Customer Reviews

The EP's 92-94

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4 star:		(1)
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I recently went on a road trip with my sweet boyfriend up the Califrnia coast. While looking through the local Santa Cruz shops we happened upon a thrift store. When I walked in, "Birds Without Wings" was playing over the store's stereo system. I froze. I had to grab onto a rack of overall's to catch my breath. When I ran up to the young hipster behind the counter and asked who was playing I was excited to hear the name David Gray for the first time. This album goes directly to the top of my list. His voice, passion, and lyrics are so poetic, it makes me ache. I love this album and highly, highly recommend it.
As we were driving to our camp site I heard "Shine" for the first time ever. This song must have tapped something inside of me because I felt overcome with emotion and love and appreciation.
The EP's is one of the best things you can to to your stereo, and do for yourself.

This is a significantly better purchase than the rather cynical Lost Songs (a rather feeble ragbag of previously unreleased songs - unreleased for good reason!). EP's, on the other hand, is an outstanding collection of alternate versions of David Gray's excellent earlier material. In the early 90's, Gray was producing some of the finest folk rock around. Although at the time it was only the discerning Irish who truly appreciated him - they were buying his albums by the boatload! Lyrically profound and painstakingly crafted. This work, most of which is also to be found on his albums of the time A Century Ends and Flesh, is as good as anything on his breakthrough album White Ladder. Arguably it's more honest, and without a doubt it's ballsier and angrier than his current work (although it still makes a great soundtrack for a dinner party). The versions heard on this album are only slightly different from those on their respective albums; but for some reason the lyrics come across more strongly than i've ever noticed before. and how wonderful they are. birds without wings is a blistering criticism on mediocrity. several of the tracks are love songs, and they contain greater tenderness and honesty than virtually anything else i can think of. if you're interested in sampling David Gray's earlier work, without going all the way and buying all the albums, EP's 92-94 is an excellent place to start.

I'm so glad that this album is being re-released. It has long been one of my favorites, but has been impossible to find outside of the occasional used CD store. As the first song on the album, "Shine" is, I believe, one of the most insightful and real songs written in the last decade; it is the perfect track to set the stage for the entire record. As his first release, A Century Ends has a more acoustic-based folk rock sound than White Ladder; the feel of the album is perfectly matched to the songs as Gray displays his folk influences while giving every track his distinctly emotive stamp. Hopefully new David Gray fans won over by "Babylon" and the other hits from White Ladder will take this opportunity to dive back into his earlier, more acoustic work. Though in some ways Gray has gotten better with time, even his earlier albums like A Century Ends, Flesh (my personal favorite), and Sell Sell Sell are masterpieces in their own right. Let's hope the rest of the albums are re-released as well.

When I first saw this CD in the store I saw a lot of songs I already had and thought it may not be worth getting. Then, when I was hungry for new David Gray music to hear I examined the album closer and found gems I couldn't find anywhere else. Songs like "The Rice","Brick Walls" and "4:AM" that show a different creative, quirky side of Grays songwriting. I was also pleasently surprised that the previously released songs had a different sound to them. Some like "The Light" have a dramaticly different sound entirely from the original release while others like "Birds Without Wings" have a much crisper, sharper and powerful sound compaired to the originals. The guitar sounds much more effective in this take. In my opinion the only thing stopping lovers of great music from getting this and all of David Grays CD's is the fact that store/sites don't explain enough all thats in store for the listener/buyer. I hope this helped:)

Another great David Gray CD that almost never would have been if not for his Dave Matthews signing him to his record label (ATO) and pushing this great singer/songwriter stateside. This collection of B-sides and others is a great testament to David's music talents. The videos featured at the end are equally entertaining. A must have for any true or budding David Gray fan.

What makes music attractive to you? For me it always comes down to lyrics. That is, if you dont have the lyrics, I wont even bother. But if you got creative word-smithing then I will move onto the other areas.

Gray is not a story teller in the folk sense, but some of his songs are going through stories in roundabout ways, which is really quite interesting. More importantly it is his repetition of words and sounds, his ryhme scheme diversity, and his balance of meaning in phrase choice that stirs your soul.

The other thing to say about Gray, is that he can sing. Sure, he is no nightingale, but that makes it all the better that he puts himself out there, belting away lines dripping with emotion. Dont get me wrong, he is not as deficient as Dylan (whom I love) when it comes to vocals, he is actually quite good, but it is his fearlessness and force that attract.

This particular disc is a sorta of compilation of best tracts within a short period. It is the ideal choice for the first time listener. While half of the songs come from 'A Century Begins' and 'Flesh' the other half are not present on his LPs. And the track The Light present on this disc is far superior to the version on 'Flesh'.