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It's been a while (well, comparatively, given that my support of him has already been established ridiculously often) since I've written about Gareth Gates, hasn't it? I've neglected to mention loads of news--new songs on his MySpace, album cover, Popjustice interview, and so on. With the physical single of "Angel On My Shoulder" out this week and the album out June 25, there may not be a better time to revisit him. I said once that I could run this blog for a month on good songs Gareth has done, and I wasn't joking--I really could (though don't worry; I'm not planning on it). I've heard "Anyone Of Us (Stupid Mistake)" several times on Internet radio recently, surprisingly enough, and each time I'm reminded of how good a song it is--good enough that it's been released in several other countries by several other singers in their native languages (I know I've posted Swedish singer Mathias Holmgren's version before and Sarbel, Greece's representative to Eurovision this year, has released a version as well; his version includes more differences in the music itself than Mathias's does). I can't believe I've never posted the following song, but it doesn't show up when I search, so I guess I haven't!

Absolutely--Gareth's second album is full of great songs, but I think this is one that seems to be popular (relatively) among people who don't particularly think of themselves as Gareth fans. This song is one of the Tyler James-penned ones (along with "Foolish"), but it's less soul-inspired than I guess I think of Tyler's work as generally being; you could probably call it "funky," though that's somewhat of an awkward adjective. "Absolutely" is thoroughly pop, completely catchy, and very electronic--not in the sense of electronica, but rather that it's not a live instruments sort of song. Hinged upon a prowling sort of electronic line, the song, an ode to the pinup model who you also happen to be sleeping with ("I've got your pictures all over my wall/But I've got the greatest secret of all"), also throws in some repeated nonsense syllables for good measure; it all adds up to a song with a little attitude and a whole lot of catchiness.

To buy Gareth Gates's second album, Go Your Own Way, go here (physical) or here (digital). You can pick it up on eBay or Amazon Marketplace for incredibly low prices and, given that it's a double album and has tons of great songs, it's definitely a good investment. Possibly more important, though, would be getting his new (not-yet-out) album Pictures Of The Other Side, which you can buy here.

Next up: maybe something Swedish. But I'll try to avoid going so Swede-crazy again, at least as much as possible.