november 03, 2024

Gilbert O´ Sullivan - Back To Front (1972) (LP) €5,00

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posted by ad-vinylrecords

Back to Front is the second studio album by Irish singer-songwriter Gilbert O'Sullivan, released in October 1972 by MAM Records. 
The album follows the success of his 1971 debut album Himself and singles such as "Alone Again (Naturally)". Coinciding with the album, O'Sullivan abandoned his distinctive dress sense, which included a short cap and trousers, and instead presented himself as a more masculine, hairy-chested singer with a perm, wearing sweaters with the letter "G" emblazoned on them, which helped establish him as a sex symbol. 
O'Sullivan wrote the album's songs at home during night-time writing sessions, and recorded the album with his manager and producer Gordon Mills in London. 

As with Himself, the album combines show tune-inspired pop music with string arrangements, but also places an emphasis on piano-based songs. 
O'Sullivan's lyrical style displays his characteristic observational, kitchen sink style, with songs boasting humorous twists and a wide range of musical and lyrical influences, including Fats Domino. Upon release, Back to Front was a critical and commercial success, reaching number 1 on the UK Albums Chart and allowing O'Sullivan to become the era's best-selling British-based artist. The single "Clair" was a UK chart-topper. 

In an interview prior to the release, O'Sullivan explained that, as with its predecessor, Back to Front is "just [...] a collection of songs." Similarly to his previous work, the album contains orchestral pop melodies and "quizzical, idiosyncratically-phrased lyrics," though the record also contains more piano-based songs than before. In the opinion of AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine, the album retains the show tune-inspired pop of its predecessor, but is glossier and slicker, with greater care taken to write "sprightly theatric tunes, songs that take great pride in their clever-clever twists, smiling, crowd-pleasing melodies, and [songs which contain] proudly cheeky sentimentality." In an interview during the album's recording, O'Sullivan described his lyrics as an observational, "uneducated look at things," and said he would often base songs on situations he read in newspapers because "they are current. They move on every day."
Similarly to Himself, the album is bookended by short intro and outro songs. The intro track invites listeners to "join the hunt," and seamlessly segues into "I Hope You Stay", which concerns romance and unemployment, which is then followed by "In My Hole," an orchestral pop song with a Johnnie Spence-scored trumpet part reminiscent of Hugh Masekela's 1968 jazz hit "Grazing in the Grass" and lyrics concerning an introverted 'hermit' who refuses to engage with the world around him. "Clair", meanwhile, concerns O'Sullivan's babysitting of Mills' daughter Clair, and finds the singer in his "distracted interior monologue" mode. He wrote the song to Clair's parents as "almost a thank you to them." 
"That's Love" is a characteristically off-kilter love song with a doo-wop turnaround chord sequence, while "Can I Go with You" is a tribute to the early work of the Beatles, exuding a youthful idealism, themes of young romance and the "chiming romanticism" style of Paul McCartney. These songs are followed by "But I'm Not," which features a twelve-bar blues structure in the style of Fats Domino, who O'Sullivan was introduced to by Rick Davies, O'Sullivan's former Rick's Blues bandmate and later a member of Supertramp. The song is suffixed by an "outro" to side one.

Side two opens with the bluesy shuffle of "I'm in Love with You," featuring the distinctive slide guitar of Big Jim Sullivan. 
It is followed by the darkly humorous "Who Was It?", with its narrator "tripping a girl up in order to meet her," and "What Could Be Nicer", which is one of O'Sullivan's 'family songs' with "very English" kitchen sink lyrics that wistfully detail domestic scenarios with "home-spun philosophy," according to writer Chris Ingham. 
"Out of the Question" concerns a lover's mood swings, while "The Golden Rule" is one of O'Sullivan's most musically inventive and lyrically offbeat songs, with its "assonant convolution and linguistic legerdemain." 
As with "But I'm Not", Fats Domino influenced the song "I'm Leaving", which opens with an octave synthesiser and features lyrics of urban claustrophobia that O'Sullivan has described as perhaps chronicling his childhood town Swindon failing to achieve city status. 
The album's outro song follows, where O'Sullivan bids listeners farewell.


Side one
1.  Intro / I Hope You'll Stay - 2:49   
2.  In My Hole - 2:46  
3.  Clair - 3:00  
4.  That's Love - 3:02   
5.  Can I Go With You - 2:46   
6.  But I'm Not / Outtro - 2:34  

Side two
1.  I'm In Love With You - 4:25  
2.  Who Was It - 2:31  
3.  What Could Be Nicer (Mum The Kettle's Boiling) - 3:06   
4.  Out Of The Question - 3:01  
5.  The Golden Rule - 2:37  
6.  I'm Leaving / Outro - 3:07


Companies, etc.
Credits

Notes
Released:  1972 
Format:  Vinyl, LP, Album
Genre:  Pop
Label:  MAM 
Catalog#  MAM 6376 501

Vinyl:  Goed (VG)
Cover:  Goed (VG)

Prijs: €5,00

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