Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

There will always be those that hang in dark places and with the unnerving ability to be snide about the ways others live their lives, it seems to be more prevalent, more widespread, an established and prevailing state if affairs into which the open hearted and passionate run the gauntlet of explaining why the ability to reminisce is important, why we find ourselves at the edge of our lives and thinking of those times in which the world promised much.

Nobody should ever apologise for having memories which made them smile, the future is our own, our past the same and These Days in which we exist and breathe should have the same attitude attached to them, they are ours to enjoy.

It is in the art of the Blues that reminisce is a valuable source of memory, the soft stirrings of a guitar or piano accompanying the drama of one’s life, of finding the subtle tone of emotional recompense and turmoil, that is the art many seek and one in which Paul Carrack’s gentle but honest soul has always espoused, and one taken perhaps further on again in his new release, These Days.

Heartfelt and honest, a pitched perfect set of songs, one to whom even the titles of the songs themselves describe such conversations with the long since passed; the relevant question that haunts us of Where Does The Time Go?, as we slip into the ether, only leaving behind the mistakes and the love we have to ever show for such a life.

In songs such as Life In A Bubble, In The Cold Light Of Day, You Make Me Feel Good, Perfect Storm and the album’s beautiful closer of The Best I Could, once again Paul Carrack tenderly draws back the curtains on what makes him one of Britain’s most diligent song-writers and musicians, and with delightful expertise added from Steve Gadd, Robbie McIntosh, Jeremy Meek, Pee Wee Ellis, Steve Beighton, Dennis Hobson, Gary Winters, Frank Ricotti and Peter Van Hooke, These Days are what we have to arm ourselves with kindness, with memory, and never to be ashamed for loving what we find embracing.

You always know you are in for a treat of beautiful music with Paul Carrack, These Days is no different, these days are ours to live with.

Ian D. Hall