Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
There is arguably nothing as fulfilling in life as seeing a master, in whatever profession, guild or sense of artistic endeavour, play infront of you knowing that they are having the same effect on every other member of the audience and that their work still hold you gripped after many years of having the fortune to stumble across their legendary output.
Graham Gouldman and Heart Full of Songs at The Epstein Theatre. Photograph reproduced with kind permission by David Munn Photography.
For the audience at the Epstein Theatre, to see the man who was part of the great British band 10cc and whose contribution to the world of music is so immense that at times you do wonder if it shouldn’t have its own vault at the Tower of London and probably isn’t there only because they wouldn’t want to lose money on people seeing the Crown Jewels. To seethe much admired Graham Gouldman on stage with Ian Hornal, Mike Steven and Dave Cubby was as close to scintillating expected joy as you could find.For five decades Graham Gouldman has been one of the most prolific songwriters to have come out of England. The music he has written for other bands when he was a young man learning his trade is nothing short of sensational and his output with 10cc and alongside his sadly missed friend Andrew Gold only further enhances his reputation.
There is no doubting the man loves coming to Liverpool, the music of the 60s is obviously a great joy to him and certainly inspired him to make the music that has carried him and his fans across the epoch with a sense of calming reassurance. Even this tour which has been played out in the acoustic form could not deter the faithful from attending one of 20 gigs the four musicians have played. Sometimes an acoustic set from a musician known perhaps more known for the way he manages to merge the electric big sound with sensitively written lyrics, could be taking things down a notch too far. Not with Graham Gouldman though. The music somehow transcends the hum of an electric guitar and goes beyond what you might expect the natural beauty of an acoustic beast to do. The lyrics are just as sensitive on songs such as Pamela Pamela, which he wrote for Wayne Fontana, the grace and human despair of No Milk Today, made famous by Herman’s Hermits and the wonderful Love’s Not for Me which was his sterling contribution to the animated film Animalolympics
10cc was not forgotten in this powerful overview of five decades of making music and with the magnificent playing of his three right hand men, tracks such as Good Morning Judge from the Deceptive Bends album, the excellent I’m Not In Love and the truly outstanding Dreadlock Holiday were greeted in the most honourable of fashions.
Other songs played on the night captured the understanding of those in the audience that their musical souls had certainly been enriched by this man’s presence in their lives. Songs such as Ready To Go Home, Memory Lane, the Yardbirds hit For Your Love, Bus Stop, Look Through Any Window, Heart Full Of Soul and Bridge To Your Heart were as needed to the audience as the heart that had been readily entranced by the man’s ear for a great song over five decades.
A tremendous set by a true master of popular music!
Ian D. Hall