PRNewsFoto/UMe“Dream Weaver” singer Gary Wright has just released a lost album titled Ring of Changes that was shelved after he recorded it back in 1972. Wright made the album with his then-band Wonderwheel, which featured future Foreigner guitarist Mick Jones, while Gary’s friend George Harrison contributed slide guitar to one of its tracks, “Goodbye Sunday.”
Ring of Changes initially had been intended to be Wright’s third solo effort, after 1970’s Extraction and 1971’s Footprint, but his label A&M Records decided to cancel the project. Gary eventually revisited the recording and finally decided to release it.
“I hadn’t listened to it in 40 years, but when I put it on, I thought to myself, ‘I can’t believe this was never released,'” he explains. “It was more of a rock album than what I had done, but I think it stands up alongside anything that you might hear being played on classic rock radio around the world.”
Gary adds, “I’m proud of it and I’m glad it’s finally coming out so everyone can hear what we did all those years ago.”
Wright come to fame as a founding member of Spooky Tooth before going solo. He became friends with Harrison when their mutual friend Klaus Voormann invited Gary to play keyboards on George’s classic solo album, All Things Must Pass. Wright and Harrison went on to collaborate numerous times.
With regard to George’s contribution to “Goodbye Sunday,” Gary recalls, “We were in the studio and I was showing him the song. He just started playing slide guitar and came up with that line, which I think really worked.”
Ring of Changes is available as a digital download and an import CD.
In other news, Wright has three U.S. concerts scheduled in August:
8/19 — Kent, OH, The Kent Stage
8/20 — Edwardsville, IL, The Wildy Theatre
8/21 — Green Bay, WI, The Meyer Theatre
Here’s the Ring of Changes track list:
“Lovetaker”
“Wild Bird”
“Something for Us All”
“Set on You”
“Ring of Changes”
“Goodbye Sunday”
“For a Woman”
“Workin’ on a River”
“Creation”
“I Know” (bonus track)
“What Can We Do” (bonus track)
“Somebody” (bonus track)
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