Gary Wright - The Light of Smiles

Gary Wright followed up his double platinum release The Dreamweaver in 1977 with The Light of Smiles. It must have been a surprise and a bit of a disappointment when the album didn't perform as well as hoped. It did chart as high as 23 on the Billboard top LP and Tape chart according to what I read on the wiki, but it must have been more of a spike than anything. As the album didn't seem to attain any certifications that I could see. Not that it matters, I've said it before, and I'll likely say it again (more than once) most of my favourite albums never really attained any significant commercial success. 

I'd seen this album over the years, but that was about it. Gary Wright was Mr. Dreamweaver and I'm sure somehow it was worked into his epitaph when he passed away a couple of years ago. For me I was really curious about this one, lately I've been a sucker for finding albums that follow a big release. For Gary Wright he was flying high after The Dreamweaver and it probably seemed like he could do no wrong. I'm sure he figured he was about to knock another one out of the park. The Light of Smiles was released in January of 1977 which meant that he'd recorded the album in 1976. Yeah I figured that out all by myself. 

Now if you're like me you probably never heard on the radio the lone single pulled from the album, "Phantom Writer" which was quite different than the two radio hits he was known for. The song was a quasi live track that was essentially a piano ballad that eventually morphed into a mid tempo soft rock song with some fiddly synth bits. For all that it's a decent song, really it is ... and from what I've read it peaked just outside the top 40. Then again I was just thirteen at the time, more likely twelve and frankly I was not the target audience.

Anyway, enough of the pseudo history lesson and a brief summation of what you can read yourself on various pages yourself. I suppose if you're here it's either by accident or you've somehow come for the cheese.

I've been listening to this for a couple of days and I'll be frank and say the first cursory play through I didn't think much of it and I was inclined to right it off (no pun intended ... what pun you ask? Right ... Wright? Okay, it was a stretch, and even now as I type this I'm inclined to just delete most of this paragraph, but chances are you're reading this anyway which just goes to show I am too lazy to even hit the delete button) but I did enjoy it, even if there weren't any immediate "holy moly" moments.

I've gone through this a half dozen times and this is a really good album. I'm not sure who the genius was who chose "Phantom Writer" as the single - it was a misstep but I don't know why the record label didn't regroup and drop "The Light of Smiles" or even the funky "Are You Weeping" as they sounded like the Gary Wright from the radio. Heck even the opening track "Water Sign" was really good bordering on excellent, and even Gary himself said in an interview he'd have been better off releasing an edited version as a single.

Now the one thing that surprised me was how limited Gary Wrights vocals were. On some of the tracks he sounds like Chris De Burgh or Steve Winwood without the range or power but there is an undeniable sweetness that is sort of captivating. Considering how good I thought he was on The Dreamweaver this seemed off to me. Then again it was probably just me. I like Gary's voice and he's singing his songs his way.

Audiences are fickle, and while it seems like I've laid the blame for the album's performance at the foot of a poor lead single, the reality is this was the '70s and albums were the shit baby. As far as follow ups go The Light of Smiles was a really good album. Musically this was still driven by synths and keyboards with fantastic drums provided by Art Wood and Jim Keltner. David Foster is all over this, as is Peter Reilich on keyboards supporting Gary. Heck a young Steve Porcaro plays moog bass on a track.

I've really enjoyed this one, frankly a lot more than I expected. I suspect part of the fun was not knowing anything and having no preconceived judgment other than a simple question: why wasn't this a hit?