Paul Carrack – Satisfy My Soul – review

Alongside his UK tour, Paul Carrack released his new solo album on 22nd May. It was preceded by the single of the same name – Satisfy My Soul.

The album and single were released on his new label, Carrack-UK, which can also be found on the Internet at www.carrack-uk.com [no longer active]. It is difficult to get the album in stores outside the UK. Im most cases, it is not available there directly. But there are some smaller online shops that offer the CD..

His last two albums, Blue Views and Beautiful World, were already of a high mainstream quality standard with beautiful melodies and harmonious arrangements. One or two ideas seemed a little overused, for example on songs like Satisfied. Nevertheless, Paul was always able to convince with beautiful ballads. Those are Eyes Of Blue or Perfect Love as well as up-tempo songs like The Way I’m Feeling Tonight. He had already impressively demonstrated his feeling for a good melody on several Mechanics songs.

Satisfy My Soul has become a quiet album. Songs like Together or the relatively jagged Better Than Nothing remain in the ear. Striking: Chris Difford, one of the heads of Paul’s old band Squeeze, is listed as co-author on some of the songs. And on Running Out Of Time, Mike Rutherford was even involved as a writer. The question remains as to when this song was written. Presumably during the last Mechanics session in 1998/99.

Where Would I Be is once again one of Carrack’s typical high-calibre ballads. Furthermore, mid-tempo numbers only really stand out after repeated listens, such as Inspire Me or Make Your Mind Up. How Wonderful or My Kind, on the other hand, stay in the ear immediately.

The album sounds more coherent and harmonious than its two predecessors, but the really big idea is missing. Instead, Paul has written The Only One, probably the corniest song of his career. In the end, the only question is why one of the potentially weakest songs became the first single.

Author: Christian Gerhardts (2000)

Tracklist:

Satisfy My Soul
Together
Where Would I Be?
My Kind
Inspire Me
The Only One
How Wonderful
Running Out Of Time
Better Than Nothing
Time Passes
Make Your Mind Up

all tracks written by Paul Carrack, except Satisfy my Soul, The Only One and How Wonderful (Paul Carrack, Chris Difford) and Running Out Of Time (Paul Carrack, Mike Rutherford).

Musicians:

Paul Carrack: Vocals, keyboards, guitars, bass, drums
Ian Thomas: Drums (1, 8, 10, 11)
Lee Russell: Drum loops (3)
Andy Newmark: Drums (5, 9)
Steve Beighton: Saxophones
David Crichton: Strings
Lindsay Dracass: Backing vocals (2)

Production:

Peter Van Hooke: Executive producer
Paul Carrack: Producer, engineer
Graham Bonnett: Additional engineer
Nigel Bates: Mixing, mastering, technical support
Benedict Fenner: Mastering
Bill Smith Studio: Art direction, design
Michele Turriani: Photography