Mark LindAfter ten years of pouring his heart and soul into all of his other projects, Mark Lind has put together a moving collection of 11 songs, which are filled with as much as passion as they are anger and pain. Plus, there is also a cover of Paul Westerberg's, "Sadly Beautiful," which he does a superb rendition of. Now I am no expert on solo rock artists or anything, but from what I do know, this has a strong Bruce Springsteen influence, as well as baring slight similarities to Paul Westerberg and Joe Strummer, just a little more on the rugged side of things. The songs usually stick to the 2:30-3:30 range, and are played at a mid-paced rhythm for the most part. The approach he takes in his vocal styling is very comparable to the new Ducky Boys album. Which makes sense considering some of the parts in these songs were also used in The Ducky Boys, and Sinners and Saints records, they're not identical, he just took some ideas. I won't even go into explaining the lyrical themes behind this record, because if you have heard any of his previous projects, then you know exactly what you're getting. However, I will say that these songs are a lot more personal.
While the production sounds good, there is still some room for improvement. Before I listened to this I would have thought a slightly dirty recording would accentuate Mark's gritty singing style a lot more, but not so much. That's not to say that it doesn't sound good and usually I don't say this, but this thing would have definitely benefited from a super polished, huge, recording. Shit if he got some top notch recording for this, I could see him blowing up. And shit, it'd be nice to see a sincere song writer with something worthwhile to say in the mainstream. The layout looks pretty good, nothing extravagant, just what is necessary. The cover art is pretty plain, but sums up the album titled perfectly, just a noose over a prison corridor that has a green tint to it. On the back of the booklet there is a picture of Mark with his guitar, standing out on a corner. I'm really liking the inside tray art with the finger print document. The strongest thing about the layout, believe it or not is the plain, white and black inside of the booklet with the lyrics. It was a real nice touch to add the background story behind each song. Very good stuff.
Rating: 3.5/5
Songs Worthy of Replay: No Future, Lonely People
Thesis: I wasn't expecting much from this, because I'm not really down with Bruce Springsteen and shit like that, but I ended up digging this. If you like any of his previous material, check it this out.