Gilbert O’Sullivan

Back To Front (Download)
DeLuxe

Cat. No.: DDSALV054
Barcode: 0698458815484
Playing Time: 45 mins

If 1971 had established Gilbert O’Sullivan as an intriguing new song writing talent with an unforgettable off-beat image, 1972 saw him become even more successful and, somewhat surprisingly, a sex-symbol. The pale, be-capped Just William character pictured on the previous album, Himself, had become a not-so-distant cousin of manager and producer Gordon Mills’ other manly stars, Tom Jones and Engelbert Humperdinck, and on the front of his second album he looked handsome, tanned and sexy.
Alone Again (Naturally) and Clair, the singles that preceded the album, had been enormous hits in both Europe and America. The former spent six weeks at number 1 in the US and the latter was only kept from the American top spot by Carly Simon’s You’re So Vain. Yet it wasn’t until the release of Back To Front in October 1972 that Gilbert finally got around to touring.
“I wanted to concentrate on writing,” explains Gilbert. “My apprenticeship wasn’t going
through clubs and small venues, it was sitting in a room trying to write songs. So I didn’t miss getting on the road. Television was easy – in and out, and I could go home to my house and concentrate on the real work.”
And the real work was now really paying off. Back To Front was also hugely popular in the UK and, alongside the aforementioned singles (and his exciting new image) it helped to propel Gilbert to international superstardom.