G might once have been for David Gray

Tuesday 12th February But after White Ladder what on earth happened David?  David Gray was unheard of, a complete nonentity in the world of pop.  He had made a couple of albums, full of fairly dull songs which didn’t sell well at all.  Including White Ladder; it was a flop at first.  Then slowly it started to grow, at first in Ireland where it is actually the best selling album of all time, but over here too  it started to impinge on the public’s consciousness, and after a couple of years it was a monster hit.  Everyone loved it.  It hit all the right buttons.  It had groovy modern beats, it had a sort of sad vein which wasn’t miserable but reflective.  And the songs had great sing-along melodies.  Then the hit singles ‘Babylon’ and ‘Sail Away’ took it further.  Almost everyone had a copy – it was the late nineties equivalent of Carole King’s ‘Tapestry’. The world was at his feet, he could do no wrong – surely.  Well, it was a case of diminishing returns, each new album selling well at first on a mixture of hope and memory and then sinking without a trace.  He had somehow lost the magic.  Maybe ‘White Ladder’ was just unbeatable, so perfect that he could never replicate it. But I think there is more to it than that. I saw him live in Hyde Park a few years ago.  Crap, absolutely hopeless.  No charisma, no style and a thin reedy voice.  Put the record back on – I almost shouted. Ah well. At least we still have one of the great albums of recent years to remember what might have been.