"CIRCULAR"

Global Recording Artists

Bill Mumy "Circular" (Global Recording Artists/BCD)

Though Bill Mumy (pronounced Moo-Me) is best remembered by many baby boomers such as myself for some of his extremely impressive appearances as a child actor in the early to mid-1960s, on TV shows like Twilight Zone, and as Will Robinson of Lost In Space, along with nearly countless others, he has continued to act and record music as well; this superb album is only the latest example of Bill's ongoing career as a singer/songwriter. Unlike some celebrity releases Mumy's work could easily stand on it's own as worthwhile and interesting even if he pumped gas, or painted houses for a living. Amongst the fourteen songs here, one can clearly detect the stylistic influence of folks like Tom Petty, John Fogarty, John Prine, Chuck Berry, Richard Thompson, and Neil Young, but it's ultimately Mumy's artistic voice that emerges.

He's a politically aware and slightly angry guy on at least one song (eight years of one's country being run by an incompetent nitwit will do that to you) but mostly this is simply a fine showcase for Bill's considerable skills as a song writer, singer and storyteller. "Man of Pride" wouldn't have sounded too out of place on a CSN&Y album with a dash of latter day Badfinger tossed into the mix. "The Heart's Fantasy" is the best song Neil Young and Tom Petty never made together, while "Don't Have Anything" is simply one of the best love songs I've heard in a long time. The structure of "History" recalls Brian Wilson's "Rio Grand" and sections of "Smile" as well. And "Hereby Invited" could have been recorded by the Traveling Wilburys. But it's all very good stuff, uplifting, intelligent and highly accessible mid-tempo mellow melodic rock pop at its finest.