ARTICLES - GARY BARLOW Dotmusic April 97

The US opens up for debut album

A year ago, the industry was keenly anticipating the debut solo single from Gary Barlow. The singer himself meanwhile, relaxed and garrulous, was looking forward to the imminent completion of his album and its impending autumn launch. Forever Love duly debuted at number one only to be knocked off the top spot a week later. Then the project slid quietly off the schedules and was put under wraps until now with the release of the second single Love Won't Wait on April 28 and its attendant album, Open Road, scheduled for the last week of May. Had there been a crisis of confidence or was everyone playing their cards very closely to their chest? In fact, Barlow freely admits they chose to rerecord almost the entire album after Clive Davis, the president of his US label, Arista, became involved with the project. "After I played the BMG conference in LA he asked if he could help out on the album and offered to put me in touch with anyone I wanted to work with," says Barlow. "Everyone I asked for he could deliver, so I thought I can either finish this album pretty quickly at home, or I can take the chance of my life and work with all these people I'd dreamed of working with. I decided it didn't matter if it took another six months, I had to do it and I'm glad it's taken as long as it has because I've become more comfortable with being on my own." Barlow duly overhauled the entire album, jettisoning all but three of the original eight finished tracks, recorded with Chris Porter, and collaborated with several big US names including producers David Foster (Michael Jackson) and Walter Afanasieff (Mariah Carey) and songwriter Diane Warren. Accordingly the album, a mellow ballad-heavy affair, appears to be pitched squarely with the US in its sights, though RCA managing director Hugh Goldsmith maintains that the performance of Forever Love, a worldwide hit everywhere but the States (where it was not released) had no bearing on events. "Clive Davis had always felt that he wanted to wait for the finished album before releasing a single, but at the time Gary felt that he wanted to get a record in the market so we put one out. The decision on the album wasn't influenced by what happened to Forever Love. We simply wanted to make a comprehensively brilliant record and I think we've done that." Barlow agrees the album is now more suited to the States but maintains that wasn't the only thing which influenced his decision. "I haven't done it just for America. This is my most important album, my debut and it's got to be right," he says. "Fundamentally it's still my voice which is probably more English than it's ever been." A separate agenda accordingly exists in the States with a different single, So Help Me Girl, and a June release date for Open Road. Another factor in the delay was Barlow's acrimonious split from his manager of six years standing Nigel Martin-Smith. Simon Fuller of 19 Management, currently riding high with The Spice Girls, takes over officially next month. "It was a real upheaval, a horrible time," Barlow admits. "I lost faith basically. I wanted things to move on, but the ideas weren't right, there was conflict there." One immediate by-product of the partnership is the track Lay Down For Love written with The Spice Girls team of Richard Stannard and Matt Rowe. "I desperately needed uptempo stuff and it worked really well. They're going to be very big writers in the future - great real potential," says Barlow. Barlow's difficulty in writing uptempo numbers explains the presence of several covers on the album - despite his earlier declaration there would be none - including the Shep Pettibone-penned single Love Won't Wait and the Trevor Horn-produced take on Johnny Bristol's Hang On In There Baby. "I struggle to do uptempo stuff, the lyrics are a problem, but it comes together when I collaborate," he says. "Next time I'd like to co-write the whole album, a real star-studded affair - duets the lot." That prospect is a long way off, as Barlow is scheduled for heavy promotional work for the entire year that precludes even touring. "This is a very important album," says Goldsmith. "We need to work it with every ounce of energy and vision to make sure we establish him as a world artist for the future. Our first objective is to nail his career in the UK then move on. We have an ambitious campaign which involves intensive exposure here before he goes to the States and so on." We can expect a tour but not until early '98. "I can't wait to play," says Barlow. "I want it to be really musical, very vocal orientated with five or six backing singers, three or four numbers at the piano. With Take That it was always 'the lights!', 'the dancing!' No one ever mentioned the music." That, without doubt, is all set to change.
Mike Pattenden