In 1974 Gilbert O'Sullivan released the stand-alone single 'Christmas Song', which reached No. 12 in the UK, but this was the start of a slow decline in his success, with subsequent singles tending to miss the top 20. 'Ooh Baby' and 'Happiness Is Me and You' charted, but sales were decreasing, and in June 1975 he had his last Top 20 hit with 'I Don't Love You But I Think I Like You'. Things turned even more sour when he discovered his recording contract with MAM Records greatly favoured the label's owner, Gordon Mills. A lawsuit followed, with prolonged argument over how much money his songs had earned and how much of that money he had actually received. Eventually, in May 1982, the court found in O'Sullivan's favour, describing him as a 'patently honest and decent man', who had not received a just proportion of the vast income his songs had generated. They awarded him £7,000,000.00 in damages, but although he'd won, the court battle put his recording career on hold. In 1980, after a five-year hiatus, he returned to his old record label CBS, and the first single 'What's In A Kiss?', put him back into the UK Top 20. Following this release, and due in part to the then-ongoing MAM court case, O'Sullivan released no new material between 1983 and 1986, and apart from the single 'So What?' in 1990 and a compilation album in 1991, he was absent from the charts until another compilation album, 'The Berry Vest Of Gilbert O'Sullivan', returned him to the UK Top 20 in 2004. O'Sullivan is also noted for his role in bringing about the practice of clearing samples in hip hop music, as a result of the 1991 court case, Grand Upright Music Ltd. v. Warner Bros. Records Inc. In this case he sued rapper Biz Markie over the rights to use a sample of his song 'Alone Again (Naturally)', and won 100% of the royalties, making sampling an expensive undertaking from that point on. His most successful years as a singer/songwriter were from 1971 to 1975, so I'm concentrating on the non-album singles and b-sides from those four years, and the fact that I can make up two albums of them shows just what a prolific talent he was during that period. He's still writing and recording today, but for most of us he'll always be remembered for those classic songs from the early 70's. The cover is based on a painting by John Springfield. 
Track listing
01 Why, Oh Why, Oh Why (single 1973)02 You Don't Have To Tell Me (b-side of 'Why, Oh Why, Oh Why')03 Christmas Song (single 1974)04 To Cut A Long Story Short (b-side of 'Christmas Song')05 Happiness Is Me And You (single 1974)06 Breakfast, Dinner And Tea (b-side of 'Happiness Is Me And You')07 Going Home (single 1974)08 Come To See Me Yesterday (single 1974)09 Get Out Of My Life (b-side of 'Come To See Me Yesterday')10 I'll Believe It When I See It (single 1975)11 Just As You Are (b-side of 'I'll Believe It When I See It')12 You Are You (single 1975)13 Tell Me Why (b-side of 'You Are You')
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.
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)
