Elly Roberts reviews
Paul Carrack: Live At The Opera House
Distributed by
Absolute Marketing / Universal
- Cert:
- Cat.no: SVE 3083
- Running time: 103 minutes
- Year: 2004
- Pressing: 2004
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Sound: DTS Digital Surround Sound / Dolby Surround 5.1
- Languages: English
- Widescreen: 1.78:1
- Disc Format: DVD 9
- Price: £14.99
- Rating: 10/10
- Extras:
Interview with Paul Carrack and ‘Before and After Show‘ featurette.
Great song writing is in short supply: no such fears with Paul Carrack.
With the voice of Marvin Gaye and keyboard skills of Elton John, his work has been featured in
three successful acts – Ace, Squeeze and Mike and The Mechanics. In my opinion he’s up there
amongst the top ten greatest popular composers of all time.
By his own admission, he’s never been an innovative writer – but has always managed to write
classy songs, with a strong emphasis on melody, verse and chorus. He’s been part of the music scene
since he penned the world wide hit How Long for Ace in 1974. His unique brand of blue–eyed
soul pop easily transferred over to Squeeze’s lush hits as he featured as lead vocalist on their
1981 hit Tempted.
He’s written numerous hits for the likes of The Eagles, Tom Jones, Diana Ross, and played keyboards
with Roxy Music, Eric Clapton, BB King and Simply Red to name but a few. It was only a matter of
time before super-group Mike and The Mechanics (including ex–Genesis guitarist Mike Rutherford and
ex–Sad Café singer Paul Young) would eventually recruit his dual skills as he made his biggest impact
with hits Another Cup of Coffee, an underrated, and strangely upbeat-sounding, song about domestic violence,
Silent Running and the anthemic Living Years.
All these songs inevitably turn up here, as do snippets of solo material and a couple of covers.
Watching and listening to this live set, it makes you wonder how he’s never managed to reach the
dizzy heights of Elton John – but that’s not his scene. Supported by an excellent band, he switches
from guitarist to pianist and looks equally comfortable with both instruments.
He is without doubt a musician’s musician with the rare quality of singing from the heart which is
best found on tracks such as the gorgeous Eyes Of Blue and My Kind. Carrack can whip it up as well:
Every Time You Walk In The Room, Harvest For the World (Isley Bros) and Sly and the Family Stone’s
Dance To The Music consolidate his love of soul music.
This DVD, recorded at the magnificent Opera House in Buxton is relatively low key show by show-biz
standards, as we catch him on the final leg of his ‘It Ain’t Over Tour‘ in January this year. This
is my kind of music – a truly great talent.
The full list of tracks included are :
Review & concert pics copyright © Elly Roberts, 2004-2010.