Paul Liddell

ALKD album launch – Get Rhythm

Paul Liddell is one of the North East’s greatest talents. OK, so he’s from Sunderland, but we can overlook that for one night, it is his album launch after all.

We were eased in to the show with solo acoustic renditions of the gentle title track from the new album ‘A Lighthouse Keeper’s Diary’, the soaring ‘Angels With Wings’ and the bittersweet ‘Suburbia’. Paul, with only a guitar between him and the audience played with an open raw emotion that left my spine tingling. He was then joined by Margaret Liddell on backing vocals for a superb rendition of old favourite ‘Venus’ before Geoff Watson on drums and Graeme Atkinson on bass completed the line up for the newer ‘Travelling Song’.

Yet another new track’A Quiet Kind Of Madness’, followed. This blew me away on the night: great lyrics, great melody, great arrangement, fantastic performance.

Paul Liddell is so versatile, especially with the support of his band, it’s hard to place him in a single genre, but think Damien Rice (classy original emotive songs) and you’re getting close to the kind of thing Paul is about. The set mixed old classics such as ‘Lead Umbrella’ and ‘Fingersticks’ with stunning fresh material such as ‘A Mile Away’ and ‘Untouched By Time Or Progress’ to keep the audience more than interested – absolutely loving it. The highlight of the night for me was the outstanding ‘Hi – Rise’.

The set ended with ‘Nicki Said No’ but calls for “more” from the 300 plus crowd soon persuaded Paul to return with the poppy ‘Number 2’. Another attempt to leave the stage failed, and Paul finished off with the exceptional ‘Runaway’ (self penned, not a cover) which stunned the audience into silence! Then they raised the roof.

Katie Fish.
- Get Rhythm

Paul Liddell – A Lighthouse Keepers Diary

How do you follow up a brilliant debut album? If you’re Paul Liddell, quite easily!
‘A Lighthouse Keeper’s Diary’ is the long awaited second album from one of the North’s most talented singer/songwriters, and in my opinion it’s a work of pure genius!

Those of you familiar with the rocky sound of his debut album may be surprised by the stripped down approach Paul has taken, but this record is all about the melody and emotion – think Damien Rice’s ‘cannonball’.

‘Travelling Song’ is the first track. It gently lures you in and by the end you’re ‘addicted to the bittersweet’ sounds of Paul Liddell.

The highlight of the album is the stunning ‘ Hi – Rise’. Or the soothing ‘Untouched By Time Or Progress’ which is sweetly melodic but lyrically quite dark… Take your pick!

It’s hard to pick out a single track, but I think my favourite at the moment is ‘A Mile Away’. The harmonies are breathtaking and the melody has the power to make your spine tingle.

Paul Liddell has an amazing ability to write songs everyone can relate to and if you’re no too careful, you’ll get locked in the abyss of memories and emotions this CD unlocks.

A truly magical album.

13/13

Katie Price
- Insangel.co.uk

Paul Liddell
New Thing Coming (Regulus)

This local, 25 year-old lad, has so far spurned the advances of the major record labels, but it’s easy to hear why they have beat a path to his door. This EP demonstrates his deceptively easy way with a melody, and the four tracks here are stuffed with quality song-writing, heartfelt lyrics and exemplary playing. Check out www.paulliddell.com for more info.
GM
Released October (download only itunes etc)
- The Crack Magazine

"This musician defiantly made a good first impression. His opening riff was intricate and impressive, suggesting the music he was about to play came entirely naturally. His vocals were beautiful, wonderfully melancholic and almost soothing to a degree, and when he pulled out pre-recorded harmonies from his enormous collection of pedals, which I originally thought were overkill for an acoustic act, I was won over. His winning feature was that I found him hard to compare to other musicians and that my attention was focused entirely on him, listening to all of his set.
The songs he played were the perfect balance of heartfelt soppiness and upbeat jollity, making it a wonderfully varied performance. Don’t get me wrong, its not that what he does hasn’t been done before, it’s just that Paul Liddell does it so well that you overlook the rest."
By Hannah Ravenor
9/10

Feel free, just direct people back to www.eastmagazine.co.uk
- East Magazine

You've only got to hear the first song on "New Thing Coming" to know that Paul has his origins in the North East. You're barely a few lines in when you realise that you're listening to someone that really knows how to throw a song together. The lightness of the music often belies the strength of the underlying song. At times it almost sounds frivilous, but you can't but help to keep returning to the narrative and understand just how good this really is. By remaining true to his location, Paul Liddell has infused his songs with a sound that is instantly identifiable and relevent.

Fatea Magazine, 23/10/07
- Fatea Magazine

Review
Acoustic Session
ft. Martin Harley Band + Pete Christie + Paul Liddell
Thursday 29th November
I arrived at eight and there was already a queue so it looked like it would be a busy night and indeed it was with all the seats taken early and people crammed in round the sides and back and boy were we in for a treat. First on was Paul Liddell who drove all the way from Sunderland for the gig and I'm glad he did, he was brilliant. His first number started with a gentle riff that was fed into an emulator of some sort which stored then repeated the riff while he built up a rhythm by tapping his guitar then strumming chords which made for a full complete sound, he even built up harmonies on the chorus that were quite stunning, a great start. He followed this with a variety of melodic intelligent songs that enthralled the crowd. His too short set ended with Hurricanes, a belter of a song that built to a huge climax by building layers like the first song, a fitting finish to a wonderful short set. I hope he returns soon I would like to see a longer set from this talented singer songwriter.
- Mr. Kyps

Paul Liddell is a very talented guy from Sunderland who writes great songs, uses all kinds of different guitar tunings, and employs special effects which enable him to repeat what he just did and build it all up to sound like loads of people. Very effective, even if I don’t understand how he does it, but the important thing is that he is a great singer/songwriter. Listen to the upbeat “Brighter Lights” and the heavier “Hurricanes” on his myspace, which also has lots of other songs. The excellent “Dialling Tone” and “Runaway” are unfortunately not there. He visits London often, so check him out.

Peter Coulston – Seatwave.com 23/10/07
- Seatwave.com

Paul Liddell - EP - New Thing Coming

'New Thing Coming' by Paul Liddell is an EP full of 'acoustic' music that's overflowin' with great 'now' feel. Liddell clearly shows that apart from being a great songwriter and musician he's also got his finger dead on the button of contemporary commercial sensibility.
'New Thing Coming' fully justifies Liddell's place in the scheme of things acoustic; this is a bright and optimistic sounding work rammed full of professionalism and artistic dedication. In just four excellent tracks Paul Liddell makes a massive impression with his poetic troubadourial works of perfectly proportioned songs that've been given all the attention and loving preparation they deserve. Liddell writes with a maturity and passion that belie his relatively tender years - this is impressive stuff indeed!
Liddell hasn't fallen into the modern trap of studio over-embellishment either - the instrumentation here is concise, precise and superbly mixed to allow the listener full, un-cluttered access to Liddell's great songs. Liddell has a nicely silky vocal style but can impart just the right degree of grit and 'gravel' when the lyric demands - his voice flows with a grace and liquidity that leaves you feeling that Liddell could be that successful 'boy next door' with a 'new thing coming'!
Liddell is cleverly familiarly unfamiliar!! With a vocal delivery that's honest and homely this guy's not pretending to be anything other than just plain Paul Liddell - and that's something I admire this guy for. It's too easy nowadays to plagiarise and copy other successful artists to try and gain a start on the back of others' successes - Liddell stands here to be counted as an individual with nothing but his own musical identity and awesome talent.
'New Thing Coming' by Paul Liddell is every bit as good as anything his similarly ilked contemporaries are putting out just now. Liddell's got a beautifully friendly feel and a sound that's genuinely open to all-comers - acoustically, Liddell's music is definitely on the right side of pc at the moment and with a bit of luck and some good promotion Paul Liddell could soon be coming into your homes - when he does, sit back and enjoy coz this guy's got a lot to offer and a damn fine future ahead of him. Very tasty stuff this - everything's just so - no pretensions, no ego - just a great singer/songwriter with a gift to share. So, try Paul Liddell out - one to watch out for methinks!!
Peter J Brown aka toxic pete (www.toxicpete.co.uk)

- toxicpete.co.uk

A Lighthouse Keeper’s Diary
Regulus Music-4002101


North-East singer/songwriter with a relaxing collection of originals

This is Paul Liddell’s second album release and it is full of extremely good material which addresses the twists and turns of life with tender longing. These songs also helped the 23-year-old win the Sunderland Music Award. The music is very thought provoking and is ideal for putting on at a reasonable volume (not too loud), laying out in the summer sun and relaxing. Paul shows his vast talents on this album, as he has written all the music, lyrics and arrangements. Plus he plays all the instruments, which include drims, cello, trumpet and acoustic guitar. This, as well as providing all the vocals! The excellent Angels With Wings is a pacey tune with driving acoustic guitar. Whilst suburbia is at the other end of the scale, as a quite beautiful and tender ballad. Jail Song is very 1970’s folk, whereas the dreamy A Mile Away is quite pop orientated, simple yet superb. Hi-Rise is an almost mesmerising tune with trumpet accompaniment.

The title track is another very simple tune with just acoustic guitar and vocals that just works so well. Paul eplains his love for the unpretentious approach when he said ‘I learned how to leave songs sparse and not throw everything at them. Subtelty is the key.’ He garnered priceless counsel from his friend Steve Daggett who produced his first album, Paul says ‘Steve convinced me to actually finish a sond before recording it.’ The Lindisfarne influences of Daggett are also evidebt in some of the songs. Paul has been touring solidly for the last four years and has built up a sizeable following in the North-East, flocking to his gigs by the coach load, thus I would think he’d sell a fare amount at his shows. A very good album from a highly talented singer/songwriter/musician. DK
- Maverick

PAUL LIDDELL ‘A Lighthouse Keeper’s Diary’ Regulus (2005)
www.paulliddell.com

Paul Liddell has been quietly building a large and growing following in his native North-East of England. So much so that he has coach parties of fans following him to gigs! His latest album is a gem chock full of acoustic guitar led numbers and delicate arrangements (using the maxim ‘less is more’). Stand out track has to be the opener ‘Travelling Song’ with its acoustic guitar, heartfelt vocal and wonderful canon vocal fade out. ‘Runaway’ could easily make the daytime play list on BBC radio 2 and have the masses snapping up the tune if it were a single (would leave David Gray in his dust!) Paul Liddell adds various instruments to certain tracks including the brass accompaniment on ‘Hi-Rise’ and it makes the album have plenty of variety rather than just a singer/songwriter album full of acoustic guitar passages. Liddell has a very clean and melodious vocal, which coupled with his knack of penning a thought provoking lyric makes for a highly enjoyable and rewarding album.

****
Jason Ritchie


Taken from “Get ready to Rock” and “Classic Newswire”.
- GRTR