I don't get it. More than any other artist I listen to. Gray has made three brilliant records (White Ladder, Life in Slow Motion, Gold in a Brass Age) but literally everything else he’s done over the last thirty years is utter shite.
I listen to every album. And 9/10 the record sucks. Like from beginning to end, horrendous. Either his singing is too grating or he records lead vocals with too many other voices, there seems to be a certain frequency he tunes into where everything is just a bellowing garbled mess.
The only reason I bring this up is another album just came out. Apparently they’re songs from the Slow Motion era. I listened to it. There are a bunch of songs. Maybe one resonated. I can't think of any other artist I love that has these wild ups and downs. All things being subjective, of course.
dude's like the most inconsistent artist ever, those three albums you mentioned are genuinely great but then he'll drop something that makes you question if it's even the same person. maybe he just caught lightning in a bottle during those periods and the rest is him trying to recreate that magic without understanding what made it work in the first place
1
BeeTwoThousandApr 3, 2026
+1
He did a song with Orbital that was pretty good...
1
woden_spoonApr 3, 2026
+1
I always skipped that song LOL
1
maximvmreliefApr 3, 2026
White ladder is incredible. That era was insane. I just listened to his latest and looking at the credits there are 5 producers. I couldn’t get through more than 10 seconds per song. Dude needs to just go into a room with his acoustic and a four track for the next year and be himself. He prob is still chasing that “pop” sound and doesn’t realize he already has it. Just because Hollywood artists who still chart have huge teams doesn’t mean David gray should. Teaaaaars fall
0
maximvmreliefApr 3, 2026
+1
Looks like the latest record is all unreleased songs that weren’t good enough for a previous release originally lol. He’s just cashing in on anything that resembles a finished product imo.
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