November 9, 2007
Gray’s Life in Slow Motion was just over a year ago, and a greatest hits album is now forthcoming. The recently released new single from that album, “World to Me”, is everything we love about Gray. Upbeat tempos, great melody, heartfelt lyrics, and great vocals.
A Thousand Miles Behind is an “album” that has quietly been released as a digital download available only from Gray’s website. This is a live album of covers only. Covers that hearken clearly to his folk days. The songs (from artists such as Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen) are marketed as personal favorites of Gray that he has long enjoyed playing live.
Initially I was excited by the idea of a Gray cover album, because anyone who has checked out his Live in Slow Motion concert DVD has heard his phenomenal covers of Randy Newman’s Baltimore and The Cure’s Friday I’m in Love, and know Gray and his band can take others material and do something really special with it.
Casual David Gray fans will be disappointed with this. Its good stuff, no doubt, but it’s not what the millions of fans he’s gained in the last 7 years have come to expect from him. Fans that have followed Gray’s career from the very beginning, or just traditional/folk music fans in general, will really enjoy it.
The vocals and the passion are certainly there, but again, the songs will have to grow on you. Long Black Veil is true a gem from the start though.
Now how ‘bout a covers album of more familiar stuff?
