Paul Carrack has lent his voice to many bands, from Ace to Squeeze, the supergroup Spin 1ne 2wo and Mike + The Mechanics. He could also be heard as a guest vocalist on Steve Hackett’s and Roger Waters’s albums. His voice is in everyone’s ear, but his name hardly-known.
A couple of years ago Paul has decided to spend more time on his solo career. He released Satisfy My Soul, It Ain’t Over and Groovin’ on his own label and added a string of concert DVDs such as In Concert, Live In Liverpool and Live At The Opera House. Now he has released a new live DVD which is very different from previous live DVDs and, for the first time, a Greatest Hits album that spans his whole career.
Live At Rockpalast
Previous Paul Carrack DVD did not always offer a lot of variety. Some songs would appear several times, the concerts were similar and so were the moods. Some DVDs on which Paul appeared were of more interest, though: Live at Shepherds Bush London (with Mike + The Mechanics), The Strat Pack and Band Du Lac. Now Paul offers a new live DVD, and it may be said: it is his most interesting DVD so far.
The concert was recorded in 2006 as part of the legendary WDR Rockpalast series in the Harmonie in Bonn. The DVD was released on Paul’s own label Carrack-UK; IMG / Rough Trade are helping with the distribution.
This DVD is the first of Paul’s he has recorded with a German audience. He has played far too few concerts in Germany anyway, regardless of whether he played alone or with the Mechanics. Paul has only rarely performed in Germany. The Rockpalast gig seems to be the beginning of a reconciliation tour. Paul played a couple of shows in December last year [2006] and some more shows will follow in April 2007. He feels most at home in England, though, and that’s why he plays most concerts there.
The set list:
Just A Little Lie
Inspire Me
Where Did I Go Wrong?
Don't Shed A Tear
Love Will Keep Us Alive
It Ain't Over
Nothing More Than A Memory
Silent Running
The Living Years
When You Walk In The Room
No Easy Way Out
Over My Shoulder
How Long
Sniffing About
Harvest For The World
There is also some bonus material:
The It Ain't Over interview
The interview presents Paul Carrack in his home studio where he answers questions about his career, his most recent album It Ain’t Over and his concert tours.
A Soulful Christmas Documentary
IAn interesting look at the making of the Christmas album with the SWR Big Band.
Plus a gallery of live photos, a discography and a biography. The core of the DVD is, of course, the show:
Rockpalast – say the name and it brings back memories. Peter Gabriel was there, Ray Wilson was there not too long ago, now it’s Paul Carrack. The Harmonie in Bonn is well suited for such events, so it is only up to the audience and the artists to make something of it. Paul soon breaks off his attempts at speaking German and sticks to English, which is no big deal because most people in Germany understand it. There were some fears that Paul would play a not so exciting set with lots of new material plus a Mechanics hit and How Long. That’s what he used to do, but not at the Rockpalast.
He played near-classics like No Easy Way Out and Where Did I Go Wrong? (a song that makes you appreciate Paul brought a saxophone player), and a great deal of venerable songs from the 80s found their way back onto the set list. Many of them were songs Paul had only rarely or never played in recent years. When You Walk In The Room, for example, or Don’t Shed A Tear. One has to consider the fact, of course, that Paul is on a Greatest Hits tour – a live DVD full of new songs would have been strange.
The audience is in high spirits throughout the colourful set, and it is also a good indicator as to how well-known individual songs are. Near the end of the show two classics, Over My Shoulder and How Long raised the spirits even more before Paul brought the evening to a close with two playful encores of Sniffing About and Harvest For The World (from Groovin’).
The sound can be played in Dolby Digital 2.0 and dts, though one should not expect too much from dts. It is good but cannot compare to the dts sound of larger-scale productions. The video of this PAL-DVD is good and comes in the standard screen size of 16:9. All in all, Live At Rockpalast is a good thing and certainly the most interesting live DVD Paul has released so far.
by Christian Gerhardts
translated by Martin Klinkhardt
Foto: ©2006, n-Foto
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Review available
Live-Unplugged-Album from 2001 with lots of Genesis-Songs and Rock-Classics.
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