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Since I Saw You Last is the fourth solo studio album released by British singer-songwriter Gary Barlow. The album was released by Polydor Records on 22 November 2013 in Ireland, and on 25 November in the United Kingdom. It debuted at number two on the UK Albums Chart and met with a mixed critical reaction.
It is Barlow's first full-length solo album in fourteen years, following 1999's Twelve Months, Eleven Days. It features a range of genres, described by Barlow as a mixture of pop, folk, and alternative. The album's lead single, "Let Me Go", was released a week before the album, and became Barlow's 21st UK top 3 single.
Background
With Take That on hiatus and following the success of a series of solo concerts over the previous two years, Barlow announced plans to release his first solo studio album in fourteen years. The album was released on 25 November 2013, to be followed by a live tour in 2014. The album was confirmed to feature a duet with Elton John on the track Face to Face on 24 September 2013. Regarding "Let Me Go", Barlow said, "I've always liked folky, acoustic music, but I've never fully explored it. I turned back time and was listening to Johnny Cash and early Elton John before I wrote 'Let Me Go'. I'm 42; I don't want to do urban or dance music. I love Mumford & Sons—it's good, English music, but let's be honest, they got it off Johnny Cash too."
Barlow cites that after the release of Twelve Months, Eleven Days, he stopped singing as he walked away from the limelight. He said, "I never even sang in my studio; I was telling myself I don't need to be an artist anymore; I started as a songwriter." However, after the success of the Take That reunion, he felt that he had to face his demons and right the wrongs he felt took hold of his last full studio album. He said, "The one thing I was dreading was that the last album would be on my shoulder the whole time I made this one, but it wasn't—it was flushed out quickly. I’m not haunted by that time. My experience 14 years ago was completely different from now. The last album I made was so laden with people telling me who I should sound like that I listen back now and think 'Who's that?', but Since I Saw You Last was easy to make; there's a lot of my life on this record."
Several of the album's songs were co-written in 2011, for a planned duo album with Robbie Williams titled Cain & Abel, a nod to Barlow's autobiography, where he refers to himself and Williams as the Cain and Abel of Take That. Williams called the Cain & Abel album 'middle-of-the-road' – believing its sound was too mature to garner mass appeal with his desired youthful, mainstream audience, and decided to cancel the Cain & Abel project. Williams poached Candy and Different for his Take the Crown album, whilst Barlow acquired the remaining numbers for Since I Saw You Last.
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