyrics from his eight albums released from 2002 to 2024.
"Gladstone is at the top of his game" with "his ability to communicate simply and directly while maintaining a poet's lyricism," Gordon wrote. "It's an inviting style and many of these songs really resonated with me, and I'm sure they will with any reader."
Gladstone's lyrics "bite into the social conscience of humanity and touch us right in the heart," according to another reviewer.
"A perfect balance of words, innovative expression and clarity of thought that takes one off to new places" and "shapes ordinary words into beautiful visions," wrote a third.
With a craftsman's approach, Howard Gladstone writes as a seasoned journalist would: with a keen eye for detail, and a filmmaker's sense of story. There is also more personal and introspective writing in the lyrics, reflecting the tradition of the searching romantic poet. For variety, there are fun and light-hearted songs in the eclectic mix. What they all share is Howard Gladstone's impeccable wordcraft.
A recurring theme in Gladstone's writing is finding strength in the face of adversity and helping to heal the broken world and ourselves. Topics include environment, justice, morality, human nature, religion, exile, memory, passing time, fate, hurricanes, fires, art and creativity, the endless road, hope, globalization, and the sweep of history. Water and birds are two examples of recurring images. Gladstone also has a travel bug resulting in pieces about New Orleans, Jerusalem, Rome, Paris, Dublin, India, Granada, Hawaii, Tahiti, Newfoundland, Mississippi, Muskoka, and other locales.
Howard Gladstone's influences are clear to see - Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen would be the chief ones -and John Lennon, Joni Mitchell, Robbie Robertson at a second level - but his own song writing- tone and voice are now clearer than ever. Over the course of eight full-length recordings, he has developed significantly as a poet/composer, and the various strands of meaning - whether personal, poetic, political, prophetic- have become more profoundly interlinked.
Why publish a book of lyrics?
Lyrics can have the strength of poetry and carry emotion and meaning separately from the music. Reading the lyric allows the reader to focus on the wordcraft and artistry. Howard Gladstone has worked hard on these songs and readers, writers, and listeners have noticed.
Timepieces - Selected Lyrics contains 74 works and includes an introduction, commentaries for all the songs, and colour plates of the eight album covers.
