One Album Wonders: The stoned'n'beautiful perfect day of Luke Gibson

A pastiche artist like Jonathan Wilson would give half an arm to sound as beautifully, beatifically stoned as Gibson does here, in a way only a 1970s record can. You can study the mannerisms and sound, but the feel of such a record is hard to duplicate. As it turns out, even for Mr. Gibson himself, who never got to record another album. That's a true shame, considering the quality of his single outing here. But hey, this also means that Gibson could not tarnish it with weak follow-ups, instead having his music frozen in time in 1972. "He's called it 'Another Perfect Day' and it is", says an ad from the time, and they're right. it really is. 

Dave "Luke" Gibson was a stalwart of the Toronto music scene, biding his time and learning his trade as a folkie in Toronto's Yorkville district, coming up slightly later than famed Yorkville luminaries Joni Mitchell, Neil Young and Gordon Lightfoot. It was of course also the epicentre of Toronto's hippie scene, and it's fair to say that Gibson was definitely a part of that. He co-founded electric blues band Luke & The Apostles in the mid-60s, remarked for their 1967 single "Been Burnt", but infighting had the band implode almost directly afterwards, especially since Gibson had an offer to join local psych rockers Kensington Market. He then reformed Luke & The Apostles in 1970 for another one-off single, then went solo.

Another Perfect Day came out, like Luke & The Apostles' 1970 outing, on True North records, but it was distributed by Columbia Records, so clearly there was some faith in Gibson's outing. But Another Perfect Day came and went, and when it did nothing Gibson left the music business altogether, to become a set painter in the film industry, before reuniting Luke & The Apostles in the 1990s. 

The basis of Luke Gibson's music here is folk, but not the warm, romantic type his countryman Lightfoot popularized. Gibson's folk, with hints of country in it, is fuzzier and earthier. What unites the men is their declaration of love for the nature around them, but where Lightfoot uses romanticized terms to create a Norman Rockwell-style depiction of Canada, Gibson depicts a less romantisized picture on songs such as "Lobo". "Hotel", a tale of a poor drifter trying his fortune in a new town becomes a tale of indifference towards the ill-fated in life. I am also particularly fond of the beautiful, bouncy "Full Moon Rider", a song that gave Gbson's publishing company its name. "All Day Rain", already featured on the very first All Pearls, No Swine, sounds like a stoned hangover, watching the day go by behind rainy windows. 

But really, Another Perfect Day is a fantastic album, top to bottom. Maybe not a perfect day, but a perfect 40 minutes to spend with some very fine music...