"Drift Away"
Dobie Gray
Decca 33057
March 1973 • Billboard: #5

obie Gray never had the consistent recording career that, judging from his output, he surely deserved. Poor promotion, contract difficulties, bankrupt record labels...something always seemed to creep up and crush his career in its tracks. But with indefatigable energy, he kept on pushing, with the net result being only three Top 40 songs spanning fifteen years. "Drift Away" was the kind of song that had to make it, no matter how many curveballs it needed to dodge, simply because it was such a great record. Other great records of his fared much worse, but "Drift Away" was tenacious enough to float to position #5 on the strength of its lingering melody and Gray's melancholy but soulful voice.

For some reason, a lot of people were writing music about music at a time when music wasn't particularly good. "Killing Me Softly With His Song" (Roberta Flack), "Last Song" (Edward Bear), "Sing" (the Carpenters), "Song Sung Blue" (Neil Diamond), "The Guitar Man" (Bread), "Listen to the Music" (the Doobie Brothers),

Released in April 2001, Uni/Hip-O's 20-track Dobie Gray - The Ultimate Collection features his Top 5 hit "Drift Away" as well as the hits "The 'In' Crowd," "You Can Do It" and "Loving Arms."

and "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing" (either the New Seekers or the Hillside Singers) were all contemporaries of one another, but few rose above the simpleminded notion of their lyrical themes. Gray sings about how a good song can help us temporarily forget our problems. The lyrics cut right to the audience's desire to personalize a song and lose themselves in the rhythmic drive of the beat. When times are hard, music is a means of escape, helping us ease our worries by transcending them. This is no small matter, and the beauty of "Drift Away" is that it enacts exactly what it is celebrating. When it comes on, we drift away.

Gray survived during his off years by doing a few acting stints and recording demos for songwriter Paul Williams. It was through this association that he met Williams's brother, Mentor, who was also a songwriter and, more importantly, a record producer. On the strength of his relationship with Mentor Williams, Gray obtained a contract with MCA Records and recorded an album in Nashville that is now considered a minor classic. "Drift Away" was the title song and was both written and produced by Mentor Williams. It sold 1 1/2 million copies and was later covered by Rod Stewart, among others. Although his subsequent records were also topflight and memorable ("Loving Arms" sold over 100,000 copies), Gray drifted away from the public eye and into obscurity. He would resurface again six years later with his last minor hit (#37), "You Can Do It." He continues to perform in and around Nashville.

- Thomas Ryan, American Hit Radio, Prima Entertainment, 1996.

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