Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Great songs are the only currency that counts. It really is that simple.

So, with a successful Pledge campaign in his back pocket and a brand new guitarist and consigliore standing stage left, Pete Wylie returned to The Zanzibar to wrap up his busiest year in a decade, before turning attention to the imminent recording of a new album.

And it was a triumph. Mr.Wylie and new boy Tom Carroll have been on an acoustic tour that has taken in gigs in England, Scotland and Wales and the match fitness is starting to show. Sure, the well-worn set may have taken some of the edge from Wylie’s famous between song banter, but the tunes benefit so much from the new focus.

Come Back, Story Of The Blues, Sinful, Seven Minutes To Midnight… the hits are all there, but it’s the more obscure songs played to a packed club that really reveal the dexterity of Pete Wylie: he’s a songwriter’s songwriter.

Melodic, intricate and either heart-breaking or uplifting (and, in a couple of tunes, both at the same time), this set of songs are the work of a gifted craftsman. Sing All The Saddest Songs, from 2000’s Songs Of Strength and Heartbreak, sounds like Smokey Robinson unplugged, Disneyland Forever is dedicated to the late Gerry Conlon and Freefallin’ spread its huge chorus around The Zanzibar like the wings of a dove. At times, the music was breath-taking.

Sure, Pete Wylie being Pete Wylie, the audience were treated to rants, jokes and conversations with friends in amongst the lively congregation, but the spotlight stayed on the music. Guitarist Tom Carroll brings some lovely light and shade to the tunes and his harmonies are faultless, especially on new songs like We’re All In This Together and The Day That Margaret Thatcher Dies.

Pete Wylie often makes mention of the fact that he hasn’t released a record this Millennium. That’s a crying shame but, it will matter a lot less, if gigs like this remain the norm and an album that delivers on the promise of this mini tour is released early in 2015.

Reborn? He certainly dipped the songs back into the font on Saturday night.

Al O’Hare