Top 10 Gary Wright Songs

Photo: By Jean Fortunet [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], from Wikimedia Commons

Our Top 10 Gary Wright Songs list looks at the solo career of perhaps one of the most underrated musicians in classic rock history. While most music fans over 50 will remember Gary Wright for his mega-hit singles “Dream Weaver” and “Love Is Alive” in the mid-1970s, many people do not realize the scope of legendary recordings that Gary Wright has been a part of. Gary Wright began his musical career as a member of the popular UK band Spooky Tooth. After recording a few albums with Spooky Tooth from 1968 to 1970, Gary Wright left the band to pursue a solo career.

Throughout his career, Gary Wright has worked with half of The Beatles. In the early 1970s, Gary Wright began a friendship with George Harrison. The friendship led to Gary Wright working on the iconic George Harrison album All Things Must Pass. The friendship with George Harrison led to Harrison’s involvement in some of Gary Wright’s recordings. Many years later, Gary Wright would hook up with another former Beatles. In the 2000’s, Gary Wright performed with Ringo Starr’s All-Starr Band. Gary Wright has played piano and keyboards on various artist recordings throughout the years. One of Gary Wright’s most popular guest appearances was as the pianist performing on the famous Harry Nilsson song “Without You.”

Our top 10 Gary Wright songs list takes a look only at the Gary Wright solo albums. We have included no Spooky Tooth music on this list.

# 10 – Touch and Gone

We open our Top 10 Gary Wright songs list with a song from Gary Wright’s fifth solo album, Touch and Go. The album was considered a commercial failure for Gary Wright. The record garnished no hit singles. Even Gary Wright was disappointed in his work on the album. However, in hindsight, the record was much better than everyone thought. Only a year earlier, Gary Wright was on top of the world with the massive success of “Dream Weaver” and “Love Is Alive,” Come on, give the guy a break. Listen to the soulfulness of this song, and you decide.

# 9 – Get On The Right Road

The song “Get On The Right Road” was Gary Wright’s first solo single ever released. The song was issued on Gary Wright’s first solo album. The album entitled Extraction was released in 1971. While the production of this song is drastically different from what he would release in the next five years, the soulfulness of Gary Wright’s vocals is present.

# 8 – Can’t Find the Judge

“Can’t Find the Judge” was released on Gary Wright’s successful album The Dream Weaver. This is as soulful as it gets. It reminds me of Ann Pebbles’ I Can’t Stand the Rain, “released a few years earlier in 1973.

# 7 – Really Want To Know You

The great Gary Wright song “Really Wanna Know You” was Gary Wright’s last top 20 hit. It was also his first top-20 hit since Love Is Alive. The song “Really Want To Know You” was released in 1981. It was the first of three singles released from the album The Right Place.

# 6 – Fascinating Things

We return to his earlier years as we continue our Gary Wright songs list. The great song “Fascinating Things” was released on his second solo album entitled Footprints. The album was released in 1971. The album featured George Harrison, on guitar. The album also featured Gary Wright’s Spooky Tooth bandmate Mick Jones, who eventually formed the great band Foreigner. The album also featured an all-star lineup of studio musicians such as Jim Keltner, Alan White, and Hugh McCracken.

# 5 – Phantom Writer

With the phenomenal success of “Dream Weaver” and “Love Is Alive,” Gary Wright faced the daunting task of recording a follow-up album to repeat that commercial success. The follow-up record, The Light of Smiles, was filled with great songs. Unfortunately for Gary Wright, none of them became big hits. “Phantom Writer” was the first single released from the album. It should have been a big hit; we thought it was great.

# 4 – Water Sign

“Water Sign” was the opening track from The Light Of Smiles album. This is a fantastic song with a jaw-dropping chorus. It was always our favorite song from this very underrated album. It was shocking that “Water Sign” was never released as a single.

# 3 – Two Faced Man

As we get close to the top of our top 10, Gary Wright Songs list was turned one final time to his 1971 album Footprints. “Two Face Man,” was the highlight of the record. It’s thrilling to listen to this great song and hear the guitar work of George Harrison on it. Incredibly, George Harrison joined Gary Wright and his band to perform the song on The Dick Cavett Show in the early 1970’s.

# 2 – Love Is Alive

“Love Is Alive” was released as the first single from Gary Wright’s solo album The Dream Weaver in 1976. The song did not do well and faded quickly. However, after the album’s second single, “Dream Weaver,” became a monster hit, “Love Is Alive.” was re-released as a single and became the hit it should have been when it was first released.

# 1 – Dream Weaver

If you were alive in the 1970s and listening to the radio in 1976, an hour would not go by without hearing Gary Wright’s “Dream Weaver.” The song was one of the biggest singles of the year. It reached the number 2 spot on the United States Billboard charts in 1976. The entire song, as well as most of the album, only featured keyboards and drums. Nothing on the radio sounded like “Dream Weaver.” It was a song that was perfectly titled.

There was a backlash against synthesizers being used on record in the mid-1970s. Queen used to label their albums with a no synthesizer stamp on the inner jackets. Many people felt using synths was cheating. Those people would have had a heart attack if they could peer into the future and see what was coming with rap, sampling, computers, and hip-hop. In the end, “Dream Weaver” and “Love is Alive” became hit records because they were great songs that featured an incredible talent behind them in the form of the artist Gary Wright.