How vile is David Gray?

Amarg... I know..... he probably funded the last SC album, too. But that doesn't make his hideous cover of this brilliant song any better.... how can a supposed singer sing such an emotive song so flat and emotionless? Horrible beyond words.

Could never really understand why he's so hated, beyond the fact that the fabled 'one CD a year' brigade like his music, which is not a good enough reason in itself.

I don't particularly like him, and his cover of 'Say Hello...' is quite poor, but why the hatred?

Could this, by any chance have been David Gray?

I think ara hit the nail on the head.

I know who Hannah Arendt is but I still don't quite see what dave q is getting at.

so it's been like ten years since 'babylon' taught us how to love, how to laugh, and how to cry.

thoughts?

Only ten years?

White Ladder is the multi-platinum selling[8] fourth studio album by British singer-songwriter David Gray, first released in November 1998. Worldwide sales of the album stand at 7 million.

Still holds the record as the only bad record with "Babylon" in the title ever released.

What about that Stones' album?

Stones were post-bad by that point in their career

Beyond bad and evil

I've said it before, and I will say it again: Phil Collins for a new generation.

― Lee G (Lee G), Wednesday, 19 February 2003 18:44 (7 years ago)

I've said it before, and I will say it again: Phil Collins for a new generation.

― Lee G (Lee G), Wednesday, 19 February 2009 18:44 (3 years ago)

White Ladder is the multi-platinum selling[8] fourth studio album by British singer-songwriter David Gray, first released in November 1998. Worldwide sales of the album stand at 7 million.

wow, ok. 'cos i remember seeing him on saturday night live in the states circa 2000

and qlso have a vivid memory of conversation about "babylon" in a cab when it came on the radio in 2001.

hmmm

Beyond bad and evil

lol fucking l

in retrospect the song babylon is pretty great. but if it comes w/too much baggage for uk people i can understand.

he does micro-invocations of van morrison at a couple of points, and it reminds me of some guy i met from belfast who absolutely detested van morrison and almost beat me up for liking him, so yeah

ya but he'd likely have found some other excuse for being emotionally unstable, pissy and violent even if u didn't like him

he can be pretty boring, but there are some poignant moments in there.

i really like 'sail away'. something about it connects with me, but it probably has a lot to do with the line

"i been talking drunken gibberish
falling in and out of bars"

ya but he'd likely have found some other excuse for being emotionally unstable, pissy and violent even if u didn't like him

lol

Argumentative guy from Belfast? Never!

he can be pretty boring, but there are some poignant moments in there.

yeah i've always dug lines like

"moving through the crowds, i'm pushing/chemicals are rushing in my bloodstream/only wish that you were here/you know i'm seeing it so clear..."

and then the segueway into the chorus, which in itself is no slouch. it's got that nice little "say something" by james vibe, like, just stfu and live

and i always wonder if the "chemicals" are supposed to be, like a drug reference, or just the caffeine and nicotine and adrenaline that's in all of us MaAAAAN

yeah, cracking line that one.

he's a bit of an everyman, tapping into prosaic sentiments that are distinctly human. there's something charming about that.

on a vile scale, i'd say he's not dripping with vile at all. pretty harmless really.

on a vile scale, i'd say he's not dripping with vile at all. pretty harmless really.

he's a bit of an everyman, tapping into prosaic sentiments that are distinctly human.

yeah, i think it's the kind of songwriting magic that is easy to rip apart in some sense, but on the other hand is difficult to do gracefully. more difficult than it looks, anyhow

The only gig I've been to with my brother. He doesn't really like music that much, his words not mine. We saw the first five minutes and both realised it would be shit and left to have a few pints. We sat at the bar and heard the music fine. It's not as if Gray had much of a stage act.

i heard white ladder when i was in middle school and got real drawn into it. don't really know how to separate my perception of david gray from that experience. maybe my favorite lines from the record: "propping mountains up on matchsticks / dragging baskets full of bones."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6z6R5zdTxss