the barbican - york
york press - november 1995
When I first saw Elkie Brooks she was fronting Vinegar Joe at their first recording session for a Radio 1 concert. It was also the group's press launch and I was there in the front row. Elkie was dressed in leather and was clearly little else. You could say she swept me off my seat.
Twenty years on and she's still at it. But this time as Miss Sheer Elegance in a very nice, well-tailored, trouser suit. Interesting that, because I decided to abandon the well-washed jeans and T-shirt look, and to put on a suit, for her concert. Age must have something to do with it.
She's not getting any younger - 50 this year - but she's still a gutsy singer when she needs to be, and can still send cold shivers down the spine with Lilac wine and Nights In White Satin.
She's on a 62 date UK tour and if York's reception is anything to go by, she'll have lots of friends at them all. Last night she sang Pearl's A Singer for those "Who have been with me for a long time" and also leapt into an explosive new interpretation of Break The Chain which she took into the charts back in 1987. There was also the bouncy Gasoline Alley and the thoughtful Only Women Bleed and as a fan of Janis Joplin, she added Mercedes-Benz. There were a couple of numbers, too, for the jazz fans, including Thesolonious Monk's Round Midight.
The end of the show however was a bit bizarre. There was no rousing rock, no romantic tearjerker, but a rather strange singalong with the band. No music, she singing, they harmonising, then a quick wave and it was bye-bye York.
Nonetheless, to take the title of the song that Billie Holiday wrote and that Miss Brooks so wonderfully sang, she can always give me "More and then Some".
- Malcolm Bayliss
the albert halls - bolton
manchester evening news - april 1997
Pearl's a singer, still.
So too is the artiste who immortalised her in a hit record 20 years ago. Elkie Brooks, the former Elaine Bookbinder from Salford, is touring venues such as this with her "Pearl's Anniversary" concert.
On the evidence last night both of them will be around for a long time yet. Elkie Brooks, who is now a youthful but dignified 51, has clearly come some distance since her days as Manchester's answer to Brenda Lee and a subsequent career with Vinegar Joe. This concert had been sold-out for some time to a mainly middle-aged audience which knew it was going to get a quality set from a quality singer and the opportunity to buy CDs in the interval.
Her powerful, bluesy voice - amplified exquisitely above an excellent four-piece backing band - filled the stage, the auditorium and the heart. Personally, I preferred the harder-edged material such as Gasoline Alley to some of the more middle-of-the-road offerings like Fool If You Think It's Over.
There was a standing ovation at the end and the strangely diffident Ms Brooks (away from the microphone) seemed genuinely grateful to the support of her first Bolton audience and promised she would return the year after next.
The memorable song which contrasts Pearl's unsuccessful career with that the spellbinding Elkie Brooks went down a storm and so did the classic, emotive blues number which followed.
This was a classy evening from a classy lady and the Albert Halls management, if they have not already done so, should make sure she is re-booked as soon as possible.
- Alan Calvert
the barbican - york
york press - april 1997
Elkie's fans turned out in great numbers on Saturday night to welcome her back to York. A perennial favourite in these parts, she has returned to the venune each year since her farewell tour in 1989. Thank goodness '89 was not her last tour. The British music scene would have been much poorer.
Noted for her strong distinctive voice Elkie Brooks can hold her own on any stage. She proved this again as the evening progressed.
The first half of her performance consisted of less well knonw cover versions with the odd big thrown in for good measure. Love Potion #9, Fool If You Think It''s Over, Rod Stewart's Gasoline Alley and Hold The Dream, were all given the Brooks speical treatment to the warm approval of her audience.
A New song, the name of which she did not give, opened the second half. It was a good sound and from the lyric should have "Seagull" somewhere in the title. It's pleasing to know there is new material which will surely see her performing through to the millennium. She then launched into Pearl's A Singer her first real hit, and title song of this tour. Lilac Wine, Nights In White Satin, Only Women Bleed and my own favourite, No More The Fool followed in quick succession.
All too soon she was singing her last song. One more for a quick encore and she was gone, but as sure as the daffodils flower next spring, Elkie will return to further delight her many fans. If you like the blues with a hint of jazz, Elkie Brooks is your woman, and long may she continue.
- Ray O'Keef
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