MICHAEL GRAY Vinyl & CDs

Review: ***B-STOCK: Sleeve damaged but otherwise in excellent condition***


Michael Grey is a London-based house talent who finally unveils his long awaited album, Optimism. This double-gatefold beauty on Optimism is a timeless listen that takes in myriad house styles. There are sample heavy mid-tempo rollers like 'Fly Away' as well as blissed out vocal cuts for loved up floors like 'You Got To Remember', sophisticated disco-tinged cuts like 'Where Do We Go From Here' and feel good summer anthems such as 'Don't Want Anybody'. What unifies them all is the high class produciton and lavish quality of the most uplifting music.

Review: Jamie Odell aka. Jimpster has more than earned his decorations as a progressive house producer and musical facilitator of cosmic renown; now the Freerange and Delusions Of Grandeur label owner crops up for an incandescent remix of Michael Gray and Tatiana Owens' 'Ivy'. One of the central disco-funk gallantries featured on Gray's recently released 'Optimism' EP - on which Owens brings a wassailing alto performance against stinger string hits and spattered drum layers - Jimpster's version is softer and comparatively metrical, measuring its time through carefully controlled delays and French touch nods.

Review: Michael Grey is a London-based house talent who finally unveils his long awaited album, Optimism. This double-gatefold beauty on Optimism is a timeless listen that takes in myriad house styles. There are sample heavy mid-tempo rollers like 'Fly Away' as well as blissed out vocal cuts for loved up floors like 'You Got To Remember', sophisticated disco-tinged cuts like 'Where Do We Go From Here' and feel good summer anthems such as 'Don't Want Anybody'. What unifies them all is the high class produciton and lavish quality of the most uplifting music.

Review: 20 years ago now, Michael Gray secured what you can rightly say was a global and monumental crossover dance hit when he dropped 'The Weekend' in 2004. To mark its 20th anniversary and as part of this year's Record Store Day celebrations, it is making its way, for the first time ever, to a limited edition coloured vinyl 7". This one comes with the celebrated original sleeve artwork and that's not all, because it also includes a previously unreleased 7-inch Version from Gray himself: titled the 'Sultra 7' mix, it comes with live strings and a lush ambient feel that makes this even more essential.

Review: Michael Gray brings his famously soulful sound to this new release on Sultra and it very much taps into a timeless vibe and old school disco feel. The grooves are nice and loose, the percussion is organic and fresh and the vocals, which re-sing a real classic, solar to the heavens next to mid tempo beats. After the A-side extended mix featuring Kimberly Brown & The Sultra Gospel Singers comes 'Never Let You Down' (feat Anthony Poteat & LaMay - extended mix). This one is a little deeper, quicker and funky, but is no less impassioned with its live vocals and lush synth work all bringing the good time vibes.

Review: The esteemed Michael Gray is back once again with his superb house sounds, this time on Sultra with 'Save Me.' An extended mix of the title cut opens up and is the sort of glorious crossover anthem that will unique any crowd with its clean and soulful vocals, pristine sax notes and swooning strings, all married to a breezy and effortlessly catchy groove. After the dub version comes 'Ivy' which is another accessible, heart-swelling and radio friendly house sound that harks back to the proper songwriting days of yore, then 'Season High' closes with a bright synth one that twists and turns next to celebratory chords and singalong vocals.

Review: For the latest missive on his Sultra label, long-serving British house producer Michael Gray has offered a double dose of delight. On the A-side, you'll find two versions of his latest collaboration with vocalist Tatiana Owens, 'Season High'. First Charlie Price delivers his 'Space Odyssey remix', a hybrid nu-disco/deep house roller full of warmth, soul and intergalactic electronics, before Risk Assessment slaps down an organic disco-house take rich in sweeping strings and jaunty piano stabs. Over on the B-side we get two versions of Antonello Ferrari's 'Music Is Life' - Gray's typically punchy, fluid and hands-aloft interpretation, which foregrounds Sulene Fleming's gorgeous vocals, and Ferrari's own organic disco-house interpretation (a mix full of sultry strings, bouncy beats and mood-enhancing vocals).