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David Gray
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Track List:
1. Flame Turns Blue
2. Twilight
3. Hold On
4. As I'm Leaving
5. If Your Love Is Real
6. Tidal Wave
7. Falling Down The Mountainside
8. January Rain
9. Red Moon
10. Clean Pair Of Eyes, A
11. Wurlitzer
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David Gray - Lost Songs 95-98
(ATO Records)
Over the past year, David Gray has soared over the American music landscape with his refreshing storytelling style. The stateside release of Lost Songs 95-98—a series of songs from the time before Gray's meteoric rise to international stardom—coincides perfectly with the stealth bomb success of White Ladder and its hit single, "Babylon." Unlike the slightly-more polished White Ladder, however, this collection of songs is a quiet, diary-style retrospective of Gray's road to success. Each pensive entry transitions into the other, leaving few pages of the storyteller's life unturned.
"Flame Turns Blue" is reason enough to own Lost Songs. The song encompasses everything that is David Gray—beautifully mighty vocals, incredible musicianship, and unreserved storytelling. Following poetic interludes in "Twilight" and "Hold On," comes the one track on the collection that begs to be repeated infinitely, "As I'm Leaving." Anyone who adores a songwriter's ability to capture that space between sadness and hopefulness and nurture it into a blanket of comfort will curl up with this song over and over again. "If Your Love Is Real" is a vulnerable confession that conjures up the image of a young child bestowing a single daisy upon his first crush. While a slightly more mature expression of love flows out of "Tidal Wave," Gray never fully sheds that light of innocence in his performance. The singer hauntingly captures the paralyzing feelings associated with the tragedy of losing a dear friend in "Falling Down The Mountainside." "January Rain" provides a less than overwhelming transition into "Red Moon," a somewhat resentful tale of broken love. Although that may seem a trite concept, it is Gray's voice that carries the experience into actualization. "A Clean Pair Of Eyes" wipes the slate clean on our storyteller's past, even as it speaks of hope for the future.
While this album is musically slimmer than White Ladder, it is rich with a soulful honesty that fans have come to savor. Lost Songs will teach listeners about the formative years in the life of their new friend David Gray. The record will also help to explain who he is and how he has come so far.
By Heather Croteau
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