ALBUMS THAT SHOULD EXIST | PAUL CARRACK

Paul Carrack - BBC Sessions, Volume 1: In Concert, Shepherd's Bush Empire, London, UK 11-18-1997

I've posted a couple of early 1980s BBC concerts that co-starred Nick Lowe and Paul Carrack. I'm planning on posting a couple of Nick Lowe solo career BBC concerts also. I'm more of a Lowe fan, but I've discovered a couple of Carrack solo career BBC concerts, so I'm posting them as well. Here's the first one, from 1997.

Paul Carrack has had a very strange music career. He sings lead vocals on many famous hits, but he's only had one sizable hit in the U.S., "Don't Shed a Tear" in 1987, and none in Britain. Yet he's the lead vocalist on "How Long" by Ace, "Tempted" and "Loving You Tonight" by Squeeze, and a bunch of Mike and the Mechanics hits, including "Silent Running," "Over My Shoulder," and "The Living Years." I think he'd be much more famous if his name had prominently featured on all those hits. 

Carrack has often been recruited as a band member or session player mostly because of his excellent, soulful voice, not to mention his keyboard playing and songwriting skills. One gets to see all that one display here. It's a relatively short (and unreleased) concert, at less than an hour. But it features some of the hits mentioned above by Ace, Squeeze, and Mike and the Mechanics, although oddly, not his big solo hit, "Don't Shed a Tear." Perhaps that's because this concert took place in Britain, and while that was a Top Ten hit in the U.S., it only reached Number Sixty in the British singles chart.

This album is 54 minutes long.

01 Another Cup of Coffee 
02 You Give Me Something 
03 Eyes of Blue 
04 Time to Let Go 
05 The Way I'm Feeling Tonight 
06 Perfect Love 
07 Satisfied 
08 Tempted
09 talk 
10 Over My Shoulder 
11 The Living Years 
12 How Long 

Now I have said how much I appreciate Paul Carrack and he is, apart from being the go to keyboard player and backing singer to a thousand bands (well a few), he is also the author of two favourite songs in the classic Ace hit ‘How Long’ and the wonderful Mike and The Mechanics song ’The Living Years’ which never fails to bring a tear to my eye as I think about my dear dad . . . . . enjoy what Paul has shared above at the titular link! 

ACE - How Long (Paul Carrack)

 Ear worm and/or Classic? You decide! 

Oooh oooh I know I know! It’s BOTH!

Still in demand as a session player and part of many live bands the wonderful voice and keyboard skills of this man! PAUL CARRACK. Memberof Ace, Mike and The Mechanics, Squeeze and played with loads from Clapton Ringo Star All Starrs etc etc. . . . . 

Ear worm and pop hit bar none | Paul Carrack ‘How Long'

On this date in Feb 23 1975, ACE released the single HOW LONG in the U.S.

"How long has this been going on" sure sounds like something a guy would say to his cheating lover, but this song has a very different meaning. Ace bass player Terry Comer was working with other bands - he played briefly with The Sutherland Brothers and Quiver - and he didn't tell his bandmates, who felt cheated when they found out.

Ace lead singer Paul Carrack wrote the song; when he appeared on the BBC Breakfast news programme on June 29, 2009 he was asked about the inspiration. Rather than being about a two-timing lover it was, he said, about another band who were "trying to nick our bass player."

Surprisingly, Terry Comer returned in time to play on the original recording! His excellent bass introduction is borrowed from "Traveling Song" by the British folk rock group Pentangle.

"How Long?" was one of the first songs Paul Carrack ever wrote and remains one of his biggest hits. It was released on the Anchor label in 1974, backed by "Sniffin' About" and produced by John Anthony for Neptune Productions. It has been recorded many times since.

The song was taken from band's album Five-A-Side and peaked at #3 in the US and Canadian charts, and No. 20 in the UK chart. This was Ace's only hit. They broke up in 1977. Paul Carrack went on to sing for Squeeze and Mike And The Mechanics and had a solo hit with "Don't Shed a Tear."

Great song and he is able to wheel it out whenever and wherever and with whomever he is playing whether its Squeeze, Mike and The Mechanics or Eric Clapton 

John Hiatt Demo Tapes 1975-1983 | Voodoo Wagon [a draftervoi special!]

John Hiatt Demo Tapes 1975-1983

Wow early stuff! I think I came to Hiatt late on, through Nick Lowe and then Ry Cooder and others, his own band with Southern guitar legend Sonny Landreth in his band. I heard Memphis In The Meantime (still a favourite song!) and was struck! I guess this was late eighties early nineties. Then his songs began showing on other's albums by folk like Bonnie Raitt (Nick of Time) and I thought hang on a cotton picking minute! Check out 'Bring The Family’(87) and Stolen Moments (92?) and Little Village too. He has known terrible family tragedy and sobered up early on which I understand completely. Not everything always rang with me but when he collaborated and the guitarists he worked with and the songwriting, the SONGWRITING, I was soon a fan, this looks really interesting roots of his writing no less and in FLAC files too!

Well done drafter . . . . . this is lovely!

unreleased demos! 

00:00 / 04:39

The Truth About Money

1. The Truth About Money

2. Trudy and Dave

3. Where is the Next One Coming From

4. Kick Out of Nothing

5. She Don't Love Nobody

6. The Penny Dropped

7. Mercy Don't Know My Name

8. New Fingerprints

9. Tennessee Plates

10. Everybody's Girl

11. Confidence Man

12. Real Emotion

13. Right Now

14. Angel Eyes

15. Tip of my Tongue

16. Wild world

17. Lipstick Sunset

18. Falling Apart at the Dreams

19. Someplace Where Love Can't Find Me

20. Two Hearts Like Ours

21. Kick Out of Nothing 2 (solo)

© by John Hiatt 

John Hiatt - Nick Lowe - Paul Carrack - Rockpalast @ Markthalle Hamburg/Germany - November 12, 1983 - Love Like Blood (1983)

John Hiatt (voc, g)

Martin Belmont (g)

Paul Carrack (keyb, voc)

Nick Lowe (b, voc)

Bobby Irwin (dr)

Biog here . . . . .

Squeeze - 1993-11-19 - Sausalito, CA (FM) - So Many Roads

SQUEEZE - Third Rail - On LATER with Jools Holland 1993

 Nice one from draftervoi (so the notes say!) via so many roads today and whilst it is billed as SQUEEZE it is really a studio session with Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford only but none the worse for that. 

This is the year of one of my very favourite Squeeze albums 'Some Fantastic Place' but this is by way of a radio interview session around that time and you will want to pick through the tracks after first listens I imagine and thus it isn't the complete album and misses off some of my favourite songs from that era not least the title track (sic!) [presumably these will show up on the next volume advertised for 22 Nov]

Still it is high quality and really worth a listen . . . .watch this space for the next session!

So Many Roads says - 

Squeeze 1993 - Same Tour, Different Show Double Play - #1: In September 1991, Squeeze released their 10th studio album, entitled Some Fantastic Place. The disc featured the return of Paul Carrack, who last appeared on their 1981 album, East Side Story. The disc did not reach the top 100 in the USA, though critical reviews were mostly positive, This FM broadcast captures Squeeze on tour in support of Some Fantastic Place in Sausalito CA on November 19, 1991, 31 years ago today. Download this one, then come back on  November 22 for the 2nd half of this Same Tour, Different Show Double Play (see below)

SQUEEZE - Sausalito FM 1993 - So Many Roads

On Conan O'Brien - SQUEEZE - Loving You Tonight (with Paul on vocals)

 

and PART TWO from So Many Roads here today

Squeeze - Same Tour Different dates - San Diego 1993

FULL BAND line up!

Glenn Tilbrook – lead guitar, keyboards, vocals.

Chris Difford – rhythm guitar, vocals.

Paul Carrack - keyboard, vocals

John Bentley – bass, backing vocals.

Don Snow – keyboards, backing vocals.

Gilson Lavis – drums, percussion, backing vocals.

Speedy says:

Squeeze 1993 - Same Tour, Different Show Double Play - #2: As promised back on November 19, here's the 2nd part of our Same Tour, Different Show Double Play featuring Squeeze in 1993.  This one is a soundboard recording from San Diego from November 22, 1993, 29 years ago today.

Everything in The World But You - 1993 Official video

Some Fantastic Place - Glenn Tilbrook (written by Chris Difford)

a favourite song and it always makes me think of my old colleague and friend Alison Hiller who passed away from cancer and this is for her as I hope she is somewhere in some fantastic place . . . . . . . . . 

The incomparable Paul Carrack . . . . . . .and yes as a single, still have it . . . . . . . . one hit wonder maybe but what a voice and wherever he is supporting Clapton or Collins, he sings this

• How Long
• Ace
• Five-A-Side

Such a fine song and this hit me hard when it came out as I had not long lost my dad [and brother within eighteen months of each other] prior to '88. This summed up the feelings of what it is like to be a son who was from the generation that could not talk to their fathers and did not use the word 'love' so readily as we might today. This inevitably reduced me to tears every time I heard it and still does . . . . I have been a life long fan of Paul Carrack's voice and performances from 'How Long' to working with Eric Clapton but this sentimental song holds a special place in my heart.

On this day in music history: March 25, 1989 - “The Living Years” by Mike + The Mechanics hits #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for 1 week, also topping the Adult Contemporary chart for 4 weeks on February 25, 1989. Written by Mike Rutherford and B.A. Robertson, it is the biggest hit for the British rock band led by Genesis guitarist and bassist Mike Rutherford. Formed in 1985 as a side project from his regular gig as a member of Genesis, Mike + The Mechanics consists of Rutherford, former Ace and Squeeze lead vocalist Paul Carrack, vocalist and percussionist Paul Young (not to be confused with the British blue eyed soul singer of the same name), drummer Peter Van Hooke and keyboardist Adrian Lee. The band spin three singles off their self-titled debut album released at the end of 1985. The albums first single “Silent Running (On Dangerous Ground)” (#6 Pop)written by Rutherford and songwriter B.A. Robertson is their first major hit. With Genesis taking another extended hiatus after the hugely successful “Invisible Touch” album and tour, Mike + The Mechanics begin work on their second album in the Spring of 1988. Rutherford and Robertson collaborate again, writing four of the new albums ten songs. Having both recently lost their fathers, both find out that besides sharing that loss in common, that they had experienced difficulty in communicating with their fathers, and had tense relationships with them. During this time, Rutherford and Robertson had also seen the birth of sons themselves. From this discussion, the pair write “The Living Years”, expressing their feelings of regret over being unable break down the barriers between themselves and their fathers, and not wanting that to happen with their own children. Sung by Paul Carrack who also lost his father at the age of eleven, adds another layer of poignancy to the song through his heartfelt and soulful vocal performance. Released as the title track and first single on December 27, 1988, it is an immediate smash. Entering the Hot 100 at #79 on January 7, 1989, it climbs to the top of the chart eleven weeks later. The song receives three Grammy nominations for Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal, Record Of The Year and Song Of The Year in 1990, with the band turning in a memorable performance on the Grammy telecast. Over the years, “The Living Years” has been covered by various artists including James Last, Engelbert Humperdinck, Alabama and The London Symphony Orchestra.

from Jeff Harris' wonderful music blog