Welcome to the official Terry Carolan website.  In addition to posting upcoming performances, new recordings, or other current events, this site includes pages about  the bands and others who have been part of Terry's long and ever evolving career.  Songs, histories, photos and credits for Just Boys, Pinups, True Hearts and New Movies are here, as well as for Terry's many years as a solo artist and his recent move into Blue Cartoon.

Terry's music is engaging, introspective and memorable.  With a knack for hooks and a vocal range that can keep up with his diverse songwriting, Terry has always sought to write songs as good as the people who have inspired him.  Come in, sit back, listen for yourself and enjoy the history and songs from Terry and his many musical collaborators.

A few years ago I mentioned a band called The Skies Of America and their song "Fascination" (see below).  Founder Rob Bonfiglio released a solo album this year (2009) titled "Bring On The Happy".  Rob intorduced it to me as a DIY (do it yourself) album.  I was blown away when I got it.  It is a great pop/pop-rock album.  The production is full, but very organic and very well done.  While it is far from derivative, there are reminders of McCartney circa Ram, Rundgren circa Something Anything, Rick Springfield circa Wait For Night, and Eric Carmen circa Eric Carmen.  Still, the album is very much Rob Bonfiglio and I have enjoyed it immensely.  This is the best overall pop album I've heard in quite a while.  It is available and I highly recommend buying it.

Robert Ferris, a friend I made shortly before I left San Jose, gave me a demo of a few of his tunes I had heard one time before.  The tunes were produced by Kevin Gilbert of Toy Matinee infamy.  Among them are two pop gems named "Ostrich Man" and "Between Us".  "Ostrich Man" is sort of an XTC meets McCartney and Ham.  If you're lucky enough to find these tracks, grab them.  The last I knew Robert was planning to release an album that included a re-recording of "Ostrich Man", but I don't think it was produced as the same pop song I have.

And as a nod of acknowledgement to where it all started for me:  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JB2eWPxAmQ8&NR

June 21, 2007
Paul McCartney – Memory Almost Full

After listening to McCartney’s new “Memory Almost Full” album a few times, I thought to myself “who the hell am I to comment on Paul’s new album”. Then I realized that who I am is one of many, many people who have watched his truly amazing life and music unfold before our eyes and ears, and a lot of this new album is Paul’s reflection on this incredible life, including the sad reality that it can’t last forever.

As much as I admire McCartney, I’m sometimes his harshest critic. I keep waiting for another “Yesterday”, “Eleanor Rigby”, “Penny Lane”, “Hey Jude” or “Maybe I’m Amazed” to come out of him, but maybe it isn’t fair to hold him to those incredible tunes forever. “Memory Almost Full” doesn’t have another McCartney masterpiece on it, but it is a good album with several really good tunes on it. Opening with the infectious ditty “Dance Tonight”, I’m reminded of the “Ram” album, and also Paul’s ability to write a song that sounds like a traditional tune that has been around for a long, long time. Songs like “Ever Present Past”, “That Was Me” and “The End Of The End” are more beautiful in their message than their poetry. But then there’s that voice… it sounds great even when the lyrics aren’t. On “That Was Me” and “Nod Your Head” Paul belts it out nearly as well as his “Kansas City” or “Oh Darling” days. With tunes like “That Was Me” and “The End Of The End” Paul touches on some very mature topics, things that are on the mind of many of our collective generation. And he does it with typical McCartney grace, even if it is a bit trite in a few places. Over the years Paul has gotten a little weak on some of his lyrics, and that is my opinion for tunes like “See Your Sunshine” and “Gratitude”, but he still has some well written stuff here. “See Your Sunshine” is his most Wings sounding piece since Wings and if listened to on the whole, even these tunes are catchy and well performed, including some really great harmonies. “Mr. Bellamy” and “Only Mama Knows” are McCartney novelettes. For some reason “Bellamy” makes me think of Genesis circa Nursery Cryme, something like “Harold The Barrel”, very quirky pop. What can I say about “Only Mama Knows”? It’s a kick ass tune with weak lyrics telling a story about a fictitious person. But with that said, “Helter Skelter” didn’t exactly have a story, so all in all “Mama” ain’t too bad and Paul sings the hell out of it.

One thing that has impressed me for years is Paul McCartney’s view of his amazing life. He’s as big a fan of The Beatles as anyone else. In a 1996 interview Paul said; "I've always had this thing of him and me; he goes on stage, he's famous, and then me; I'm just some kid from Liverpool. Occasionally I stop and think, I am Paul McCartney, fuckin' hell, that is a total freak-out!” This part of McCartney’s personality comes through so clearly on this album, so in that sense it is endearingly autobiographical, philosophical and wistful.

No, there isn’t the next “Blackbird” here, but each time I listen to “Memory Almost Full” I’m more impressed. However critical I may be, to hear Paul sing “on the day that I die…” stirs as much emotion in me as any song he has ever done. And isn’t that what a songwriter should strive to do? I don’t want to think about a world without Paul McCartney. He’s given me decades of inspiration, and more of the soundtrack for my life than anyone else. Somehow, as long as Paul is alive and singing, it will always be 1964, and he will be forever young. And then, somehow, so am I.

Terry Carolan