David Gray Century Ends CD

U.S. reissue of the 1993 debut album for the British adult alternative sensation who finally got the attention his music deserves with his 1999 album 'White Ladder'. Ten tracks on this CD, including his first single, 'Birds Without Wings'.

Personnel: David Gray (vocals, acoustic guitar); Neil Maccoll (vocals, guitar, mandolin); Robin Millar (guitar); Michael Smith (saxophone); Dave Anderson (piano, Hammond organ, Wurlitzer organ); Mark Smith (bass); Steve Sidelnyk (drums, percussion).
Every note on David Gray's debut album, A Century Ends, is sung with raw heartfelt emotion. Gray's lyrics depict a man broken by love and wanting to escape the boredom and monotony of his current station in life. On the title track, Gray challenges himself to make changes in his life before the next millennium. Gray's coffeehouse acoustic guitar and gritty Welsh-accented voice provide the backdrop for a majority of the tracks. The two exceptions are "A Century Ends" and "Wisdom," an upbeat ode to regret, complete with the only catchy chorus on the album. However, this album is not about hooks and feel-good melodies -- Gray grabs the listener with his poetic lyrics and takes off on an introspective ten-song ride through desperation, regret, lost love, and a longing for change. If A Century Ends is an indicator of things to come, then Gray has the potential to become a prolific singer/songwriter. ~ Erik Crawford
David Gray's '93 debut marked him as a unique and important voice in folk-rock. His emphatic acoustic guitar strum and his Van Morrison-via-Steve Forbert vocal burr are the sonic focus here, but it's Gray's passionate, poetic songs that really take center stage. Imagine the protagonist of Joyce's PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN picking up guitar and pen, and you'll be on the right track.
Gray's emotive delivery and heartfelt lyricism are full of youthful angst and passion. On "Birds Without Wings" and "Gathering Dust" he recoginizes the faults of the world around him as well as his personal failings, but on the transcendent, definitive "Shine," he expresses an unquenchable desire to rise above petty cares and find spiritual contentment. It's the battle for that contentment that's so expressively documented on A CENTURY ENDS.

Q (8/01, p.149) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...Reveals that Gray always was a vibrant talent, and also an angry young man fuelled by purpose...full of troubadour spirit..."