If you’re not Japanese you probably only know Paul Gilbert from his guitar playing on Mr. Big’s acoustic balled “To Be With You”. After six mainly electric studio albums, Mascot Records decided to put out a best of Paul Gilbert compilation album. The fact is that Gilbert had just picked up his acoustic guitar once again and finished a couple of songs. It made him decide not to wait for the release of an all-acoustic album but to include this acoustic effort as sort of a ‘bonus disc’.

Since I’m quite familiar with Gilbert’s electric stuff, which really rocks by the way, this bonus disc was the first cd to pay a visit to my cd-player. To be short: I like it. The cd lacks all the usual cliché’s and is therefore quite original.

The stuff Gilbert plays on his regular albums is at times just over the top. These acoustic songs are therefore remarkably basic, but without losing that specific Gilbert rocksound. The weak point of acoustic cd’s is usually the lack of diversity in sound and structure. Since this guy has no musical boundaries, the album lacks this shortcoming. For everybody with an allergy for bonus disc’s (I used to be one of you): Don’t be scared. The disc even has an album title (Gilbert Hotel) and should be considered as standing on its own, including ten fully developed tracks. I would even go further by proclaiming to buy Gilbert Hotel which includes a nice “Best of Paul Gilbert” bonus disc.