Album Review: Gary Go by Gary Go

Gary Go rose to attention after touring the U.K. with Take That, and his self-titled debut offers the same sort of epic, polished pop that Take That embraced post-reunion. This is unapologetically commercial stuff, laced with touches of symphonic strings and fueled by choruses that aim for the cheap seats at Wembley Stadium. The genre is certainly familiar -- a veritable melting pot of Keane, the Script, and greeting card sentiment -- yet Go still manages to carve out his own identity, appropriating the chimes of U2's guitars and the polished piano balladry of Coldplay without succumbing to complete imitation.

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Damningly dubbed "a one-man Coldplay", Gary "Go" Baker will get his big break this summer, when he supports Take That on their stadium tour. It's obvious why he got the gig, rather than scores of other new songwriters: his musical values are so similar to Take That's that you can hardly see the join. Singing in a light, yearning voice (and, you imagine, clasping his aching heart as he does so), he achieves a sound nearly as grand and polished as theirs on a 10th of the budget (so imagine what he could do with the orchestral backing his songs demand).

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