Gary Barlow's Debut Solo Album

Gary Barlow is one of his kind. Unlike many of his counterparts, he does not sing sugar-coated ballads which you find in boyband music. Barlow himself is ac omposer and producer. The debut from the former Take-That lead vocal is quite a pleasant surprise. I have to confess that up until when I saw this CD promoted at local Virgin Megastore, I had no idea who Gary Barlow and the Take That were. So please excuse my ignorance. In this solo debut, Gary Barlow has delivered some very beautiful ballads and tunes.

The import version might vary slightly from the US version. The most popular and familiar tune is probably Track 12-BACK FOR GOOD (Live) from the Take That days. Gary Barlow performs it live and sounds even better than the Take That version in their 1995 release NOBODY ELSE (obviously I have done some research after I found out about Gary Barlow).

My favorite picks go to two very beautiful soft ballads Track 09-FOREVER LOVE and Track 10-NEVER KNEW. FOREVER LOVE was Barlow's first released single and topped most charts in Europe. FOREVER LOVE would be a very appropriate romantic choice for wedding. The lyrics are beautiful. NEVER KNEW resembled the previous Take That release HOLDING BACK THE TEARS. In the US version, Barlow also remade and performed a solo version of HOLDING BACK THE TEARS.

Track 02-SO HELP ME GIRL is a very catchy ballad. It is somewhat more upbeat than FOREVER LOVE and NEVER KNEW. The title track Track 11-OPEN ROAD achieves a nice balance with heavier sound resembling light rock. I'm surprised the import version does not include the song SUPERHERO because it might actually be the best songs in the entire album not counting the soft ballads. Track 07-I FALL SO DEEP sounds a little like a country tune, still beautiful. Note like Barlow wrote most of the songs in the album and that shows how talented he is as an artist/composer. I absolutely enjoyed listening to the album. In fact, I listened to the whole album at the record store listening station. Gary barlow does not release very often but his music is worth the wait.

Gary goes crazy in cornwall

oh wow!the creative genius of all records ever made sparkles in solo form even more than ever.....
without gary's influence, the beatles wouldn't have made the white album, the stones wouldn't have made exile on main st., dylan wouldn't have made blonde on blonde, the muppets wouldn't have released muppet hard house classics vol4...

it's like decades but worth the waiting!

it's like decades waiting for gary to release his debut solo album and now, it's here and it's worth the waiting!
being my fav TT member, gary has proved that he did it with flying colors.
this album is more towards sentimental, the debut solo single, "forever love" has already stole everybody's heart with his smooth vocal and sentimental tune.
his second single, "love won't wait", an up tempo number, has make people can't wait to get his album, expecting a variety of music and styles.
from the first number til the 12th, gary has made this album worth of being in the collection series, compiling of 12 of his best selection, this has been on my player since the first second i got this!
highly recommended songs are definitely the 2 awesome singles, "forever love" and "love won't wait", and get ready to give away ur heart again with "so help me girl" and "open road", "open road" is something that has deep meaning from its lyrics written, my personal fav, too!
others? well, explore them urself!