Gilbert O'Sullivan - No Matter How I Try (1973)

Raymond Edward O'Sullivan was born in Waterford, Ireland in 1946. He attended St. Joseph's and the Swindon College of Art, where he briefly played drums in a band called Rick's Blues, along with Malcolm Mabbett (guitar), Keith Ray (bass), and Rick Davies,who later founded Supertramp. In 1967, O'Sullivan was signed to a five-year contract with April Music after coming to the attention of the professional manager Stephen Shane, who also suggested changing his name from Ray to Gilbert, as a play on the name of the operetta composers Gilbert and Sullivan. With his advance of £12 he bought a piano, and the songs that he composed at this time were quite avant-garde, even drawing the interest of Vivian Stanshall and the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, who were interested in recording a couple of them. After two unsuccessful singles with CBS, 'Disappear' and 'What Can I Do?', and one with the Irish record label Major Minor, 'Mr. Moody's Garden', he sent some demo tapes to Gordon Mills, the manager of Tom Jones and Engelbert Humperdinck, whereupon he was signed to Mills' label, MAM Records. His self-created eye-catching visual image comprising a pudding basin haircut, cloth cap and short trousers was certainly memorable, and although Mills reportedly hated it, O'Sullivan insisted on using it initially, until he assumed a more modern 'college-like' look after his first album was released in 1971. 
At the end of 1970, he achieved his first UK Top 10 hit with 'Nothing Rhymed', and subsequent hits followed including 'Underneath The Blanket Go', 'We Will' and 'No Matter How I Try', the latter winning an Ivor Novello Award in 1972. The same year he reached international stardom with 'Alone Again (Naturally)', which reached No. 3 in UK and No. 1 in the US, and which still brings a lump to the throat if you really listen to the lyrics. O'Sullivan followed that with 'Clair', and this was the first time that I actively disliked one of his songs, feeling that he'd sold out for an easy buck with an overly-sentimental slushy ballad. However, I was in the minority on that, as it reached No. 2 in the US and No. 1 in the UK and Canada. 'Out Of The Question' was another top 20 hit on both sides of the Atlantic, before another one of my least favourite of his songs 'Get Down' once again hit No. 1. This was the only song that I wasn't keen on from the otherwise excellent 'I'm A Writer Not A Fighter' album, which also included the singles 'Friend Of Mine' and 'Ooh Baby'. Many of his early singles never appeared on his albums, and so this collection is very much a greatest hits, as well as a mopping up of his lost and forgotten songs. The cover is based on a picture from fineartamerica.com.

Track listing

01 Disappear (single 1967)
02 You (b-side of 'Disappear')
03 What Can I Do? (single 1968)
04 Mr Moody's Garden (single 1969)
05 Everybody Knows (b-side of 'Nothing Rhymed' 1970)
06 I Wish I Could Cry (single 1971)
07 No Matter How I Try (single 1971)
08 Underneath The Blanket Go (single 1971)
09 We Will (single 1971)
10 I Didn't Know What To Do (b-side of 'We Will')
11 Alone Again (Naturally) (single 1972)
12 Save It (b-side of 'Alone Again (Naturally)')
13 Ohh-Wakka-Doo-Wakka-Day (single 1972)
14 A Very Extraordinary Sort Of Girl (b-side of 'Get Down' 1973)
15 Good Company (b-side of 'Ooh, Baby' 1973)