Gary Go

Santana, Gary Go | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 15, 2009)
• Original Release Date: 2009
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Decca
• ASIN: B002ALTAN0
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (99 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #125,056 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Open Arms

2. So So

3. Engines

4. Wonderful

5. Life Gets In The Way

6. Brooklyn

7. Refuse To Lose

8. Honest

9. Heart And Soul

10. Speak

11. Black And White Days

Editorial Reviews

From the Artist

Gary Go, that's me! Born and raised in London, England in the shadow of Wembley Stadium. I had an insight into music early because my older cousin was in bands and used to let me sit in his studio while he wrote and recorded songs. He used to give me Bowie and Beatles records to listen to. Then I heard wives' tales about Paul McCartney not really being Paul McCartney and how the clues to his death were in the artwork of their albums and that had me pretty spooked when listening to the Beatles for quite some time. I got really into early Bowie (like The London Boys era), then came T.Rex, Queen, Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkle and of course Michael Jackson. I tried writing songs when my cousin gave me my first keyboard, a little Casio. I wrote a song called "The Stomach Ground" about a village of people living on someone's stomach. I basically wrote more and more songs, and figured out how to multi-track using a double cassette deck. Music was where I was heading. I left school to get a job in a recording studio, I made tea and setup microphones. Then I setup The Canvas Room, my own little studio and record label. I made an e.p called the So So...e.p and started playing shows around London. Someone who heard the So So...e.p happened to run a big studio in New Jersey USA and I was invited out there to record another e.p and I wrote an e.p called The Diary Of Rodney Harvey, inspired by an article I had read about the tragic rise and fall of this promising star. I ended up living in Manhattan for a few months, playing music, writing songs and working in studios. I moved back to New Jersey and somehow got a room in the house that Frank Sinatra grew up in. I bought a little Casio keyboard, just like the one my cousin had given me when I was five and I started writing songs for my first album.

Open Arms: I ran into an old school friend in the street where I grew up in Wembley. We started to talk about old friends..."Whatever happened to that guy in maths class who..." and "whatever happened to..." Thinking about the past. I started thinking...Whatever happened to so many things that have changed. The song started here and then the melody just followed this idea. It's all about reflection, change and perspective. Life changes shape as we live it and things may not be how you expect them to be, but you have to see them for "what they are at the time."

So So: This is the oldest song on the album and was originally recorded for my first e.p, The So So Ep, but I always knew it would have to be on my first album. The song really says a lot about me: My love/hate relationship with my city, my indeciveness and as one magazine put it, has "British cynicism distilled into song." It's almost a whole song of self analysis and searching. My favourite line is "time is the time that it takes"...simple, yet somewhat scientific.

Engines: This song is about breaking down, either in a relationship or on our own. It's about finding the strength to start again through facing and understanding the past. The "engines" in the song are the things that drive us...our souls, our dreams, our hopes and beliefs. I recorded this at my studio The Canvas Room and at Mark Knopfler's studio, my favorite studio in London!!

Wonderful: This song was written on the steinway grand at my favorite studio in new jersey (the same piano Lennon recorded "Imagine" on at The Record Plant). I had moved to New Jersey to write and develop my album. I was really searching for my musical identity in a way, and starting to question myself. This song was about reminding myself of my worth and a song to pick myself up from despair and insecurity. Parrallel to that, I was also reaching out to someone in my life that needed a lift. We are all miracles. This song was written in NJ and recorded in Prague.

Life Gets In The Way: The title says it all. "It's hard to change when life gets in the way." I am always searching to grow, change and become the best person I can be...but life can get in the way, especially in relationships. My favorite line is "where's the spark when the spark is gone??".

Brooklyn: I had a magical affair with Brooklyn. Such a famous place. Had heard so many things about B'lyn before I went there. It was so quiet in my mind when I went there. This song is sad, written by a lonely englishman in new york.

Refuse To Lose: I remember wanting to take this song in a TV On The Radio direction in the production at one point. This song is what it says. Triumph against adversity. Don't be phased by the world. It's my rocky theme tune to myself! It's my fight music. "We're all fighting our own battles" as the song says, and this is the soundtrack to mine!

Honest: My favourite song on the album always. Understated with a huge release of color and truth at the end. Lisa Fischers soaring ad libs at end hark back to Pink Floyd's "Great Gig In The Sky." Recorded in New Jersey. About being honest with myself and those around me.

Heart and Soul: About following your dreams and chasing your destiny.

Speak: Originally on my first So So EP I totally rediscovered this song as I was making the album, so gave it some brand new clothes to wear, even changing the time signature and inviting Carina Round to sing the voice of the sub conscience. Love the build. This was recorded in Prague.

Black and White Days: A hyper ballad about something loved.

Product Description

After leaving school at 17, Gary worked at a string of record companies and recording studios, like Eurythmic Dave Stewart's Artist Network. Gary even interviewed for a job at Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios, but was told by Gabriel himself that maybe he "should concentrate on songwriting." Luckily, Gary took his advice. He traveled to America, where he worked at a New Jersey recording studio and rented a room in Frank Sinatra's old house in Hoboken - there he composed many of the songs that appear on Gary Go. Gary now brings bona fide pop hits to the US. Having just completed tours with two of Britain's all time best selling bands Take That and Lady Gaga, Gary is on his way to the US. "Wonderful" the first single is already climbing the pop charts at radio after topping the charts in the UK and Italy!

See all Editorial Reviews

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great for light chillin', September 21, 2009

By 

T. Sullivan (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gary Go (Audio CD)

(What's this?)

I wasn't sure what to expect from Gary Go, since apparently the Amazon review claims Peter Gabriel thinks he is a songwriting genius. Its good. There aren't any tracks that particularly stand out as songs I must listen to over a million times (I'm that type of person) in a single week, but all of them are really solid. I find that when one of the songs comes up on one of my shuffles at work, I always notice it - in a good way. His songs are fun, flowy and heartfelt, especially "Wonderful".

So Gary Go is not my new singer/songwriter idol, but he is definitely staying on the heavy rotation list.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice gentle vibe, September 17, 2009

By 

Andrew Gray "Beezer Review" (Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gary Go (Audio CD)

(What's this?)

I think this is one of those CDs that you will either really enjoy or not care for at all. For me, I personally really enjoyed this one. Gary Go is obviously a fantastic song writer, many of the song's lyrics take you on journeys, sometime even when you don't expect it.

I usually never fault anyone for their vocals and I will keep that the same. I will say at times Go's vocals come across as a little unrefined, I think it adds that something extra t his style. Much like David Wilcox and Gary Jules.

For fans of singer/songwriter indie style music I would really encouarge you to take a listen to the clips and see what you think. I for one, am glad I did so.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Polished but dull..., September 17, 2009

By 

Don Walton Jr. (Albuquerque, NM United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Gary Go (Audio CD)

(What's this?)

Gary Go certainly has some talented producers behind his sound, but the overall product is fairly generic. It was a chore to try and swallow this entire record without losing interest. It's a standard contemporary pop record. The kind of thing you hear while shopping in your mothers department store of choice. Unoffensive background noise, but nothing exciting or ear-turning present either.