Strange one this. These tracks were recorded before Gray's all-conquering masterpiece 'White Ladder' and yet 'Lost Songs' is the album up for this year's BRIT Awards. And it's only released in the UK this week. Curiouser and curiouser.
Truth is, while 'White Ladder' is the far better album, it was originally released in 1998, only becoming huge last year, so it doesn't qualify. The nomination of 'Lost Songs' meanwhile, recorded during a period "crammed full of record company turmoil and personal stress" is a belated pat on the back from the British music industry. Something the singer/songwriter is very used to.
Dumped by UK record labels Gray self-financed 'White Ladder' and 'Lost Songs', releasing them on his own IHT label. The Irish record buying public embraced the man and his music wholeheartedly, putting both albums at Number One. The rest, as they say...
Record industry injustice aside 'Lost Songs' is a beautiful album. Just over thirty minutes long this is a largely acoustic affair. A pure and simple concoction of guitar, piano and Gray's powerful, Dylan-esque vocal, it fair brims with passion, romance and yearning.
And yet while the songs are the obvious work of a master craftsman, their pared-down gentle melancholy falls slightly short of the like of 'Please Forgive Me', 'Babylon' and 'Sail Away'. Perhaps it's because they are largely reduced to pretty acoustic strumming and sparkling piano. For when Gray's band occasionally kick in - 'Flame Turns Blue' and the supreme 'A Clean Pair Of Eyes', his songs benefit from the fuller sound.
That said these are all wonderfully touching, warm and human, lump-in-the-throat songs that i'll be listening to for years to come. So perhaps i'm just being Mr Picky from Fussyville, Pernicketyshire.
