Gary Wright - Headin' Home

Boy howdy, this was more than a bit surprising - in a good way. Not long ago I'd found The Light of Smiles, Gary's follow-up to The Dream Weaver, and while I enjoyed the album it really didn't have legs or stick with me after I'd put it back on the shelf. That's not a shot, I listen to a lot of stuff that frankly doesn't have a lot of object permanence - I attribute this more to me than the music. I'm old now, and I don't process things the same way. I either like it, or I don't.

Sometimes I'll really like it, and sometimes things stick.

When I first saw the cover of Headin' Home when I was poking around Gary's discography I was pretty dismissive. I mean really, who needed to see a deeply tanned and permed Gary sitting bare chested (okay not bare, it was covered in curly hair) and manspreading his red pants. Thankfully the image was cropped.

So yeah, there wasn't a lot of appeal. I already knew there weren't any hits here, and I had no desire to hear Gary go to the well again with diminishing returns. I liked the couple of albums I had, I didn't really need more.

Never say never.

The other day I found this in a bin, and of course I have the will power of a kid trying not to eat free marshmallows. If this was a TV procedural with the inevitable court scene I would be treated as a hostile witness. Not to the marshmallows, the record, I didn't want the record.

The two previous records had a bunch of credits which I really enjoy and I was really disappointed Headin' Home didn't have them on the back jacket. My copy didn't have an insert so I assumed the credits were on the inside - they likely weren't as I didn't see them listed on discogs. The wiki entry for the album shows a wealth of information, but I have no idea how it was gathered so I'll take it with a grain of salt, but I'm going out on a limb (okay a pretty thick branch) and am going to assume it's accurate.

Why does it matter?

It doesn't, I just like credits.

Anyway, I'll sort of loop back to this in a way as I go along and drop a name or two, but mostly I will just jibber jabber while gathering my thoughts ... okay, thought, singular.

Let's start with first impressions. Those are always fun and often a bit transient as that first blush often gives way once things settle into place.

I liked this one. I did not expect this one to be so good.

So let's get into this thing and pull it apart track by track. I've been listening to this for about a week off and on, and I kept coming back to it which was a little unusual but for whatever reason this one got under my skin.

The opening track set the tone for the album. "Keep Love In Your Soul" was Gary but different at the same time. I really like this song, and as it went along it just got better and then came the guitar solo. Yeah, a guitar solo. Likely played by Steve Lukather, the bends and phrasing sure sounded like him.

From there Gary kept throwing little curve balls, the next song "Love's Awake Inside" starts with a classical guitar and some synth strings as Gary sings over the gentle melody. The song slowly builds and settles into a laid back groove. One thing that hit me early was how good Gary sounded. His voice was confident and practically soaring. This was a far cry from the previous album where I thought his voice sort of sucked.

The next couple of tracks "You Don't Own Me" and the dreamy "Moonbeams" hearkened to Gary's earlier work but they didn't feel like he was grasping for past glory, he was just being himself. "Moonbeams" in particular was a throwback but it was so good and didn't feel forced or out of place.

The first side ended with "Stand" that was very dance oriented ... disco, there I said it. It's a song I waffle on. Sometimes I get right into it, and other times it irritates the shit out of me. However, in the context of the album it's right where it needs to be.

Side two opens strong with "I'm the One Who'll Be By Your Side" that had backing vocals by Michael McDonald, and the song had a really good groove. It's a great album track, not really a single but man it is one of the standout songs on the album.

"Follow Next to You" starts out as a pretty standard ballad, but transitions into a shuffle that sounds like Jeff Porcaro behind the kit. Decent keyboard solo and the song has a great groove.

"I Can Feel You Cryin'" kicks off with a great guitar solo riff and is a decent middle of the road rock track. Yeah, I said rock, as the song has a bit of grit to it and combined with a great groove this is really good and then the guitar solo kicks in (likely played by Mister Lukather as some of those bends and the phrases certainly sound like him) and it just pushes it over the top. It could be argued it's a generic pop song, but it still sounds like Gary Wright which I thought was pretty cool.

"Let Me Feel Your Love Again" clocks in under three minutes and is the shortest song on the album. It's essentially a piano ballad. Nothing special, but it was pretty and did what it set out to do.

The album closes out with "Love is Why" and for those keeping score this is the fourth song to contain the word love in the title. It's a weird song. I can't shake the feeling it was the last song because it sounded like something you'd hear as end credits are scrolling. Probably the weakest song on the album but every time I hear it, the song feels like an appropriate ending.

So there you have it. Despite having dissected this one and pulled it apart the album was a real surprise and frankly it was really good.

With that I'm done and I can't end by saying I'm headin' home because I never left. I am also left wondering why I spent so much time on this album when I probably could have just said, "Man, you really can't judge an album by the cover. This was really good, and it's still Gary Wright but with a twist."

Okay now I'm done. I'll be headin' upstairs.