With three sterling solo albums under his belt, and a box set rounding the trilogy into one convenient, budget-priced block, it would be hard to imagine
Martin Gordon's profile rising any higher, at least on the new release racks. But along comes
How Am I Doing So Far? all the same, and anybody glancing at the track listing and assuming that it's just a best-of digest of the other three CDs would be doing themselves a major disservice. Of course, that's all it is, really, but the simple act of mixing the three together, then extracting a single disc's worth of highlights, brings a new context to some of
Gordon's finest recent compositions. Four bonus tracks, meanwhile, include two wholly unreleased numbers ("Girls Fight Over Me" and "Next Big Thing,") plus a snazzy remix and a fabulous demo. Elsewhere, we're reminded of
Gordon's long-standing fascination for
the Beatles ("Every Little Thing" joins "Dear Prudence" (from his Jet days) and "Norwegian Wood" (
Radio Stars) in his canon of fab Fabs covers), but the meat of the matter remains the wall of sheer wonder that
Gordon has erected across a clutch of truly extraordinary songs. Indeed, whether you already own the parent albums or not,
How Am I Doing So Far? really should be the next big thing on your shopping list. ~ Dave Thompson