The Shaming of the True is Kevin Gilbert's

Kevin Gilbert

Kevin Matthew Gilbert was an American songwriter, musician, composer, producer and collaborator born in Sacramento, California, later living in San Mateo, California where he attended Junipero Serra High School...

 second solo album. It was released posthumously in 2000.

The release appeared in three editions to date: 1) a limited-edition (of 1400) hardbound book with CD edition released early in 2000, with artwork and complete libretto, 2) a more conventional jewel-case CD edition later in the year, and 3) a remastered conventional jewel-case CD edition in 2008.

Track listing

1. "Parade" - 3:44
2. "The City of the Sun" - 5:55
3. "Suit Fugue (Dance of the A&R Men)" - 2:24
4. "Imagemaker" - 3:38
5. "Water Under the Bridge" - 5:29
6. "The Best Laid Plans" - 5:38
7. "Certifiable #1 Smash" - 7:20
8. "Staring Into Nothing" - 5:51
9. "Fun" - 5:33
10. "From Here to There" - 2:11
11. "Ghetto of Beautiful Things" - 4:53
12. "A Long Day's Life" - 7:28
13. "The Way Back Home" - 4:55
14. "Johnny's Last Song" - 2:15

Story

The album follows the career of a singer/musician named Johnny Virgil, which follows an arc common to many big rock and roll bands/stars. It starts out promisingly, but he is lured into the common trap of record-company exploitation and seduced by fame and drugs/alcohol. He becomes more and more burned out and withdrawn as his career becomes larger than life, feeling like he's losing touch with his humanity, until the whole thing culminates in a breakdown. He goes through a period of disillusionment and depression but eventually makes peace with himself. A number of clues (last song title, lyric "End of a long days life," reprise of train whistle in distance, etc..) may also indicate that Johnny dies penniless on the street or takes his own life.

Personnel

• Kevin Gilbert - vocals, guitar, bass, piano, keyboards, programming, sequencing
• Nick D'Virgilio
  Nick D'Virgilio
  Nick D'Virgilio is an American drummer and multi-instrumentalist musician, often referred to as NDV, best known as a former member of the progressive rock band Spock's Beard. He was also one of two drummers chosen to replace Phil Collins in Genesis on the Calling All Stations album...
  
   - drums, bass, percussion, guitar, keyboards, backing vocals
• Brian MacLeod - drums
• Tommy Dunbar, Rush Parrish, David Levita, Bill Bottrell
  Bill Bottrell
  Bill Bottrell is an American record producer, songwriter and musician, probably best known for his Grammy Award-winning collaborations with Michael Jackson, E.L.O. and Sheryl Crow.- Biography :...
  
   - additional guitars
• Robert Ferris, Jennifer Gross, Skyler Jett
  Skyler Jett
  Skyler Jett is a singer who has worked with many top musicians, such as Stevie Wonder, Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin. He also was briefly the lead singer in The Commodores, touring with them around the world. He is Grammy recognized for his performance with Celine Dion in "My Heart Will Go...
  
  , Claytoven, Sandy Sawyer, John Rubin, Tommy Dunbar - backing vocals
• The Le Petomane
  Le Pétomane
  Le Pétomane was the stage name of the French flatulist and entertainer Joseph Pujol . He was famous for his remarkable control of the abdominal muscles, which enabled him to seem to fart at will. His stage name combines the French verb péter, "to fart" with the -mane, "-maniac" suffix, which...
  
  Ensemble - Horns
• John H. Seabury - Illustrations (also numbered-and-signed all 1400 copies of the original limited-edition hardbound book release)
• Hugh Brown - booklet designer

External links

• The Shaming of the True on progarchives.com