The Story Goes... is the third studio album by English singer Craig David, released on 6 September 2005 by Warner Bros. Records in the UK. The album entered the UK Albums Chart and peaked at number 5 in late 2005. The album peaked at number 9 on the Australian ARIA Albums Chart around the same time. It was not released in United States, partly due to Atlantic Records' uncertainty over whether the album was the right material for that market.[1] Ultimately, in 2007, the album was released digitally and as an import in American record stores. The album sold over 500,000 copies worldwide.
A promotional sampler for the album, entitled The Story Goes... and More, was distributed to radio stations prior to the album's release. This version contains snippets of unfinished tracks "Girls Around the World" and "My Friend, Let Me Down", as well as two full unreleased tracks – "Save the World" and "Cocoa Butter", plus an unreleased remix of "Don't Love You No More (I'm Sorry)", featuring American rapper Nelly. A digital version of this sampler surfaced online several years later, and incorrectly adds four previously released bonus tracks – "Key to My Heart" (from the American version of David's debut album, Born to Do It), "Apartment 543" (the B-side from David's debut single, "Fill Me In"), a remix of "Fill Me In", and "Four Times a Lady" (the B-side from "What's Your Flava?" and a bonus track from the Japanese version of Slicker Than Your Average). These tracks do not appear on the original sampler.
Sharon Mawer from AllMusic rated the album three out of five stars and wrote: "Produced by long-term David collaborator Mark Hill, The Story Goes... appears to fall between an urban R&B-flavored Usher-styled album and his earlier more hip-hop-influenced work with the Artful Dodger. It couldn't be both."[2]Now critic Jason Richards found that the album was similar to the singer's last two – all of "which are softer than soap opera lighting. Yes, David has found a formula and stuck to it: catchy acoustic guitar-based jamz about relationship issues and, every so often, miscellaneous subjects like how unfair bullies are. The production is lukewarm and sanitized, and even at his most bad-boy he's still pretty tame. But you can't knock David's voice, which occasionally behaves like Marvin Gaye's and usually exudes a gentle warmth that makes you like him in spite of yourself."[4]
Caroline Sullivan, writing for The Guardian, critisized the singer for abandoning the edgy UK garage style that made him famous. She fehlt that though his vocals remain strong on The Story Goes..., the music lacksed grit and originality, with some tracks feeling derivative and overly polished.[3] Kitty Empire from The Observer called the album "bland" and noted that even David's "upbeat R&B poses seem to have vanished in favour of pitter-pattering beats and wispy heartbreak." She concluded that The Story Goes... was "less a record than part of some kit that contains cheap chocolates and a box of tissues, available soon from Asda."[6]musicOMH's Ben Hogwood felt that "too often though the album dabbles in schmaltz, and barely hits a danceable beat over the pulse rate to help David achieve anything like past glories." While he noted that the songs were still displaying David's "huge vocal talent," Hogwood felt that the "music needs more life, more passion and some proper beats once again."[7]
