Stuary Godfrey _ When You're Gone

Hear The Track Here

Wtf is a 'special relationship' anyway? Not the way I see it at all. Like Stuart Godfrey, from my earliest memories, I have had a love affair with the United States of America. First as a young child obsessed with western movies, later as a young musician who used America to sharpen my own musical knowledge and expertise. Also like Stuart I spent several years living there, marrying one of its many daughters and now find myself a father of American children. In fact, I consider myself as much an American as I do English; I cannot see the differences between our two countries. Other than the fact that a HUGE pond separates us, the things that define us as people (along with the Canadians, Aussies and the Kiwis) are the principles we hold in common.

Special relationship my ass, it's the family stupid! (Ed: OK enough of that soapbox!)

Surprisingly enough, the UK has long been a good market for US country music, and there are many English musicians who have managed to make a living out of this most American of musical genres. Stuart, who lived in Arkansas for a few years, picked up a love for the genre while there, and is now back in the UK putting that experience to use. A comparative newcomer to Soundclick (and MP3 Unsigned I notice), he only has five tracks up on his page at present, When You Are Gone being one of them. There is an old saw that goes something like 'write about what you know' and I've always absolutely agreed with that. This musician too has taken it to heart with some highly personal songs about the things that matter in his life.

When You're Gone, for example, is about 'a new start and reflecting on what you have to give up for it' which is something I also know only too well. To better understand the point of the song it would be prudent to read the comments the artist has for this song. 'Yeah, but is it any fekkin' good Gilmore?' you shout. Well, Stuart is doing himself no favours whatsoever at rendering the file at a measly 48kbps, which while making for an easy (1.3Mb) download does absolutely whatsoever for anyone with decent audio setups. Matter of fact, I'd love to hear this even as a 128kbps track. As it is, the version I have does show a clean, clear production (mind you, the instrumentation is quite light) and a very decent song. Obviously it's home produced on a shoestring but I'm absolutely certain it can sound better than this version and it should because the song truly deserves it.

Decent country song, marred by below par rendering. Recommended nonetheless.