CD Review: On Days Like These – Gary Williams

ON DAYS LIKE THESE – Gary Williams (GARY WILLIAMS – BOS6828)

Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

A new album from the fantastic Gary Williams is always a treat but this one even more so because he had no intention of recording it! Stuck in strict lockdown in Tenerife (I can think of worse) he started up a daily broadcast on social media, entertaining his fans with a song a day from his kitchen. Called Kitchen Cabaret, it was a way for Williams to still connect with his fans from all over the world. The feedback was so great that he launched a crowdfunding campaign, encouraged by his fans, and raised enough money to record an album with the songs he had been singing during lockdown.

This track listing is slightly different to the usual tracks you would expect from Williams, things like Roberta Flack, Jim Croce and Fleetwood Mac tracks.

Here is the listing: ‘The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face’, ‘On Days Like These’, ‘Time in a Bottle’, ‘My Favourite Year’, ‘What Am I About?’, ‘So Nice’, ‘Songbird’, ‘It’s Impossible’, ‘Where Do I Begin?’, ‘Joanna/The Good Life’, ‘Didn’t We’, ‘Something In the Way She Moves’, ‘The Days of Wine and Roses’ and ‘Songs to Make Love To’.

A couple of those tracks are self-penned, along with his writing partner Jon Nickoll (tracks 6 and 13 listed above).

As with all Williams’ albums you get the smooth silky voice of a true artist. He loves what he does and it shines through in his performances. Looking tanned on the cover of the album, you can tell that Tenerife has been good to him and, once again, thank you to him for another glorious album.

Nick Wakeham