"I'm just trying to get good at writing classic pop songs."

It's a rainy afternoon in Chicago, and I'm seated across the hotel room coffee table from Paul Carrack, a legendary singer/songwriter with a penchant for understatement.

As a driving force behind pop classics like "Tempted" (Squeeze), "The Living Years" (Mike & the Mechanics), "How Long" (Ace), and "Love Will Keep Us Alive" (the Eagles), Carrack is already better than good. He's a master.

Carrack's Chicago stopover is part of a brief, promotional tour in support of his latest Ark 21 release, the shimmering Blue Views, which is already a hit in Europe. Receiving ample airplay on Adult Contemporary radio stations stateside, the record represents a sort of rebirth for Carrack as a solo performer, a role he has toyed with several times over the years. At tonight's show, he'll alternate between keyboard and acoustic guitar, armed with nearly two decades worth of music. "I'm bloody nervous!" he laughs, his eyes bulging convincingly.

He's got nothing to worry about. Since joining pub-rockers Ace at the tender age of 21, Carrack has enjoyed a solid musical career and a fairly comfortable level of fame and acclaim. "A lot of inside people know who I am," he admits shyly, fidgeting with the guitar he'll play in just a few hours. "I have a lot of credibility, a lot of support, which has kept me going."

Blue Views grew out of recording sessions at the famed Abbey Road studios as part of a pilot for British television. Joined by an impressive coterie of session musicians, Carrack laid down new versions of "How Long" and "Love Will Keep Us Alive" in a little better than a day. "It went well...we all had fun...so we booked another six days at Abbey Road and finished the record there," he explains, his fingers still working on the guitar in his lap.

Growing comfortable with the microphone and my presence in his tidy hotel room, Carrack drifts into a tune. "You'll know this one!" he tells me, brightening.

Three chords a few bars later, I'm nodding along. "I know it!" I agree, and he grins as he cruises through "Don't Shed A Tear," the 1987 Top Ten single that achieved his highest chart position as a solo artist.

Moments later he's delivering a passionate version of "I Need You," a tune he wrote and recorded for 1982's Suburban Voodoo and that was later made popular by Linda Ronstadt. Eyes squeezed shut, Carrack gives me the same earnest performance that I'll witness later on in front of nearly a thousand people. "It doesn't matter if I'm playing for 20 people or 20,000, I still get the same kind of nervous," he tells me. "Do you really think I should play that one tonight?"

"Yeah, I love that song," I say, adding, "but I never realized it was one of yours."

Carrack has heard this before. "Them hits that everybody knows, the public doesn't associate (them) with me," he explains, both proud and agitated at the same time. "It's a double-edged sword...sometimes a little fame would help...to have a career!"

Despite his own relatively low profile in America, Carrack has worked with an amazing array of famous folks. A favorite Hollywood game these days is called "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon," in which players attempt to link all major entertainment figures with one another through their connection to the ubiquitous Bacon. I suggest to Carrack that he is the music industry's version of Bacon, having worked with a star-studded list of performers that includes Elvis Costello, Roger Waters, Diana Ross, Rod Stewart, Roxy Music, The Smiths, The Undertones, Madness, The Pretenders, Nick Lowe, Eric Clapton...and Tom Jones?

"I love it when anybody does one of my songs. (Tom) did this ballad called, 'Give Me a Chance.' I'd done it, but nobody picked up on my version of it. And I thought, if Tom Jones is gonna do it, no problem, it's gonna be a hit! It was funny, because his version was very much Tom Jones...it's like a bull in a china shop! Straight for the jugular!"

Having crested forty years of age a few years ago, Carrack seems comfortable with his image as a versatile, blue-eyed soul singer for the older set. "I've made a fairly soft record," he agrees. "It's quite gentle, really."

Soft-spoken and eager to please, the author of some of the most enduring pop songs of our time leans back in his chair and allows himself to marvel at his gift.

"When I was a 16-year-old kid, I never dreamt that I would make a career out of music. Now I know I wanna make music all my life. I don't wanna ever stop using these skills."

SCOTT HESS