March 25, 20169 yr The problem unfortunately is, this is what the press love to do, and they love kicking someone when they are down. They also are so biased, they pick on who they like and propel others.
March 25, 20169 yr The timing was indeed interesting. It followed within days of the extremely successful documentary on Gary. Whilst the press had every right to highlight the bands involvement as it was a legitimate journalistic story, the venom directed at TT was surprising. There was a story in the DM on ID recently but it hasn't garnered much publicity and other stories have hinted at other mainstream artists/celebrities involvement in schemes - but again with little public backlash. TT confirmed they paid the outstanding amount back some time ago, even though to my knowledge other investors are still challenging the legality of the governments stance. However, almost two years on the vitriol towards Gary remains unabated in many quarters. Recent twitter comments still hark back to that period with very personal comments made about him. Some TT fans responded to nastier tweets but in a very gentle and polite way which was nice to see. Since the bad publicity he's continued his charity work but in a low key way. I do think it's a shame he's had to back away from things like CIN because of the media - whether his charity work was for his own personal profile we will never know, but I don't think it was purely for self serving reasons. In terms of the new album -I'm really enjoying it. I have to say that the Mark/Gary combo is indeed one of the weakest on the album but there are some gems on there. I'm not keen on the Kim Wilde song - but I've never liked her voice so that may well have influenced my view. Great reviews all around and 80's fans appear to have embraced the album which I think was a labour of love for Gary.
March 25, 20169 yr Author Fly tops the soundtrack chart this week :) Another no 1 for Gary. So, so happy for him :yahoo: :cheer: I'm really loving Fly, Moment, Living Inside My Heart, People Like You, Determination and The Sky's the Limit :dance:
March 25, 20169 yr Author The press at the time "embellished" the story as they pleased - so much for journalistic objectivity and truth. They made it sound as if Gary had been on trial, when, in fact, his name hadn't even been mentioned in court; they also made it sound as if Gary had been lying about the money and withholding information, something which, again, wasn't true, as he had declared where he had invested his money and nobody had stopped the State till then from claiming tax on that money. They also forgot to mention that it took the authorities 10 YEARS to decide whether the scheme was in the realm of legality or not. There were JUDGES who had invested in that scheme - I'd say that, for a society, that should be considerably more worrying than a simple artist following his accountants' advice. But the papers conveniently ignored that part of the story and focused on one of their favorite characters - Gary. In case some of you didn't catch on, I truly, deeply, madly despise papers and the so called journalists :lol:
March 25, 20169 yr My take on the tax issue is that Gary took a hammering from the press due partly to what they perceived to be his political affiliations; although I reckon he's one of the least political pop artists around. Those couple of words he uttered when walking around a school with DC certainly came back to haunt him. He's normally very guarded in what he says because he's acutely aware of the repercussions- but in this instance he blurted something out which I'm sure he thought was quite innocuous - how wrong was he!! Glad the album is No 1 in the sound track charts - some really good tunes on it. I can imagine Gary singing some of them, particularly Moment, although his voice isn't as powerful as TH so it would sound very difficult to Tony's rendition.
March 25, 20169 yr Delighted to see Gary at the top of the charts with this again! It really is a great album! Milly, I love all the songs you mentioned above too! Great to hear Gary getting praise from the artists involved in this too!
March 26, 20169 yr Author I, for one, would love to hear Gary sing Moment :D I asked Roycey on twitter if he'd nominate one of the songs on Fly for an Ivor next year and he liked my tweet. Maybe we get lucky and next year Gary adds another Ivor to his collection. I agree with you, dylandog. Gary doesn't seem very concerned with politics. I'm sure he supports the monarchy, but I'd say that's as far as his political views go. His one appearance with David Cameron seems to be the stem of all the hatred he attracts :unsure:
March 26, 20169 yr Seeing as Cameron won a majority of votes from across the UK and has been PM for 6 years, I'd say appearing with him once shouldn't even be an issue. If he was hanging around with Nigel Farage then I'd understand :lol: Edited March 26, 20169 yr by jay727
March 26, 20169 yr Seeing as Cameron won a majority of votes from across the UK and has been PM for 6 years, I'd say appearing with him once shouldn't even be an issue. If he was hanging around with Nigel Farage then I'd understand :lol: You're right of course - I can't see Gary having the influence to make people vote the same as he does. I think as far as the tax thing goes though - it was the juxtaposition of that (and of the scheme mentioned - Take That - well three of them - were by far the biggest 'investors' - and you don't put the amount they put in without doing a little homework) next to his charity work - made him come across as one of the biggest hypocrites of the day. I think that is why the press gave him a harder time than most others (with the exception of Jimmy Carr - who was treated far worse - AND by Gary's friend David). But hey-ho - that's life! At the moment I'm more troubled by the selfish bast*rd who took the bumper off my new car last night and drove off - leaving us to find the car this morning with its arse-end hanging off. I'm just hoping its just the brackets that need replacing - then the bumper can be put back. If not - and the brackets are moulded to the bumper - it means I have to fork out for a new bumper. If that's the case - its going to cost me about £750 minimum. Its pointless reporting it as well - the police are as much use as a condom would be to the Pope!
March 26, 20169 yr Author Gary and Holly on Graham Norton today: http://www.filefactory.com/stream/11bz5lp61iah I wish Holly were as graceful about Gary as Gary is about him and the other artists. Holly seems a bit self-centered and - this may be just my impression - a bit jealous of all the attention Gary is garnering.
March 26, 20169 yr Kath, that's a pretty mean thing to do - hopefully it won't cost as much as you think. Someone crashed into the side of my car last winter. Although it wasn't my fault and the insurance company recouped all their costs I've just had the renewal notice for my insurance and it's gone through the roof !!! Just listened to the radio interview and enjoyed it. HJ has never been the shy and retiring kind, he's quite a confident chap. Ascension is my favourite off the album but I have a soft spot for Thrill Me because it's so catchy. I have a bad feeling about the new TT album. I was hoping Gary would hint that they've reverted back to the sound of BW/Circus but the fact he said they've taken a direction that wasn't expected fills me with trepidation. I swear if they've gone down the electronic route I'll scream from the roof tops. Gary said in the interview that his signature sound and the one that best represents him is a ballad- so if they've veered from that sound yet again then I'm simply not buying the album I'm afraid.
March 26, 20169 yr Kath, that's a pretty mean thing to do - hopefully it won't cost as much as you think. Someone crashed into the side of my car last winter. Although it wasn't my fault and the insurance company recouped all their costs I've just had the renewal notice for my insurance and it's gone through the roof !!! I think you're right - I think I may have been looking a bit too much on the dark side. The guy at our local garage says he's quite confident its just the bumper brackets - and if so - it'll be just the cost of those, labour, and polishing out the scratches. I still think I'm looking at a couple of hundred quid - but that's life I suppose! Still - I've got Mr Blue Sky to look forward to a week on Tuesday - that should cheer me up! :)
March 26, 20169 yr Good news. A couple of hundred is still a lot but better than several hundred. I don't know why people do that - I wouldn't be able to sleep at night if I'd damaged a car and simply drove off. I'm sure you'll have a fab time at the concert -and it seems to have come around quickly.
March 26, 20169 yr Good news. A couple of hundred is still a lot but better than several hundred. I don't know why people do that - I wouldn't be able to sleep at night if I'd damaged a car and simply drove off. I'm sure you'll have a fab time at the concert -and it seems to have come around quickly. I'll give you a review of it when I get back. I like his new album quite a lot but I hope the majority of the concert is filled with tracks from his earlier/pure ELO stuff.
March 27, 20169 yr Author HAPPY EASTER to everyone who celebrates it today! Sorry about your car, Kath. I don't actually understand what it was done to it, cause I haven't got a car, but I hope it can be fixed quickly and you won't have to lose too much money. A couple of hundred pounds sounds quite expensive to me - it's what my sister makes as a teacher each month. I'm with you, dylandog. If they go down the electronic route again, that will be an album I won't be purchasing. It will go down the same route as Progress for me. Hopefully, what was unexpected for the boys was that Gary's latest projects would rub off on them and influence their sound :P One can only dream :D I'm not set on them rediscovering the sound of BW, but I do want them to follow a more acoustic path and let the vocals shine instead of drowning them in all that electronical effects. I had Better stuck in my head all night. I'd be happy with an album that had that sound, but I don't know if most fans would love it. Edited March 27, 20169 yr by milly
March 27, 20169 yr HAPPY EASTER to everyone who celebrates it today! Sorry about your car, Kath. I don't actually understand what it was done to it, cause I haven't got a car, but I hope it can be fixed quickly and you won't have to lose too much money. A couple of hundred pounds sounds quite expensive to me - it's what my sister makes as a teacher each month. Thanks Milly. It is a lot of money by any reckoning. I feel a bit like Walter White from Breaking Bad at the moment - one step forward and two steps back! :(
March 27, 20169 yr Happy Easter to everyone too! Hope you're all enjoying the time with your friends and families! Edited March 27, 20169 yr by jay727
March 28, 20169 yr Bit late, but belated happy easter to all. Big year in Ireland this year with the 1916 commemorations so it was a very historic weekend for us.
