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Rating: "See how the sky is made of sapphire,
The colours flowing through our hands,
the moon is fire in your hair,
a million miles beyond what science understand"
The artistic journey of David Gray represents the exact opposite of the path generally followed by new artists on the musical scene. A talent hidden for several years, but not overlooked by a major record company that immediately decided to bet on what many enthusiasts considered the heir of Bob Dylan.
After three albums released with Virgin, feeling trapped by an oppressive record contract and demonstrating that love for music was stronger than the lure of money, this young Englishman by birth but Welsh by adoption, decided in 1997 to resign and begin self-producing, writing in the warmth of his home. Without the need for musicians around him, David put aside his beloved acoustic guitar for a moment and began working with synthesizers and keyboards. This choice paid off, thanks to his Babylon and an intriguing experimental/songwriting fusion, David crossed the English Channel with that White Ladder which everyone considers his best work."And I know there's a light at the end of the tunnel, 'cause I taste it on your lips..."
Yet David was not this, where has that young man gone who, with just his guitar, a piano, and a poignant voice, that never-born hybrid between Van Morrison and Tracy Chapman, was capable of sending emotional shivers down your spine with absolute poetry transcribed into music?
"Cause when I hold you naked, when I see you laugh, I got a sword to stem the rivers and cut the moon in half." David Gray was this, he was a love declaration shouted and whispered to the world, the cry of someone who had the strength of the wind within himself.
"And I'm trying to spell what only the wind can explain" sings David in Flesh, his second album dating back to 1994. An album passionate and poetic, where already the second track "Turn Out The Light" David invites to turn off the light and start crying ("Tears falling slow, from the bridge to the river below" he sings in "Coming Down"), to let oneself fall into emotional numbness ("Falling Free") to strip away all constraints and finally grasp "The Mystery Of Love" ("that ... it just keeps growing...")
Ten refined songs, among splendid acoustic ballads, reflective piano harmonies, and aggressive self-declarations, to truly understand the talent of a songwriter who is losing himself in useless electronic experiments.
Tracklist and Lyrics
07 Lullaby (03:39)
Its a sad old world that's turning tonight as I slide through the streets moonlight and memory burning and in my hand your broken dream My watery eyes I sing for you this lullaby let the shadow fall from your window let the morning light fill your head stand up and let the wild wind blow right into your soul till the night is dead All these useless emotions churning round as I search these bare walls for a clue and all the time the truth is flashing in my mind that when a heart gets broken there's nothing you can do My watery eyes I sing for you this lullaby let the shadow fall from your window let the morning light fill your head stand up and let the wild wind blow right into your soul till the night is dead And I’m packing my belongings hey I’ll be gone before the noon arrives cos I know there's no use pretending soon it'll all be alright But hey let the shadow fall from your window let the morning light fill your head stand up and let the wild wind blow right into your soul till the night is dead See the dawn break gold when the night is dead Hear the bells
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