the Dr. Hook Classic Hit "A Little Bit More"
The music industry truly is a fickle place, and acclaimed songwriter Bobby Gosh is a very good example of that. Love Stories has catchier songs and better lyrics than most singer/songwriter adult contemporary albums released around the same time. There is something to be said for writing memorable love ballads, and he obviously has a very strong talent for that. Any adventurous adult contemporary fans should really give this a chance, there are some really sweet and amiable tracks here that showcase an undiscovered talent.
CD Review: Gosh's 'Love Stories" ,straight from the heart
By Jim Lowe Times Argus Arts Editor
Bobby Gosh's new album, "Love Stories" is a paean to love with a tenderness that comes only with age. Set to Gosh's '70s-style finely crafted pop-rock music, the 11 songs on this recently released CD are the varying thoughts on love by the middle-aged Brookfield musician.
Particularly unusual and beautiful is "Touch Me Softly," a duet with Vermont gospel-blues singer Tammy Fletcher, with the music adapted from the classical favorite, Pachelbel's "Canon."
Gosh's raspy tenor contrasts Fletcher's bluesy contralto as they both implore, "Let this moment last forever." Gosh's lyrics aren't Shakespeare, but they feel direct from the heart. Fletcher and Gosh, who plays keyboard synthesizer as well as sings, are joined by Russ Lawton on drums, with background vocals by Patty Akley Warlick, Nancy McCarthy and Wendy Bourland.
This song, like the other 10, is expertly crafted and performed, which is no surprise given Gosh's musical pedigree. Although he now lives in Vermont, Gosh got his start in New York writing songs with Sammy Cahn and touring with the likes of pop singer Paul Anka. His songs have been recorded by Diahanne Carroll and Englebert Humperdink, and have been featured in movies like "Big," starring Tom Hanks, and Woody Allen's "Aphrodite."
Gosh also creates music for advertising and has composed, produced and sung on more than 200 national radio and television commercials, including those for Burger King, Pepsi Cola and Post Honeycomb cereals.
Which makes it no surprise that this album is truly polished - but it also has Gosh's tender heart.
Most of the songs represent aging love. "No One but You" is a thinly veiled tribute to Gosh's wife Billi, known to Vermonters for her time as chairwoman of the Governor's Commission on Women. "Wednesday Afternoon Lady" chronicles the bittersweet affair between a 40 year old man and a 20 year old woman. But, it's "Ten Thousand Times" that sums up the album: "I can't get enough of you, no matter how I try, and I'll keep tryin' every day as all the years go by …"
"Love Stories" songs by Bobby Gosh (plus Johann Pachelbel), performed by Gosh on vocals and keyboards, with vocalists Tammy Fletcher, Wendy Bourland, Nancy McCarthy; Kip Meaker, Val Davis, guitars; Russ Lawton drums, percussion. BGM 33351-2, Bygosh Music
Now Has a Pop Lyric for theWedding Season
BROOKFIELD, Vt. /Bygosh Music/ -- A haunting 300 year-old melody played traditionally at weddings has now become a love song by Bobby Gosh, ideal for the wedding season. Gosh is the composer of the classic Dr. Hook hit love song, "A Little Bit More."
Gosh adapted the "Pachelbel's Canon in D" melody to his lyric and recorded "Touch Me Softly" as a duet with Tammy Fletcher, a recent winner of the Apollo Theatre Talent Contest in Harlem. It is featured on his romantic new CD, "Love Stories," available exclusively through www.bobbygosh.com.
"I couldn't sit through another wedding listening to this beautiful melody, without writing a lyric to it," says Gosh. "My intention was to write a love lyric pointed towards a wedding ceremony, which is the culmination of a love affair."
The lyric:
Touch me softly, leave me never
Let this moment last forever
Hold me closely, let the love flow
Kiss me gently, let the love grow
When you're with me I'm on fire
You fill me with desire
For pleasures we have found
You have touched my very soul
Yes, you have made me whole
You turned my life around
When the world's too much to bear
Touch me softly, I'll be there
And like the sun will light the rainbow
We'll shine bright and make it right
...I know
Though Gosh's voice is more like Joe Cocker than Andrea Bocelli, and Fletcher's voice is more like Whitney Houston than Sarah Brightman, their soulful recording of the classic 300-year-old melody might even qualify in the hot new Classical Crossover category.
Jim Lowe of The Times Argus (Montpelier, VT) has called the album "straight from the heart," and described "Touch Me Softly" as "unusual and beautiful, with the music adapted from the classical favorite, 'Pachelbel's Canon.'"
"I envisioned two people standing together, expressing their love and commitment to each other," says Gosh. "I imagined what would be going on in their minds as they begin to face today's messed-up and unpredictable world, believing that love conquers all."