Record Collection Random Choice (RCRC) - G: David Gray - White Ladder

OK, this album may be viewed by some (many?) as all that was bland or homogenous about music at the start of the 21st Century.
Vying for attention alongside Coldplay and Dido for the right to sit on every coffee table, be played at every dinner party, and be uploaded to every new fangled iPod thingy to be played at the gym.

But ...
In early 2000, I was in the middle of a divorce and found myself back in my old bedroom at my parents with not much more than a Playstation, a radio alarm clock and 4 CDs.
These were:

• Richard Ashcroft - Alone with Everybody
• Oasis - Standing On The Shoulders Of Giants
• Toploader - Onka's Big Moka
• the High Fidelity soundtrack
• and David Gray - White Ladder

Most evenings were spent playing Gran Tourismo 2, drinking (probably) too much, and listening to these albums.
'White Ladder' struck just the right tone (wrong tone?) of melancholy to suit my surroundings at the time.

It came from seemingly nowhere.
David Gray had released a couple of albums previously to critical acclaim (ie the sold next to nothing), and self-financed this release as a last roll of the dice.
Still no airplay and no big sales, but a US Tour saw the album re-released on various labels, finally securing a release/distribution through EastWest records.

10* tracks of inoffensive folky-rock, mixed with a pop tinge.
5 singles ("This Year's Love", "Babylon", "Please Forgive Me", "Sail Away", "Say Hello, Wave Goodbye") were drawn from it over a 2 year period, and sales remained high for those couple of years.
And of the other 5 tracks, any of these would probably have done a job as a single too.
It remains the biggest ever selling album in Ireland, and sales in excess of 3 million place it in the Top 30 Best Selling albums for the UK.
* 11 on the original release where a hidden track was in the CD pre-gap (effectively Track 0)

If I'm honest, there's nothing big or clever going on here.  But by the same token, there is nothing disagreeable either.
It may be "bland" or "safe", but when it contains a track as epic (or dramatically epic) as the closing cover of Soft Cell's "Say Hello Wave Goodbye"(which weaves in lyrical reference to Van Morrison's "Madame George" and "Into The Mystic") then I reckon it might be forgivable.