Be Good To Yourself

BE GOOD TO YOURSELF is Bob Gatewood’s third release from his island home of Put-in-Bay, Ohio and his second featuring a who’s who of Nashville’s recording session aces. Produced by Tom Bukovac it garnered acclaim and airplay on several regional FM stations such as Cleveland’s V107.3 FM, earning top 10 spots for two songs and a #1 with “No One Knows”. Lots of local spins came from locals, Sandusky’s Mix102.7 for “I Ain’t Workin’ for the Man”, which Cleveland Plain Dealer’s Michael Heaton called,  “A Working Man’s Classic”, in a half page feature on the artist. 

The songs are less layered than Gatewood’s previous album , FINALLY HOME which lends an uncluttered urgency to many of the tracks. This stripped-down approach lends itself well to rockers like YOU GO MISSIN’ and IT IS WHAT IT IS, which cut through with hard sharp edges.

The ballad, WITH YOU ALL THE WAY, co-written with drumming legend Joe Vitale gives a tip of the hat to his recordings with NEIL YOUNG and I AIN’T WORKIN’ FOR THE MAN which is reminiscent of another 70’s rocker, Dave Edmunds.

SLIPPING AWAY has a dream sequence worthy of any Pink Floyd fan’s ears. There are feel good mid-tempos songs like SATURDAY and the title track, BE GOOD TO YOURSELF, as well as a heart felt song called MAGNOLIA about a drive to Texas with a father’s ashes, long passed.

The Standout track is the jangle rock, NO ONE KNOWS. It got to #1 in Cleveland and at over five minutes it does not drag once but begs for a drive on a long rainy night. There are plenty of nuggets on BE GOOD TO YOURSELF to keep it spinning in your head for months- go ahead and do yourself a favor and try it, you’ll be glad you did.