Sometime back in the early 2000s, I was in my brother’s house at home in Ireland, and he threw a CD (remember those things?!) over to me and said “Have you heard this guy?” The “this guy” in question was British singer-songwriter David Gray and the CD was his newly released “Lost Songs 95-98” album. We put it on and it blew me away. My first knee jerk reaction to the opening track “Flame Turns Blue” was that his voice reminded me a bit of Bob Dylan as he sounds on “Jokerman”, the opener to his 1983 “Infidels” album. I was very taken with the whole album and returned to Australia with a copy of it, and its predecessor “White Ladder” in my possession.
“White Ladder” is what I am here to talk about today. Gray’s recording career began in 1993 and he put three albums out , “A Century Ends” (’93), “Flesh” (’94) and “Sell,Sell, Sell” (’96) all of which are great records and received appropriate critical acclaim. But commercial success eluded him, and he almost called it a day after being dropped by his label after the third album. In 1997 he contributed no less than five songs to Mary Black’s album “Shine”, including the title track. Then in 1998, his longtime musical partner in crime and drummer in his band, Craig “Clune” McClune convinced him that he had a great batch of new songs that were worth giving it “one more try”. So they set about recording a self-financed album, recorded in Gray’s flat in London. The result was “White Ladder” which introduced what became known as his “folktronic” sound; in a departure from his previous guitar-centric folk-rock sound, the album features computer generated music and sequencers in conjunction with acoustic guitars. And it was the breakthrough he had strived for since ’93.
It was a slow burner on initial release in November 1998 on Gray’s own IHT label, but when re-released about 18 months later on Dave Matthews’ ATO label, along with the single “Babylon” , it took off. It spent six weeks on top the Irish album charts, with the Irish nation practically adopting Gray as one of their own. (His Irish tour which culminated in triumphant shows at Dublin’s Point Depot (now the 3 Arena) in the closing days of the 20th century, was superbly documented on a DVD, which I still have somewhere – I must dig that out.) As of 2015, it was still the biggest selling album of all time in Ireland. It spent over 150 weeks on the British chart, hitting the No.1 spot over two years after its original release. All but one of the 7 singles released from the album hit the top 20 in the UK.
Reflecting on “White Ladder“‘s success in 2010, Gray said: “I still pinch myself when I think about it. That record will be there for ever. It just connected in such a big way with people. […] It was the period that came after that was difficult. […] I’m sort of seen as a pop artist. I’m dismissed as slight, I’d say, because of “White Ladder“.” Gray believes, as do I, that the success of “White Ladder” laid a path for “soul-baring” singer songwriters that followed , such as James Blunt, Ed Sheeran, and George Ezra, as well as the likes of Ireland’s Damien Rice, Gavin James and Mundy to name just a few. Prior to Gray, the “acoustic guitar toting troubadour” was considered something of a thing of the past. Gray commented that the success of the album, coming out of nowhere, “changed how the business thought about what music should be. Since then, there have been lots of artists who’ve taken it on and done their own thing.”
If ever there was an example of what can happen when someone has enough self-belief to simply not give up – this album is it. It is a lesson for our troubled time when we, and our children, are all facing very uncertain futures. Which brings me to the actual point of this post – which is another special tribute edition of my live streamed gigs which I call The Isolation Sessions.
As a tribute to this outstanding album, and in celebration of David Gray’s 52nd birthday which takes place this month (June 13th in case you’re wondering), I will be performing my own personal take on “White Ladder”, in its entirety, live online. All ten songs will be stripped back to basics, arranged for just one acoustic guitar and voice, and played in the order they appear on the record, on Monday June 29th at 8.30pm Singapore time.
This is a one-time-thing which I do not plan to repeat. It will go out LIVE on my Facebook page, and the video will remain on my feed for 24 hours, for the benefit of anyone in an incompatible time zone who might like to see it. After that it will be taken down forever, although I will of course keep it for possible future use of some kind. So mark the date and tune in on the 29th! 🙂
Cheers
GM
Ger Mythen 
Leave a comment