REVIEW

Gary Des-Etages – “No Compromise”

Gary Des-Etages – “No Compromise” (FER)
Most promo copies of this long awaited album have featured only a couple of tantalising minutes of each track before cutting into the next one. And, with very few full length versions allowed to trickle out of FER, the buzz is understandably large for this month’s release of a debut album that should firmly establish Gary as the UK’s leading male soul vocalist of today. It’s no exaggeration, as anyone who has had the pleasure of seeing his dynamic live performances over the last couple of years will testify. He’s been around for a bit longer than that as well, honing his skills as songwriter and performer, waiting for the right label to give him the creative freedom that he needs. And a couple of the songs on the album, “Can We Ever” and “2 Much 2 Lose”, were around as promos in the early 2000. His cult status has grown steadily on the soul scene from those early days and, under the production skills of Barry Bee, now has an album that will appeal equally to the R&B crowd as well – as the recent singles “Anything” / “Don’t I Know You” and his earlier gems “All I Wanna Do” and “Dance With Me” have shown. His version of the Change classic “Glow Of Love” is the one the soul fraternity has been eagerly waiting for, but there are many other good tracks on the album, particularly “U Don’t Try To Change Me”, which cleverly samples the Dramatics’ “Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get”, and the classy downtempo pair “How Can I Love You Down” and “Why” both standing out. A very impressive debut.
Reviewed by Steve Hobbs – Blues & Soul.
The Soul Of Gary – No Compromise
An album that I have been waiting many years for – like numerous others – is the debut album from Gary Des-Etages. Over the years, Gary has been shown interest by several majors that have wanted to dilute his organic soul and propel him to crossover pop – driven R&B/Soul market. Gary refused to bow to this pressure, as he believed strongly in his music, songwriting and vocal ability. So it was to an independent that Gary turned his attention in order that he might release the kind of album that suited him. Fortunately for all concerned, FER put pen to paper an in return got just about one of, if not the best UK soul vocalists around. The album, suitably entitled “No Compromise”, opens with his current urban hit “Anything” - a drum ‘n keys – driven stunner that kicks off the set with style and class that’s maintained throughout this excellent debut. On a more soulful groove comes the smoothed out “My Mind Won’t Let Me” whilst as far as danceable retro-sounding soul is concerned, it really doesn’t get any better than “Don’t I Know You”. Frankly, it’s hard to pick favourites from such a strong album but “Bad Mutha Luva” takes some beating and shows why numerous people have made comparisons with the likes of soul legends such as Marvin Gaye. The title track and “I Knew” will have soul fans thinking they have died and gone to Soul Heaven, such is the quality of these tracks which sharply focuses on the sheer beauty of Gary’s vocals. And retro classic grooves shine brightly on the breathtaking “U Don’t Try To Change Me”. But if I had to pick just one track to reflect the Des-Etages quality, it would have to be the stupendous “How Can I Love You Down”. If there had been a finer example of what the majors have missed out on, I have yet to hear it. Beautifully crisp production, sublime vocals and lyrically powerful songs. Just what else are record companies looking for? Also on hand, of course, are the A1 singles: “All I Wanna Do” – quite simply one of the best soul songs period (put this up against any American artist, play it in twenty years and it’ll easily stand the test of time) – and the exquisite soul dancer “Dance With Me” – in my humble opinion, we’re talking a modern soulful R&B masterpiece here, my friends.
Reviewed by Bigger – Blues & Soul