After pulling four singles off of 1987's
One Good Reason,
Paul Carrack looked to be on the verge of finally establishing himself as a solo star. Instead, he stumbled with the follow-up,
Groove Approved, a solid, workman-like collection that featured only one Top 40 number in "I Live by the Groove." One suspects that this had less to do with the album's real commercial potential than with upheavals in the record company, which was being sold by its founders to EMI during this period. Yet, afterward,
Carrack went back to working with
Squeeze and
Mike + the Mechanics, putting his solo career on hold. ~ William Ruhlmann