Pool Of Sound - Paul Crowe

 

Paul Crowe is a singer-songwriter from Liverpool inspired by the top tier greats of songcraft, such as Tom Petty, Neil Finn and 'The Waterboys'. Now in his 40s, Paul says, "I think the first thing that got me into music, the first door. I had this box of records, I can still see it to be fair, it was an old ‘Co-op’ box in our back room. I think it was my dad’s mates, I’ll have to check, but I’m pretty sure. He was a DJ, so he had all Jive Bunny and songs of the day Madonna – all pop stuff, but it stopped three inches in. I remember thumbing through as a kid, then it went to the Stones, then Madonna then The Kinks. At this time I knew about the Beatles and Dylan I knew the names but hadn’t made the link. Not to sound mystical about it like it was a box of records but for me it was the box in ours’, ‘What’s that in there?’ – it really become my box of records. I must have been about 9 or 10, but the thing is I loved all the pop of the day as a kid, ‘Right Said Fred’ I was into all that, I remember thinking that’s not the same thing… that, but that’s great too. It’s funny, I remember like when I was a kid there was an ownness on all the channels MTV and all that. VH1 there was a lot of focus on retro stuff. I remember Orbison, he had singles out. When I was a kid Orbison had songs out in the charts, I thought that was pop the same as Madonna, which I was having anyway. It just branches off from there, it’s all magic to me. I remember Roy Orbison had a video out before he died when I was about 9, can see it dead clear. 

Performing in Leaf in 2023

Paul’s song writing has tunes dripping with rock 'n' roll passion and immediacy. He released his debut solo single 'Don’t Fail Me Now' on Loominance Records with further singles and a much-anticipated album later. 

'All the Way Back to Liverpool', a 2012 German–British documentary film directed by Chandra Fleig was released as a music webisode in 2014. The documentary shows a group of musicians and friends as they write, rehearse and record new material,showing the creative process of music production and songwriting from the initial idea to the final product. It features Chandra Fleig as producer, Paul Crowe in charge of the musical score, and Thomas Bergmann as head of cinematography. It is recorded in English and originally aired in United Kingdom. Each episode of 'All the Way Back' to Liverpool is 73 minutes long.

In October 2024, No Frills reviewed Paul's debut album, "The debut from Liverpool singer-songwriter, Paul Crowe, combines Americana with what can perhaps be best described as Scouse Soul. When they’re good, I don’t think Merseyside singers can be beaten in rock; from Lennon-McCartney through to modern masters like James Skelly, there’s just a certain unique combination of melody and attitude that can’t be replicated with other accents. And Crowe makes a strong case here that he belongs in that lineage, with a consistently excellent vocal display. Crowe’s songs bring the immediacy of classic pop songwriting, armed with a host of almost stadium-sized singalong choruses. Even where the lyrics are borderline desperate and pained, like on 'Breakdown Blues' or 'Don’t Fail Me Now', they build to joyous conclusions; hope and defiance in the face of adversity. The album’s biggest outlier and standout is 'Ayda', which is just an absolutely magical tune; with echoes of the cosmic beauty that Van Morrison conjured up on 'Astral Weeks'. That song encapsulates the strongest aspect of Crowe’s writing, where he combines the ordinary and the extraordinary. As he also does on the La’s-esque, 'Firecracker Dawn' – “she melts Vesuvius, and stares down anyone” – elevating the characters and emotions underpinning these songs to epic proportions. An excellent debut from an artist well worthy of more attention."