Search - Mark Mallman :: Mr. Serious

A great piano based power pop record

doug | Rocky River, Ohio United States | 10/22/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I really only checked out Mark Mallman for two reasons: He's on Badman records and the record store guy I trust seemed to really like the record. I only heard the first two tracks at the store and they convinced me to check the record out with no real prior knowledge. I was pleasantly surprised to see that Mallman was able to keep his songcraft up to par with the only songs I had heard. "Hardcore Romantics" is the first single off the record, and rightfully so, but the record is full of songs that have single material written all over them. His melodies are edgy, yet fun and his voice seems to fit the music perfectly at almost all times. Mallman's strong suit is definitely the rockers. This isn't to say that the ballads are bad, quite the contrary most of them are great, but at times it seems that Mallman's vocal style does not always fit with the more laid back structure of the songs. It seems that Mallman is making an attempt to bring retro-arena rock to the world of indie rock and to be honest, I really hope he succeeds."