to October 31 Paul Young may not have much in common with Frank Sinatra.

He certainly would not have needed Ol' Blue Eyes himself to tell him It Was A Very Good Year.

Because for Paul, it's been quite a traumatic one. First he lost his recording contract. Then he lost his manager.

But he clearly hasn't lost his voice -- even if it was croaking just a touch during the first two songs he belted out at the Surf Club on Wednesday night.

The first of his eight gigs got better and better as it drew on. In fact, most of the punters packing out the club wanted the 1980s star of pop and soul to stay on stage just a little bit longer.

His 13-track set lasted little more than an hour. That included one encore.

But there was so much more Paul could have done.

He'd whetted everyone's appetite, getting almost the entire crowd going. Never before can the Surf Club have been so jam-packed with dancers.

But even afterwards, fans young and old could be heard muttering to each other: "I wish he'd played this...and I wish he's played that.'' Paul could have done much more. There was no Love Will Tear Us Apart. There was no Don't Dream It's Over.

Paul could have gone on all night and the crowd would have loved it. Some of them could have gone on all night as well.

It Was A Very Good Year, the old Sinatra standard, came somewhere in the middle of the set -- soul/funk style.

It stood out as entirely different from the rest of the show, which included old favourites like I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down, Everything Must Change, Wherever I Lay My Hat and Now I Know What Made Otis Blue.

They've been played and played again so much that almost everyone recognises those songs, even if they don't know the titles.

It sounded like Paul's band -- Matt Irving on keyboards, Matt Cheadle on guitar, Chris Childs on bass and John Tonks on drums -- could have played them with their eyes shut and with one hand tied behind their backs.

Their sound was crisp and full after some early tinkering through the technicians at the back of the club.

The only thing which took a little while to warm up was Paul's voice. He strained a bit through the first two songs.

But once he got into his rhythm, there was no stopping him. His performance got stronger and stronger throughout the night.

It was only a day since he'd landed in Bermuda. No hint of jetlag though.

And once he'd been through a bottle of Heineken and a cigar, Paul drew on the adrenalin from the crowd to keep him going.

Half the full house got up to dance when he closed the main part of his set with Every Time You Go Away.

That song alone must have lasted 10 minutes, with the crowd contributing the chorus as Paul summoned every extra piece of energy to keep the beat going and do full justice to his classic.

Then came the encore, alas just one of them, and the Surf CLub was transformed into a mid-80s time warp for Living in the Love of the Common People.

It may not have been that good a year for Paul Young. More gigs like this will make it a better year for all of us.

Neil Roberts ENTERTAINMENT REVIEW REV