If ever a man was entitled to leave a media footprint, then Jason Gould’s remarkable talents would make it so. If ever a man was entitled to sip from the often poisoned chalice of fame and celebrity then that dubious honor would fall to Jason Gould before many others. Strange then, that we know so little of Jason Gould the artist. Or the man for that matter.
While Gould’s body of work thus far is too sparse to sustain fandomania - gay or otherwise – he has created earnestly, albeit on his own dabbling terms. In doing so he has dropped many clues of a road hard traveled as a gay man. Some time has passed since that intense boy with the violin piqued my attention in a clip from 1991's “The Prince of Tides”, and his just-released album “Dangerous Man”. In between there’s his triple-threat short feature “Inside Out” and a 2012 EP song folio which certainly proved that the boy can sing and write. Intriguing then, is just what kind of first album he'll present at age 50, as representative of a musical vision.
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| Jason Gould: more prodigy than prodigious. |
“Dangerous Man” isn’t just another gay singer/songwriter strutting his stuff for the masses. Or for a cabaret audience either. He sings with elan and polish, but not so much that you can’t hear “Please love me” as a theme. A siren song perhaps, and Gould seems honest enough to know it. He tinkers with romance and virtuoso performance early in the album: “Bridge Over Troubled Waters” is the go-to showcase for a great set of pipes. But he takes his time to set up an intimacy few others bother with before letting it rip on the song. His innate musicality is assured (and assuring) across familiar songs like “For All We Know” and “The Way You Look Tonight”, along with superior reworkings of “Morning Prayer” and “This Masquerade” from his earlier EP.
The real payoff however comes with the album’s second half. Jason Gould shines when the arrangements get adventurous. The title track (“Dangerous Man”) is an apparent victim song…with a sting in its tail for the sake of some truth. “All’s Forgiven” encapsulates a central tenet of Attitudinal Healing. But not as a sappy Hallmark Card set to musical schlock: here it’s an emphatic anthem. Modern crooners have much to learn about just how to get it right, and Gould's reading of Jones' obscure "The Pornbroker" is a worthy template. The closing track ("One Day") suggests a return to love, in order to best know the freedom of a heart at peace. In our saner moments, we always hope that's engraved on a gentleman's calling card.
And so Jason Gould steps up to the plate once and for all as another gay man with a tale or two to tell about loving and living. And abandonment, rescue and redemption of the spirit. Not for the sake of gaiety however: “Dangerous Man” is as rich a musical exploration of one man’s experiences as it’s likely to get this side of bad taste. We may not know the man, but his weathered authenticity is most attractive. A sex symbol for the thinking man? Why not? We all seduce ourselves ultimately, and if a man like Jason Gould gets us there musically it can’t be such a bad thing.
And a little less levity for the Holidays was all I asked for: how sweet it is that I got some music for grownups! 😌
