One Good Reason
	Produced by Christopher Neil
	Released on November 1987
	US CHART POSITION #67
	Find it at GEMM
FV 41578 cover [high resolution scan]

O ne good reason to buy this album: “Don’t Shed A Tear.” That’s all I’ve come up with so far. I may find another reason--e.g., if plastic becomes a rare commodity and I can melt this down for a few bucks--but I’m not holding my breath. There are, of course, the requisite nods to Paul’s more profitable employ: one track cowritten with Chris Difford, another with Nick Lowe, plus a pair of good Mechanics (Christopher Neil, Peter Van Hooke) to tweak the machine. However, Carrack accounts for little of the material himself, less than he did for Suburban Voodoo, which was five years ago for anyone counting. The material he does provide, like “Give Me A Chance,” feels like watered-down Phil Collins. (Yes, I’m sure it’s possible.) If pressed on the matter, I might point to “Double It Up” and “Fire With Fire” as a pair of bouncy numbers that keep the record buoyant for a moment. But we’re really talking about the adult pop flatlands here with one improbable peak (“Don’t Shed A Tear”). Maybe it’s the lack of a bass guitarist; that’s never a healthy sign. Those synthesizer bass notes can only sustain you for so long, and then you start to get that itch for a genuine bottom end. More likely is that I’ve reached my saturation point for Paul Carrack’s numbing mediocrity. (Now that’s awful, isn’t it? Here the man goes to the trouble of making an album, and some troll behind a computer calls it “numbing mediocrity.” It’s just that there are so many fascinating people with interesting opinions and ideas about music making records that no one ever hears, and then there’s One Good Reason loitering in the inside lane blocking some other doughy white guy from making a better go of it as a soulful pop singer. Granted, in all likelihood it just means one less ivory backscratcher for Steve Winwood, but it’s the principle of the thing.)

FV 41578 back cover

TRACK LISTING

1. ONE GOOD REASON    (Pau Carrack/Chris Difford)    3:19
2. WHEN YOU WALK IN THE ROOM    (Jackie DeShannon)    3:29
3. BUTTON OFF MY SHIRT    (Lyle/Livsey)    3:41
4. GIVE ME A CHANCE    (Paul Carrack)    4:47
5. DOUBLE IT UP    (Paul Carrack/Nick Lowe)    3:42
6. DON'T SHED A TEAR    (Eddie Schwartz/Rob Friedman)    4:55
7. FIRE WITH FIRE    (Paul Carrack/Christopher Neil)    3:59
8. HERE I AM    (Duke/Lewis/Pessis)    4:00
9. COLLRANE    (Paul Carrack/Christopher Neil)    4:40
10. (DO I FIGURE) IN YOUR LIFE    (P. Blumson/P. Dello)    2:16

CREDITS

PAUL CARRACK -- vocals
JACKIE RAWE -- background vocals
TIM RENWICK -- guitar
FRANK RICOTTI -- percussion
LINDA TAYLOR -- background vocals, duet on (2)
PETER VAN-HOOKE -- drums
WIX -- keyboards
Irish -- saxophone (7)
Simon Hurrel -- engineer
Dale Newman -- thanks
Brian Griffin -- photography
Marc Cozza -- design
Peter Corriston -- art direction
Studio B -- art production

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