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EDIT INFODavid Gray - White Ladder
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Album Details
- Artist: David Gray
- Album: White Ladder
- Label: IHT
- Year of Release: 2000
- ME Rating:
- Reviewed by: dscanland on 2003-03-30
RecommendA big buzz surrounds David Gray in the UK and people are wondering if that will carry on in North America. With the underground already embracing this beautiful album I think it will only be time before White Ladder breaks here too. It is suprising that this album actually saw the light of day after two major label attempts falling by the wayside. Another one of those "Overnight Successes". White Ladder really is a singer / songwriter masterpiece and you will realize it once the infectious "Please Forgive Me" creeps out of the stereo. He switched to drum machines with subtle dance tracks to back most of the songs. Included on the album is his cover of Soft Cell's "Say Hello Wave Goodbye" which is brilliant. Originally only available in the UK Dave Matthews label ATO picked it up and released it in March 2000. Watch out for David Gray and don't let him pass you by again.
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on 2011-12-30 CharlesMartel Said:
There was a time when David Gray was everybody's darling. Around the turn of the millennium you couldn't switch on the radio or put on a TV music programme without hearing David Gray. Then he just seemed to vanish. Of course he didnt, he's still putting out albums, but he has been all but forgotten amongst those who once idolised him. Perhaps people just became tired of him, or perhaps his follow up material was not up to the mark.
When " White Ladders" came out it was an album which I couldn't stop playing. It seemed so pertinent to so many things which were going on around me. Had I reviewed it then, it may have got eight or even nine stars. But these days, over a decade after its release, I am no longer so sure that it warrants such treatment. These days I rarely play it, and when a track comes up on shuffle it reminds me of how I once felt about the album. Which track it is depends on whether I recollect those feelings with warmth or embarrassment.
David Gray has a pleasant voice and writes some good songs. In " Babylon" he has written a fine pop song and this song deservedly got him acclaim at the time. But Gray's song writing is erratic. At times he writes some damn fine stuff; at others he is ponderous and bland. Take the last song on the album, the cover of Soft Cell's " Say Hello Wave Goodbye ", which is nine minutes of increasing frustration. It is also, I am sad to say, rather derivative. It reminds me very much of Van Morrison's " Astral Weeks " and there are even lines which have been lifted wholesale from songs on that album into this song. The similarity may but unintentional but if it is not it is unforgiveable.
And yet there are a handful of songs on here which make the album worthwhile. If I hear one of those songs I can remember the album with fondness. " Please Forgive Me" , " Sail Away" and "This Year's Love" , in addition to the aforementioned single, are worth having the album for. But these days it seems dated and has lost a lot of its spark. Gray was a fine songwriter. Had he pushed the boundaries a bit more he could have been a great one. But then, had he pushed the boundaries, he may not have been flavour of the month a decade or so ago.
Rating: 6/10
