Having spent seven years as one of the bozos in Boyzone, Gately's career has now spiralled into exciting new territory. Solo territory. A chance for the 'brave' Irish Personality Of The Year to stand up tall and proud and say, "Yes, I'm a performer in my own right. And I'm better than that Mikey Graham. And Ronan. And, er, the other ones."
Anyway, Gately - Smash Hits' Hero Of 1999 - has taken a hard look at the possibilities of his solo career, and taken decisive action. He's hand-picked a selection of songs (some covers, some ballads, some four-to-the-floor stormers and some which use orchestras) and worked his crazy scientist of sound magic on them. OK, it all sounds a bit like Boyzone - only with less people singing - but the raw, untamed emotion of it all will blow your mind.
No-one does 'sad' like Gately. His personal bravery shines through at all times. He's taken the difficult experiences of the last 12 months (Yes! He's an openly gay man, can you believe it?) and whittled them down to something real, something true, something that rhymes, kind of. From the opening blast of 'New Beginning' right through to the acoustic revelry of 'You Lied' and 'Do Without Me', he takes his duck-whistle voice and makes you want to weep tears. By the time he gets to 'Bright Eyes' - the sad song about rabbits - he's proved that if he wanted to he could make a badger cry.
Yes, these are his first brave steps into a new and exciting world. Yes, it's not perfect. Or even any good. But by God, 'New Beginning' offers proof aplenty that Gately has got what it takes to put his own indelible - and undeniably frothy - stamp on modern music. Mikey Graham better have something pretty special up his sleeve, or else he's going to end up with some real egg on his face. That's right, we're giving this record a big 10/10 for bravery. And a slightly lower 2/10 for the tunes and that.
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