Elkie Brooks Live

Elkie Brooks live in Concert at the Blackheath Concert Halls

June 4 2011

I have always loved Elkie Brooks. Pearl’s a Singer, Gasoline Alley, Warm and Tender Love, I remember them all. So when I heard she was coming to the Blackheath Concert Halls in the heart of South East London, I rushed to buy tickets. A frisson of doubt bothered me. Well into her sixties, how good would she be? But I need not have worried, the power of her voice pushing back the years, her unaccompanied finale quite magnificent.

Success did not come easily to the Salford born, Elaine Bookbinder who left home at 15 to follow her dreams. Seventeen years of support roles (including the Beatles) were to follow until 1977 when finally, she recorded the song that was to make her name, Pearl’s A Singer. The Pearls album that followed, catapulted Elkie to stardom staying 79 weeks in the charts and making Elkie the then biggest selling, UK, female artist of all time. Mega stardom proved elusive, however, with an over-reliance on cover versions and her preference for middle-of-the-road ballads.

Playing to a full house of devotees (400 people), the evening got going with two tracks from her new album, Powerless, and then moved on to her own versions of Chris Rea’s, Fool if You Think It’s Over, and Procul Harum’s, Knights in White Satin. But Elkie is at her best with her own material - her rendition of Warm and Tender Love, one of the highlights of the evening. Comfortable and at ease on stage, she moved seamlessly from one track to another, the velvet-sounding voice as luxuriant as ever, the tones as rich, the rearrangements to suit her range, only minimal.
Apart from the obligatory rendition of Pearl, part two focussed on the new album, with an outstanding delivery of the eponymous single. While her repartee was limited (“the shopping in Blackheath is great”), no-one stays in the business over five decades without being talented and Elkie still has that in abundance. Equally professional is her large, 6 member band with Steve Jones on sax and Melvin Duffy on guitar particularly impressive.

The venue is unique, the location superb, the community supportive. Quite why the concert halls are not full every night of the week is entirely beyond me.
A enjoyable night out. 7/10/DM
June 2011