The only album I’ve ever heard of Gary’s is The Dream Weaver. Can’t say that I love the album but I do love the title track. Is there anything else by him that’s noteworthy?
The only album I’ve ever heard of Gary’s is The Dream Weaver. Can’t say that I love the album but I do love the title track. Is there anything else by him that’s noteworthy?
I remember having the Dream Weaver album automatically shipped to me when I forgot to mail back the monthly Columbia Record Club card, saying not to ship it. I thought the album overall was ok, but not great.
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I liked his work in Spooky Tooth. Solo, not so much.
Cobra handling and cocaine use are a bad mix.
If you don't have Spooky Two, that's the one to get!
Ring of Changes was finally released a couple years ago and is quite good imho.
Following his departure from Spooky Tooth after the Ceremony album, Gary Wright participated in sessions for his friend George Harrison's classic album All Things Must Pass and enjoyed a solo career that culminated in him forming the band Wonderwheel. Originally featuring Mick Jones (guitar), Bryson Graham (drums) and Archie Leggett (bass), Wonderwheel was formed to enable Wright to promote his album Extraction, and the group then participated on his second solo album Footprint. In 1972 the band recorded Ring of Changes (with Tom Duffey replacing Leggett on bass guitar). The album was a fine effort and arguably featured some of the finest material written and recorded by Wright to that date. The album would also feature the notable appearance of George Harrison on several tracks including 'Goodbye Sunday'. Gary's label, A&M Records elected to release 'I Know' as a single in 1972, but for reasons unclear, the release of Ring of Changes was shelved, leading Wright to participate in the recording of George Harrison's Living in the Material World and to reform Spooky Tooth soon after. With full co-operation and involvement of Gary Wright, the original master tapes of Ring of Changes have been located and have been re-mastered in Hollywood by Gary himself. This first ever release of Ring of Changes sees the original album tracks restored in full, along with the addition of three bonus tracks. Forty four years on from its recording, one of Gary Wright's fine musical achievements can at last be experienced in full. This edition includes an illustrated booklet featuring an exclusive interview with Gary Wright.
RE; Spooky Tooth. Yes, Spooky Two is a classic of the era- and an often overlooked one IMHO. One of those albums which is great all the way through. I prefer their originals to the Vanilla Fudge-type covers, and Spooky Two is mostly original material. 'Evil Woman' is the only cover and is arguably their best, a really epic blues-rock track.
Their debut It's All About also has a few strong originals like 'Sunshine Help Me' and 'Love Really Changed Me'.
I only have Dream Weaver of his solo albums.
I like "My Love Is Alive" much better than the title track. Saw him live around the time he was riding high on that release, as part of a four-act bill at San Diego's Balboa Stadium. Wright was sandwiched between Gentle Giant and Peter Frampton, with Yes closing the show.
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http://www.waysidemusic.com/Music-Pr...MCD-spc-7.aspx
The follow-up, The Light of Smiles, is pretty much a frisbee, unless you’re forgiving of dated 70s guru devotional crud (I’m not). Heading Home is surprisingly decent if you have a tolerance for late 70s/early 80s soft rock. I also have the 45 RPM single of his lone 80s hit, “Really Wanna Know You,” something of a guilty pleasure (if you love the sound of the Prophet 5, you’ll probably also get something out of it).
RE: Spooky Tooth. I am definitely seconding the Spooky Two recommendation. Ceremony is an interesting experiment, but definitely try before you buy—that one elicits some pretty strong reactions! And I, for one, really like The Mirror, especially its epic title track. Mike Patto sits in for Mike Harrison and to my ears, does a good job (Then again, I really like Mike Patto!).
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I dig Dream Weaver. If you're a keyboards guy (like moi), it's good sh*t. (There are no guitars on the album, which was uncommon for the time.)
Steve Porcaro helped him out, too, as you no doubt know. Here's a cool live clip from '76. Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego.
WHOA. Never knew there was any footage from that day. (And it was the old Balboa Stadium, where the Beatles once played, not Qualcomm.) Now let's turn up some footage of the Yes and Gentle Giant sets.
Hurtleturtled Out of Heaven - an electronic music composition, on CD and vinyl
https://michaelpdawson.bandcamp.com
http://www.waysidemusic.com/Music-Pr...MCD-spc-7.aspx
Watch that video very carefully, and you can see a few shots of Yes' Crab Nebula stage set (Gary was opening for Yes on that tour).
Good luck with that. I suspect that the only reason that Gary Wright footage exists is because someone at the record company thought it'd be a cool idea to shoot a video during the concert. Yeah, I know there's talk of Yes filming several shows on that tour, and the director absconding with the footage, but that was almost certainly a completely different transaction that had nothing to do with this.Now let's turn up some footage of the Yes and Gentle Giant sets.
Hmmmmm.....fake audience noise....now we know where ARW got the idea!
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I have his Extraction album. Pleasant listen (on a soulful rock style) but nothing essential. Was not tempted to proceed further.
I remember a thread on Steve Hoffman concerning bargain-bin regulars and that album was mentioned. I have to say even in the UK (where I don't think he was ever a solo success), I've seen more copies of that one around than the Dream Weaver album!
I really don't like that 90s remake of 'Dream Weaver' for Wayne's World or whatever it was. But I dare say he did OK out of it!
I know he's on All Things Must Pass and was a good friend of George Harrison. It does sound very like his piano work on 'Let It Down' (similar licks in 'I've Got Enough Heartache') but someone claims it's Gary Brooker, someone else says it's Billy Preston.
Last edited by dropforge; 09-08-2020 at 11:35 AM.
Are You Weepin was played quite a lot on Dutch radio. But that's from The Light Of Smiles.
I only liked that song, never got into his other stuff.
Good to hear that someone else actually "discovered" that obscure 80's hit. Great song and as you say the keyboard work is beautiful. I always wish he had recorded some extended, deeper cuts and released them as a Prog album, at least Prog related. "Dream Weaver", "Love Is Alive" and "Really Wanna Know You" show that his songwriting ability was there, albeit limited in scope. He could have done so much more of substance with that keyboard playing.
When I saw "Gary Wright", I thought this was going to be a RIP thread. Thankfully not. I have a bunch of his albums. Wright is definitely pop rock and usually on the lighter side, no prog here. His lyrics are usually about love, relationships, being wronged or his spirituality. Its the sound of his music that gets me, especially the keyboard bass he plays on most of is songs. The drums are usually placed prominently in the mix with the album "Who I Am" probably having the most emphasis on the kit (mostly Terry Bozzio) . He very rarely employs a bass guitarist. All of his albums are keyboard based and "Dream Weaver" only has one track with any guitar (courtesy of Ronnie Montrose).
He has dabbled in Brazilian, Indian and New Age music a bit on some of his albums. If I was going to recommend four of his albums, it would be "Dream Weaver", "Light of Smiles", "Who I Am" and his last album "Connected" from 2010. The first two albums are his most keyboard oriented (always good with me) The latter probably being his least keyboard oriented album. It may be his best.
Of note for the Spooky Tooth crowd, Wright covered two ST tracks on his "Human Love" album. Both Wildfire and The Wrong Time and are given a good workout. Best tracks on the album imho.
Last edited by Tangram; 09-17-2020 at 03:29 PM.
There’s some pretty excellent synth-bass on his recordings. That became more of a trend in the 80s (think Madonna’s early singles with that ARP 2600 bass) but it was kind of pioneering for Gary. Only Stevie Wonder and Gino Vannelli were really doing the synthesizer-bass thing back then (well, apart from a few obscure acts like Seventh Wave).
Again, I point you in the direction of “The Mirror.” The potential was there, but it just wasn’t what he wanted to do, I guess.
Complete with truly bizarre, trippy video from Brian Grant. What was he on?
Confirmed Bachelors: the dramedy hit of 1883...
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