coventry theatre - coventry
november 1977
Elkie’s still a classy lassie – both on record and on stage.
At least, that was the full house conclusion at Coventry Theatre last week when Ms. Brooks visited the city on her ’77 tour.
Anyway the lovely lassie came on to a few wolf whistles and livened up the audience aptly enough with I’m Gonna Make You Love Me. This wasn’t too difficult.
Wearing the latest in Chinese fashion, Elkie put her own mark on the soul hi Love Potion No. 9 and then came a beautiful rendition of Sunshine After The Rain both from her album Two Days Away.
Too Precious possibly her next single, saw the songstress playing an electric piano with all the expertise of a professional. Many more of her songs high lighted the lady’s past jazz influences especially John Martyn’s Bear It In Mind and her own success story Pearl’s A Singer.
The audience loved it, and the evening was brought to a pre-mature end (because everyone had such a good time) with Elkie returning to a few verses of her theme tune for the night, I’m Gonna Make You Love Me. Mention must be made of her fine coloured backing trio of one girl and two men, whose musical abilities helped enormously in making the night a success.
So if you ever have a chance to view Elkie Brooks live, believe me, you wont be disappointed.
-anon
gaumont - southampton
november 1977
After a week when the Gaumont’s stage was dominated by male performers there was a glorious reversal of that trend on Saturday night.
Elkie Brooks, currently the hottest female property on the British pop scene, overshadowed everybody who had gone before last week. That may be a biased male view, but even the most self centred females in the audience would have to admit that Elkie was dynamic.
Husky, pleading, emotional, belting – a dictionary of complimentary adjectives could be used in describing her voice. And her appearance and presence on stage gradually won her audience over. Polite applause mushroomed into frantic demands for more.
In the first half of her act, this new star wore a flowing, graceful outfit. When she discarded 50 per cent of it you could almost hear hundreds of male pulses quicken in unison. The pace then quickend with more limelight on her fine backing musicians. Meanwhile Elkie nipped off to slip into a stunning turquoise creation.
But even such an elaborate gown could not hide the guts in her singing or stifle her movements. Pearls a Singer her number one hit, was the beginning of the end of the night. For her tow encores she changed yet again, this time into a deliberately tatty black affair which few others could have filled with such effect.
Elkie started and finished with “I’m Gonna Make You Love Me” That she did!
-g l
caird hall - dundee
november 1977
There was Sunshine After The Rain in Dundee last night when singing superstar Elkie Brooks played the Caird Hall on the last lap of her British tour.
Outside the rain fell, the queue drifted into the hall and found a ray of sunshine in the shape of Miss Brooks. All the available seats were taken as fans ranging from young teenagers to elderly couples watched one the country’s most talented and versatile female vocalists. The audience were buzzing and expectant as the star of the night, Elkie Brooks took to the stage.
She had a tremendous range, she can produce the sort of sounds that have send Olivia Newton John to the top and the deep, gutsy vocals that were the trademark of Janis Joplin. After a few mixed numbers, Miss Brooks introduced a lesser known side of her talents – as a dancer she captured the fans imagination and hearts.
After touring for over a month, Miss Brooks and her supporting band still managed to provide a tight, high quality and impressive sound. Her music was fresh and sincere. Elkie’s husband and musical director Pete Gage played lead guitar and Steve York Bass guitar, Tim Hinkley keyboards, Trevor Morais formed the rest of the rhythm section. With a brass section and three vocalists the stage was fairly cramped, but Elkie still found room to shine through.
It was the song Pearl’s A Singer that most people wanted to hear and they let Elkie know in no uncertain terms when she began. It was this song and her follow up Sunshine after the Rain that boosted her career so suddenly this year.
Nowadays her name is a household one, a fair reward for someone who has been singing in clubs for over a decade.
-anon
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