The Story Goes...

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.

The Story Goes...
Studio album by Craig David
Released	6 September 2005
Genre	R&B
Length	56:31
Label	Warner Bros.
Producer	Craig David Mark Hill The Underdogs Rick Nowels Lee Groves Soulshock and Karlin
Craig David chronology
Slicker Than Your Average (2002) The Story Goes... (2005) Trust Me (2007)
Singles from The Story Goes...
"All the Way" Released: 8 August 2005 "Don't Love You No More (I'm Sorry)" Released: 31 October 2005 "Unbelievable" Released: 6 March 2006

Recording

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.

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
The Guardian	[3]
Now	[4]
Sputnikmusic	2/10[5]

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]

Track listing

The Story Goes... track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"All the Way"	Craig David Mark Hill	Hill	3:56
2.	"Don't Love You No More (I'm Sorry)"	David Hill	Hill	4:03
3.	"Hypnotic"	David Rick Nowels	Nowels	4:19
4.	"Separate Ways"	David Hill	Hill	4:01
5.	"Johnny"	David Hill	Hill	4:20
6.	"Do You Believe in Love?"	David Hill	Hill	3:46
7.	"One Last Dance"	David Nowels	Nowels	3:47
8.	"Unbelievable"	David Mark Taylor Paul Barry	Taylor	3:22
9.	"Just Chillin'"	David Nowels	Nowels	4:41
10.	"Thief in the Night"	David	Lee Groves	4:26
11.	"Take 'Em Off"	David Antonio Dixon Harvey Mason, Jr. Eric Dawkins Damon Thomas	The Underdogs	4:06
12.	"My Love Don't Stop"	David Dixon Mason, Jr. Dawkins Thomas	The Underdogs	4:12
13.	"Never Should Have Walked Away"	David Hill	Hill	4:40
14.	"Let Her Go"	David Hill	Hill	4:02
Total length:				56:31

Limited tour edition bonus disc^[8]

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Unbelievable" (Metro mix)	David Taylor Barry	Taylor
2.	"All the Way" (H-Money mix featuring Lyracis)	David Hill	Hill
3.	"Don't Love You No More (I'm Sorry)" (Redstar remix)	David Hill	Hill
4.	"All the Way" (Live in Seoul, September 2005)	David Hill	Hill
5.	"Don't Love You No More (I'm Sorry)" (Live in Seoul, September 2005)	David Hill	Hill
6.	"Rise & Fall" (Live in Seoul, September 2005)	David Gordon "Sting" Sumner Dominic Miller	Soulshock and Karlin
7.	"Walking Away" (Live in Seoul, September 2005)	David Hill	Hill
8.	"Don't Love You No More (I'm Sorry)" (music video)
9.	"7 Days" (music video)

Promotional version – The Story Goes... and More^[9]

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"All the Way"	David Hill	Hill	3:56
2.	"Don't Love You No More (I'm Sorry)" (snippet)	David Hill	Hill	1:32
3.	"My Love Don't Stop" (snippet)	David Dixon Mason, Jr. Dawkins Thomas	The Underdogs	1:32
4.	"Hypnotic"	David Nowels	Nowels	4:19
5.	"Girls Around the World" (snippet)	David Hill	Hill	1:22
6.	"Don't Love You No More (I'm Sorry)" (JD remix featuring Nelly)	David Hill Cornell "Nelly" Haynes, Jr.	Hill JD	3:13
7.	"Johnny" (snippet)	David Hill	Hill	1:20
8.	"My Friend, Let Me Down" (snippet)	David Hill	Hill	1:44
9.	"Take 'Em Off"	David Dixon Mason, Jr. Dawkins Thomas	The Underdogs	4:06
10.	"Save the World" (unreleased)	David Hill	Hill	4:53
11.	"Cocoa Butter" (unreleased)	David Hill	Hill	5:20
12.	"All the Way" (remix)	David Hill	Hill	3:27
Total length:				36:44

Personnel

Credits adapted from album’s liner notes.^[10]

• Craig David - vocals (all tracks), producer (tracks 3, 7, 9, 10)
• Alex Dromgoole - mixing assistant (tracks 1-7, 9, 10, 13, 14)
• Lee Groves - producer (track 10), programming (tracks 1-7, 9, 10, 13, 14)
• Rob Haagart - mixing assistant (tracks 1-7, 9, 10, 13, 14)
• Mark Hill - producer (tracks 1, 2, 4-6, 13, 14)
• Harvey Mason Jr. - producer (tracks 11, 12)
• Rick Nowels - producer (tracks 3, 7, 9)
• Aaron Renner - assistant engineer (tracks 11, 12)
• Dave Russell - mixing (tracks 11, 12)
• Philip Sheppard - string arrangement (track 8)
• Alex Smith - assistant engineer (track 8)
• Mark "Spike" Stent - mixing (tracks 1–7, 9, 10, 13, 14)
• Ren Swan - mixing (track 8)
• Mark Taylor - producer, mixing, and string arrangements (track 8)
• Damon Thomas - producer (tracks 11, 12)
• David Treahearn - mixing assistant (tracks 1–7, 9, 10, 13, 14)
• Tim Young - mastering

Charts

Weekly charts Weekly chart performance for The Story Goes... Chart (2005) Peak position Australian Albums (ARIA)[11] 9 Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[12] 46 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[13] 5 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[14] 7 Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[15] 6 Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[16] 3 Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[17] 36 French Albums (SNEP)[18] 5 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[19] 13 Irish Albums (IRMA)[20] 45 Italian Albums (FIMI)[21] 5 Japanese Albums (Oricon)[22] 6 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[23] 34 Scottish Albums (OCC)[24] 19 Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[25] 2 Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[26] 11 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[27] 3 UK Albums (OCC)[28] 5 UK R&B Albums (OCC)[29] 1

Year-end charts Year-end chart performance for The Story Goes... Chart (2005) Position Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[30] 93 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[31] 98 French Albums (SNEP)[32] 132 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[33] 84 UK Albums (OCC)[34] 77

Certifications

Certifications of The Story Goes..., with sales where available

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
France (SNEP)[35]	Gold	75,000*
Japan (RIAJ)[36]	Gold	100,000^
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[37]	Gold	50,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[38]	Platinum	300,000*
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.