Reviewed by Ian Phillips.
By Wesley Dean, Hall of Flames LLC (Exclusively licenced to AHP) 2021.
Some of you might remember Wesley Dean as the sixth winner of Australian Idol, back in 2008.
He was Wes Carr in those days and as part of the reward for winning Australian Idol he received a recording deal with Sony Music Australia.
His debut single, You, peaked at number one on the ARIA Singles chart and was certified Gold.
The album that the single was lifted from, The Way the World looks , also won a Gold award and peaked at number two on the ARIA albums chart.
It looked like Wes was in for a successful career and lengthy run in the charts and that Sony Music was onto a winner.
However, his follow-up singles and albums failed to achieve the success of his earlier releases, by 2011 Wes announced that he was no longer with Sony Music and that he would be releasing his music independently.
He went through a period where he performed under the name Buffalo Tales and now he has re-emerged under his middle name, Dean.
I’ve always thought that Wesley has a good voice and this single displays it at its best.
Wesley’s musical journey hasn’t been straight forward.
He’s had to do things the hard way and this struggle comes out in Never Thought Of You.
He sings “Oh my days are numbered now” and there’s a sense of resignation and world weariness about the track.
I really like this song, it’s a great country cross-over track that should put his name back at the top of the charts.
Never Thought Of You is an impressive song, the writing and performances are excellent and it seems made for radio.
It should chart well in both the country and mainstream charts.
I didn’t receive any recording information with the download, but the production values are impressive and his backing musicians are top notch.
The irony of Wes’ struggles and disillusionment have even found their way into his tongue-in-cheek record label, Hall Of Flames.
It’s a nice touch.
