One of the best things about 2013 was my re-discovery of Matt Goss. Well, that might to too strong of a word, I never forgot him. Bit of background for you non-Brits or indeed for those of you too-young-to-remember: Matt Goss was the lead singer of Bros, an 80s One Direction if you will, with his twin brother Luke on drums and friend Craig Logan on bass. They were massive. Brosettes (the word for die-hard Bros fans) was a verb. The best description of Bros I have heard is they were a British cultural phenomenon. Whilst I don’t confess to being a full-fledged Brosette, if only for the lack of their “uniform” (the Bros sweatshirt with their logo on it), I do remember watching an interview with Matt on one of the music channels and thinking to myself how can anybody be that wonderful?!? That aside, it has always been about music to me, and that’s what I loved first and that’s what it’s all about to me still.
Matt’s 2004 solo album “Early Side of Later” is one of my all time favorite albums, up there with my George Michael, Kate Bush and Robbie Williams records. I recently went through my CD collection and threw most of them away (only because I have the digital versions!) but “Early Side of Later” is one of the few I could not part with. I know it’s all about downloads nowadays, but I still proudly hold onto my absolute favorite CDs. Letting go of them would just feel like letting go of some of my closest friends. Music, as they say, is an emotion.
10 years on from “Early Side…” and Matt Goss has emerged as a bona-fide Vegas crooner with his own headlining show at Caesar’s Palace and the songs, the songs… His new album “Life As You Imagine” has already been added to my favorite albums of all time list. The song I absolutely adore on the album is “Mustang” (video below) it is so stunningly beautiful with a very touching lyric. I have also included an album sampler for those of you who have not heard the album yet. It’s a feel-good album with a definite classic American songbook feel about it with a huge orchestra and gorgeous arrangements. On a personal note, I cannot believe I somehow managed to miss Matt’s recent live shows in London but next time, I’ll be there. You better believe it.
LIFE AS YOU IMAGINE ALBUM SAMPLER
WAY BACK WHEN…
I had just moved to London on my own for the first time (this must’ve been in late 1987), I was listening to Capitol Radio in the afternoon and they played “When Will I Be Famous” a new single from this “next-big-thing” called Bros. They interviewed the boys on air and I think I decided to go and get the single right then and there. It must be annoying to artists when they have quite obviously moved on, for people to keep bringing the old stuff up (it’s like pointing out to the kids I now work with “Wow, you’ve really grown!” and they look at you like “Duh! Captain Obvious…”) but I think it’s more about a shared experience in time. I had that Smash Hits magazine. I had “Chocolate Box” music video on repeat on this new fandangled gadget we called the VCR. And most of all, Matt, and all you other 80s teenagers out there….where we ever really that young?
Ahh…. the memories.
MORE ON THE WEB:
Matt Goss Interview on Huffington Post
Matt on Daily Telegraph about Bros and Life As You Imagine
Images: Matt Goss Instagram, Matt Goss Music Instagram – click on the links and follow!
Smash Hits and Chocolate Box cover from Google, because, no, I did not save them.
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