[1] Satisfy My Soul (Carrack/Difford) - 3:29
[2] Together (Carrack) - 4:08
[3] Where Would I Be (Carrack) - 4:31
[4] My Kind (Carrack) - 4:26
[5] Inspire Me (Carrack) - 3:57
[6] Only One (Carrack/Difford) - 5:02
[7] How Wonderful (Carrack/Difford) - 3:48
[8] Running Out of Time (Carrack/Rutherford) - 4:26
[9] Better Than Nothing (Carrack) - 4:07
[10] Time Passes (Carrack) - 4:35
[11] Make Your Mind Up (Carrack) - 4:18
Englishman Paul Carrack has possessed one of the most familiar voices
in pop music since the 1970s. His soulful performances can be heard on
hits by Ace ("How Long"), Mike + the Mechanics ("The Living Years,"
"Silent Running"), and Squeeze (the '80s classic "Tempted"). Carrack
has also scored as a solo artist with the hits "Don't Shed a Tear" and
"I Live By the Groove." With Satisfy My Soul (2000), Carrack has
crafted another collection of melodic pop songs. Though some of the
material is weak, his distinctive vocal gifts make even the most
mediocre song worth hearing.
There is certainly no shortage of catchy tunes on Satisfy My Soul. Both
"My Kind" and the funky "Better Than Nothing" rank as some of Paul
Carrack's best material, and "Inspire Me" is a dead ringer for '80s-era
Hall & Oates. Satisfy My Soul also includes collaborations with
Carrack's former bandmates Chris Difford (Squeeze) and Mike Rutherford
(Genesis, Mike + the Mechanics). The title track (written with Difford)
is a tuneful, upbeat ballad that sounds similar to Sam Cooke, and
"Running Out of Time" (with Rutherford) is an edgy, soulful rocker.
Carrack, who also produced, should be commended for his straightforward
approach on Satisfy My Soul. Instead of resorting to pretentious
production techniques and overblown arrangements in an attempt to sound
contemporary, Carrack keeps things simple, wisely allowing his vocals
to take center stage. While the melodies remain strong for the most
part, some of the material suffers from trite lyrics ("She's my
girl/Any fool can see," from "My Kind"). However, Carrack more than
compensates for the clichés with his superb vocal performances;
he sounds just as good here as he did on "Tempted" almost 20 years
earlier.
Satisfy My Soul was released in an era when disposable, over-produced
pop ruled the airwaves. The album certainly won't sell as many copies
as Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears albums did at the turn of the
millennium, but Carrack has proven for decades he is a true pop
craftsman. Satisfy My Soul is further evidence of Paul Carrack's
ability to remain an engaging, solid performer, even when the music
business is dominated by fads and marketing gimmicks.
William Cooper, All-Music Guide
After years spent bringing a little soul to artists as diverse as Mike
& The Mechanics, Nick Lowe, and Squeeze, singer's singer Paul
Carrack makes his most persuasive play so far with the release of his
stunning new album Satisfy My Soul. Recorded with minimal outside
assistance at his Hertfordshire home studio, the album represents a
quantum leap beyond Paul's previous work, showcasing his songwriting
abilities and allowing his natural soul qualities to shine through with
a new clarity and power. In the past, he's often tended to let others
mould and direct his considerable talents, but Satisfy My Soul serves
to re-establish Paul Carrack as a major solo artist, with both the
vision and the capabilities to take control of his own career, and the
musical instinct to know which direction it should take. A lot of
people are going to be pleasantly surprised by this latest chapter in
the life of one of pop music's most distinctive voices.
Paul was first bitten by the music bug as a small child back in his
native Sheffield, where he would bash away at a home-made drumkit up in
his parents' attic, playing along with an old wind-up gramophone. By
the time he reached his teens, the Mersey Boom was in full swing, and
the young Carrack proceeded to swindle his way into a series of local
bands, learning to play the organ and following the gig circuit to
Germany, where he underwent the obligatory .
Hamburg nightclub baptism, as pioneered by such as The Beatles. In the
early '70s, his progressive rock outfit Warm Dust released a few
albums, but it was only when his pub-rock band Ace had a huge global
hit with his song How Long that Paul's career really started to take
off. Immediately, the band was catapulted from the British college
circuit into huge American arenas, as How Long soared into the US
singles chart, eventually reaching #1.
When Ace broke up toward the end of the '70s, Paul found himself
wrong-footed by the punk-rock boom, but secured some session work,
playing on albums by Frankie Miller and Roxy Music, and touring with
Roxy, an experience which gave him a taste for the big time. Paul's
1980 solo debut, Nightbird, failed to establish him as an artist in his
own right, so he continued playing sessions, biding his time, and
honing his talents as a musician and songwriter. As the '80s proceeded,
Paul reached a rapprochement with the new-wave scene, playing on albums
by The Undertones, The Smiths, and The Pretenders, and joining Squeeze
for their masterwork East Side Story, helping redefine the group's
profile with his soulful vocal on the hit single Tempted.
After leaving Squeeze, ostensibly to pursue a solo career, he hooked up
with Nick Lowe, an association which, though resolutely out of step
with public taste and radio formats, would nevertheless generate five
albums for Lowe and another for Paul, 1982's Suburban Voodoo. Though
largely ignored in the UK, the album was a critical success in the US,
where it was cited as one of Rolling Stone Magazine's Top 20 Albums of
the Year. I Need You, a Carrack composition lifted from the album,
provided him with another US Top 40 hit, and was subsequently covered
by Linda Ronstadt & Aaron Neville.
The biggest break in Carrack's career came in 1985 when he was invited
to contribute vocals to a solo album being recorded by Genesis
guitarist Mike Rutherford. Despite the apparent differences in their
musical styles, the very first track Paul sang on, Silent Running,
became a hit on both sides of the Atlantic. Encouraged by such instant
success, Mike & The Mechanics developed into more of a group,
touring America extensively and securing a string of hit albums and
singles over the next decade. Before they could produce a follow-up
album, however, Paul found time to sing and play on Roger Waters' Radio
KAOS album and record another solo album of his own, 1987's One Good
Reason, scoring another couple of hits through the title track and
Don't Shed a Tear, which again broke into the US Top Ten, staying on
Billboard's Hot 100 for nearly half a year.
Even better was to come when Mike & The Mechanics resumed
recording. Sung by Paul, the title-track of their second LP The Living
Years was a huge worldwide hit, peaking at number one in America, and
hoisting the band to megastar status. Further touring was followed by
another Carrack solo album, 1989's Groove Approved, whose standout
track - the Motown-flavoured Carrack / Lowe composition Battlefield -
was later covered by Diana Ross. The following year, Paul was co-opted
to perform at Roger Waters' grandiose presentation of The Wall in
Berlin, where he sang Hey You in front of over 250,000 people.
A third Mike & The Mechanics album, 1991's Word of Mouth, saw
Carrack's creative input increasing, with four songwriting credits; and
also donated a performance of Ain't That Peculiar recorded with Paul
Shaffer's house band on Late Night with David Letterman to Nobody's
Child, a charity album for Romanian orphans. Between tours again, in
1993 Paul busied himself with Spin 1ne 2wo, a classic rock covers
collaboration with Rupert Hine, Tony Levin, and Steve Ferrone, and
rejoined Squeeze for their Some Fantastic Place album. The next year
was spent touring the world with Squeeze, working on an ultimately
abortive band project with Don Felder, Timothy Schmidt, and Joe Walsh
of The Eagles (which nevertheless garnered Paul an award for the most
played song in America that year, when the reformed Eagles covered Love
Will Keep us Alive, a song he co-wrote with Peter Vale and Jim
Capaldi), and recording another Mike & The Mechanics album, Beggar
on A Beach of Gold. This contained another couple of Carrack
co-compositions, including his collaboration with Mike Rutherford, the
hit single Over my Shoulder, which revived the band's flagging fortunes
in the UK and Europe, paving the way for a subsequent Greatest Hits
compilation.
Paul's fifth solo album, Blue Views, appeared in 1995, and despite
problems occasioned by the collapse of the record label, it was still
highly successful in Europe, earning him a gold disc in Spain. When it
was finally released a couple of years later in America on another
label, the single For Once in Our Lives became a Top Five hit on
Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart, cementing Carrack's growing
reputation as a singer-songwriter of class and distinction. He was also
developing a parallel reputation as an able and accomplished sideman to
the stars, playing keyboards on albums by Eric Clapton, BB King, Simply
Red, Mark Knopfler and Elton John, and being invited by Elton to play
on Something About the Way You Look Tonight, which, as the B-side of
"Candle in the Wind '97," is officially the biggest-selling single ever.
Unfortunately, a management change at EMI resulted in his next album,
Beautiful World failing to get the promotional push it deserved, and a
bitterly dissillusioned Paul elected to take matters more into his own
hands. After years spent biding his time, contributing to other
musicians' projects and allowing outside producers to impose their
designs on his material, it was a long overdue move, and one which
reflected Paul's growing belief in himself as a singer-songwriter.
Accordingly, he recorded his new album, "Satisfy My Soul" at his home
studio, relying on his own musical instincts and playing everything
himself, with the exception of the sax parts (which are by Steve
Beighton), some backing vocals (by Lindsay Dracass) and some of the
drum parts (by Ian Thomas or Paul's old chum Andy Newmark, the former
Sly & The Family Stone sticksman.) Steeped in the classic and funk
sounds of the '60s and '70s, but with an ear firmly trained on the
future, Satisfy My Soul is clearly a labour of love, and features some
of Carrack's most accomplished songwriting, with three tracks being
co-written by Squeeze lyricist Chris Difford.
Carrack's journey to make a record that truly does satisfy his soul has
come full circle. "I've been doing this a long time, and I've often
made it quite difficult for myself, one way or another, but I'm at the
point now where I just want to enjoy my musicality, and I have the
technical resources and the stability to be able to follow my instincts
more confidently. Alot of the time, I've gone against my own instincts,
but I'm not fighting them any more, I'm doing what comes naturally now.
I'll be happy just to reach the people who already like what I do, but
who knows, by making a more personal record, I might reach more people
anyway."
Satisfy My Soul brings Carrack to Compass Records, also the American
home to other British popsters Robbie McIntosh, Hamish Stuart, Eddi
Reader, Boo Hewerdine and Clive Gregson.
Compass Records
Paul Carrack was one of the great all-around side musicians of the '70s
and '80s, singing and playing on tours and albums by the likes of
Squeeze, Nick Lowe, the Pretenders and the Smiths. On Satisfy My Soul,
Carrack embraces a new life as a mellower solo artist, blending the
styles of soul singers such as Otis Redding with his own pop heritage.
D.M. Avery CMJ New Music Report Issue 683 - Sep 18, 2000
...Classic soul and pop values deliver here a sound more organic and
less bombastic....the sound of the small man coming through and doing
the do with class and dignity."