Search - Mark-Almond Band :: Other People's Room

Japan To The Rescue, Again

Kurt Harding | Boerne TX | 12/07/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Over the years, many great albums have been issued and have received scant notice from either the critics or the record-buying public. Lack of publicity is one explanation, a general lack of musical sophistication is another. Does the general public settle for ... because that's all they are fed or are they fed ... because that's what they want? Its an age-old question that's impossible to answer though I suspect the answer lies within the first part of the question.
Enter the Japanese. I have never been to Japan and know little of Japanese culture but one thing I have noticed is that Japanese companies have issued or reissued many obscure but great CDs over the last decade so there must be an active market for quality music over there. Great music by Astor Piazzolla, Boz Scaggs and others would have been lost to posterity had it not been for these Japanese releases. And so it is with Other People's Rooms, the excellent last-gasp of the Mark-Almond Band, where Japanese foresight and a yen for quality has once again rescued a fine body of work from oblivion.
Jon Mark and Johnny Almond first came to my attention through their work with John Mayall on Turning Point, Back to the Roots, and other albums. Their eponymous debut album gave them wider recognition and an expanding fan base in my native Southern California. They hit a high point with Mark-Almond '73 and then, as far as I can recall, dropped from earshot until the late '70s when they issued Other People's Rooms.This album features an extremely mellow version of their most famous song, The City. Then it gets into some excellent new material. I really enjoy Jon Mark's almost whispering vocals which mesh delightfully with the hopeful, yet bittersweet lyrics which mark this set. And the musicianship is impeccable.
I like every song. The Girl On Table Four is the story of many a shy guy who see's someone he is attracted to every day and yet can't summon the courage to approach her. You Look Just Like a Girl Again and Then I Have You are tinged with the bittersweetness of love and desire while the title cut exudes a wistful sense of loneliness and yet is at the same time romantic. This is an excellent album to have on while cuddling in front of the fireplace with a bottle of fine wine and your lover.
Overall, the mood of the album is very much similar to you would expect from jazz artist Michael Franks and that shouldn't be surprising since they shared producer Tommy LiPuma at that time and the final cut, Vivaldi's Song, is a delicious Franks composition.
I recommend this CD to anyone who likes quality soft jazz and a touch of happy sadness to their music. Hats off to the Japanese for coming to the rescue once again."

A gem

Bucaille | Singapore Singapore | 05/20/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Hard to find but delectable. This is one of the last opus of the Californian duet, yet one of the best, thanks also to the producer Tommy Lipuma, the underrated californian wizard. A subtle nostalgia goes though most of the tunes, from a new version for the classic City to the Vivaldi Song of Michael Franks fame( a Lipuma connection). "You look just like a girl again" and the title song "other People rooms" are some of the finest representatives of the last 70's californian spirit. Amazingly, the authors of the group's Greatest Hits sleeve notes, don't think much of this work. It's true that one or two tracks are not much inspired, kind of not so great jazz-rock fusion. But the rest is so great! Does anybody have more info on Lipuma?"

What a Find

35Graphics | 01/22/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I stumbled upon this band one day purely by accident, searching for a singer with close to the same name. Downloading what I thought was someone else's music, I was listening to this band instead. Well, I have to say...this is the best mistake I've ever made in my life.



The music of Mark-Almond took me on a new musical path. This is music that cannot be defined by a single genre. The best you can hope to do is name 2 or 3 of the musical genres that make it up and add "fusion" to the end.



Reading some of the reviews, I hear people talk about how this music defined a time and place...that of San Francisco in the 70's. Well I wasn't a part of that era, nor have I lived there, but you can definitely get an inkling of what they're talking about just by listening to these songs. Living by the water myself in Southern California, this music speaks to me in a way that some of the other So Cal music of that time does.



Of course, some will argue that Mark-Almond did their best work on their first two releases. Maybe this is true. However, every song on this record is solid. It's one of those records where your favorite song will change from year to year, depending upon which one of them speaks to you the most at that point in your life.



This is just beautiful music...the kind they sadly don't make any more.

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