The fifth and apparently final installment in
Martin Gordon's mammal trilogy takes its title from the traditional cry of British barmen, moments before the premises close for the evening. It's the cue for everybody to glug down as many drinks as they can in the little time that remains, and there's a similar sense of urgency to the album, as no less than 16 songs are sluiced down the listener's throat, with each one proving more intoxicating than the last. So just when you think "Elephantasy" is possibly the most politically incorrect ode to large ladies since
Morrissey's "You're the One for Me, Fatty," "Come out Come out Whoever You Are" marries a glorious slab of religious irreverence to the kind of screaming singalong that most people only associate with
the Beatles -- and then transcends even them as
Gordon swings immediately into "I Feel Fine," the latest in his catalog of fab Fabs covers. Drawing, as usual, from both current affairs and his own internal directory of cutting observations,
Gordon's lyrics are as sharp and shapely as ever, but with an extra-added raucousness that lifts
Time Gentlemen Please above all but the best of its predecessors. But comparisons between the five, like attempts to single out the best songs on this album, are redundant. Like the cry that gave it its name,
Time Gentlemen Please rings out over the most crowded room and snags everybody's attention. Can we have another trilogy, please? ~ Dave Thompson