Until the last month, Gilbert O’Sullivan had completely disappeared off my radar!! Then my girlfriend informed me that she was a fan, and courtesy of Amazon I bought her a Gilbert O’Sullivan CD for her birthday in July. Then last night BBC4 broadcast a documentary on the singer songwriter – “Gilbert O’Sullivan – Out on His Own”, and the memories of the early 1970s came flooding back!!

Everytime I hear a Gilbert O’Sullivan ditty, I’m automatically transported back to Sunday lunchtimes in the family kitchen in the early 1970s – Mum cooking the Sunday Roast, Dad reading the Sunday Express at the worktop and “Family Favourites” on Radio 2 providing the soundtrack to this scene of middle class, bourgeois domestic bliss. And Gilbert O’Sullivan was very much part of the staple  diet on a Sunday in the Sterland household, along with the joint of beef or leg of lamb!! He was constantly requested on “Family Favourites”; his easy listening, catchy tunes being popular with all generations.

There was a certain innocence and sweetness about Gilbert O’Sullivan’s songs that was strangely contradicted by the personality of the man in the BBC4 documentary!! He came across as a tetchy, irritable, intolerant and frustrated man!! Whether this was due to him uncomfortable with the intrusion of the cameras into his very  private, slightly reclusive life or whether it was borne out of a deeper sense of bitterness caused by him being shunned for 30 years by the media and showbusiness world, is a moot point. There certainly seemed to be an element of bitterness, bubbling close to the surface, which manifest itself by a statement regarding early 1970s fellow singer songwriter Elton John’s sustained success in the intervening years!! Well, I have to say Mr O’Sullivan, as good a performer as you are, there is no contrast with Mr John!! The latter has displayed a far greater dexterity and diversity over 40 years, which is the key to maintaining success. It occurred to me as I watched the documentary unfolding, that as witty, incisive and observational as Gilbert O’Sullivan’s lyrics are, he is not the accomplished pianist and musician that Elton John is!! The truth is that Gilbert O’Sullivan is a very good tunesmith, but a bit of a one trick pony. In essence he was a man of his time, never destined to transcend the decades!!

Whatever the complexities and repressed angst of Gilbert O’Sullivan, I prefer to remember him as the sweet natured man in the cloth cap sitting in front of his piano, singing tunes like “Nothing Rhymed”, “No matter how I try”, “Alone again ( Naturally )” and his brace of No1s “Clair” and “Get Down”. Whenever I hear those songs on the radio, I’m automatically transported back to a more innocent time in the early 1970s………that only songs can now recapture……..

You can capture, preserve and re-live Gilbert O’Sullivan at the height of his powers, by ordering your favourite Gilbert O’Sullivan vinyl record or CD, single or album, framed and mounted as a picture disc. ORDER NOW by clicking on…….. http://www.myfirstrecord.co.uk/

Alternatively this would make a unique present or original gift for a special celebration  ie a Wedding, 40th, 50th or 60th Birthday, a Silver or Ruby Wedding Anniversary, Father’s or Mother’s Day or Valentine’s Day!! THE PERFECT PERSONALISED PRESENT!!

For all other Gilbert O’Sullivan  merchandise, memorabilia and news, go to his official website…… www.gilbertosullivan.net/