David Gray

David Gray is the latest *overnight* sensation. To most, he’s come from nowhere to sit comfortably among the top-selling CDs of the year. It hasn’t been that quick or simple, White Ladder being far from his debut release in a career that began almost a decade ago.

Indeed, following the expensive failure of 1996’s “Sell, Sell, Sell” (now also re-released, unsurprisingly) White Ladder was recorded with minimal accompaniment in his own home, and first issued last year on his own label.

Word-of-mouth and critical acclaim eventually saw the album catch on, aided by the major label clout of Warner Brothers/EastWest and “Babylon” – one of the album’s most immediate songs – reaching the Top 5 of the UK Singles Chart. Such a rise to popularity is usually a good sign of genuine quality, and so it is with this CD.

Gray’s voice evokes a young Van Morrison, with its rough-hewn soulfulness, and on the whole the material is worthy of such a fine set of pipes. Some tracks tend to sound slightly alike towards the end of the record, although the inspired acoustic remake of Soft Cell‘s synth classic Say Hello, Wave Goodbye is saved for last.

If you liked Babylon, but aren’t sure whether to gamble on the whole CD, a better indication of its true style is the rather more downbeat Please Forgive Me, which was the album’s first single (No.72, December 99).