“April’s gone/So am I,” sings Greg Thomson (http://web.mac.com/gregothomson/GTSongs/Welcome.html) on “Heart of it All,” the penultimate track on his “Pretending” album. That’s a pretty sharp kiss-off there, and Thomson’s songs often ring with the light of honesty. “Heart of it All” is one of the best tracks on a CD that, unbelievably, is void of filler. There isn’t a song on here where it feels like Thomson didn’t give it his all, that it wasn’t personal.
At times, Thomson’s voice is reminiscent of Billy Joel’s. No, not the sappy side of Joel evident in “Just the Way You Are”; rather, think of Joel on his down days, spewing angst on the mid-’80s lost gem “A Matter of Trust.” Thomson’s singing is robust and manly on “Might Have Been” as only those raw blues riffs can calm him down. “What I Find” and “Buggy” finds Thomson breaking and entering into Tom Petty territory, and he does it well. Like Petty, Thomson seems like a regular guy, and he’s able to express personal observations and make them universally appealing.
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The aforementioned “Heart of it All” outdoes the Counting Crows, which might be the style in which Thomson was reaching for here; however, the emotions feel real, carry true weight, and isn’t maudlin. “Pretending” digs into darker, moodier guitar textures, a fine example of an “album cut.” On the midtempo "Postman," Thomson's vocals are pushed to the front of the mix, and you can hear every crack in his armour. Inspiring stuff.
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