David Gray – Lost Songs 89-93 (released 2000)

After the phenomenal success of ‘White Ladder’ (1999) David’s record company released a compilation of his first three albums which had sold poorly and were more or less unavailable, or hard to find.   And this album ‘ain’t half bad; the songs are almost as strong in themselves as his later big hits, but the production is pretty basic and very piano led.  David has one of those voices that sound so familiar and comforting and yet are distinctive enough to keep you interested; a sort of yearning and deep sadness seems to pervade many of them – and yet they can also be quite uplifting.  Recognised now as a major talent and still selling his quite sporadic albums, he has established himself.  But these songs are from a time when he was struggling to break through – it was only when White Ladder was accompanied by a modern, almost dance music production that he became successful.  Best on this are ‘Flame Turns Blue’, ‘january rain’ and ‘A Clean Pair Of Eyes’.