Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Timing is everything in life; you can be the finest example of what you do, but if you mistime the moment then it is to be argued that the opportunity to leave your name etched in stone will be lost, and sand might be the only place in which your epitaph will appear.
Knowing the right moment is key, Don’t Wait Too Long to show the world just exactly how your thoughts, imagination and dreams have combined to spark something beautiful, something everlasting, a piece of art that is not only cool, but considered, full of emotional drama, a moment of fierce belief wrapped in the calm understanding of having struck a home run in front of a cheering crowd when the chips looked down.
Long regarded, and rightly so, as one of Britain’s finest examples of his craft, Paul Carrack has always found to be of the moment, and beyond. Striking a deep vein of passionate musicianship and lyrics that seep under the skin and hit home with his adoring crowd, the man to who is no stranger to creating a memorable hit, has got together with the SWR Big Band and produced an album of extraordinary groove and swing in the aptly titled Don’t Wait Too Long.
Never miss an opportunity to impress, never fail to strike the appropriate feeling whilst others miss the beat, and in an album of dedicated to that perfect rhythm, the combination of personnel and furious, delicious, dreamlike musical procession is enough to set the heart a flutter in all directions, and especially so in this album of beautifully arranged cover songs from master’s past.
Across tracks such as I’ll Always Be In Love With You, Don’t Let The Sun Catch You Crying, Got To Get You Off My Mind, Trust In Me, Question, and Bring It Home To Me, Paul Carrack & The SWR Big Band firmly take the matter of love and perspective, of loss and strength with a conscious, deliberate sense of passion and pride.
There is almost nothing that compares in life to the sound of a genuine passionate person releasing their inner thoughts and understandings of the world, how it works, how they can as an individual or as a group, make it better for anyone else willing to listen and learn from their mistakes, their joys, good times, missed moments.
As with anything by Paul Carrack, Don’t Wait Too Long to find out for yourself just how sublime the music on offer is.
Ian D. Hall