British singer Paul Carrack sang in bands as diverse as Roxy Music, Squeeze and Mike & The Mechanics, but has been pursuing a solo career since the 1990s. Yet it is mainly the hits of his old bands (Tempted, The Living Years) and other covers (Sunny, Don't Dream It's Over) that stand out in the set he recorded for the double DVD Live In Liverpool. Many of his own compositions suffer from the
… same problem: very solid but also a bit boring. The same goes for his backing band, which consists of anonymous musicians with a ditto sound. Carrack divided his performance into an 'acoustic and an electric set', you could just as well speak of a 'modest' and a 'slightly less modest set'. Dynamism in the concert is hard to find, nothing goes without it. Carrack is a singer with a great voice. But being able to captivate an audience for two hours requires charisma, personality and showmanship and those qualities do not seem to be present in the Paul Carrack Band. (MS)more
