J. plays on the new Mark Mulcahy album

[Bucky Ramone]

….found this on a Frank Black forum, don’t remember seeing it here before….

"Mark Mulcahy – In Pursuit Of Your Happiness"

Tracklisting
1. In Pursuit Of Your Happiness
2. Cookie Jar
3. I Have Patience (lead guitar J.Mascis)
4. Be Sure
5. Can’t Find A Reason To Let You Go
6. A World Away From This One
7. A Smack On The Lips (lead guitar J.Mascis)
8. Everything’s Coming Undone
9. 4.04
10. Nothing But A Silver Medal (lead guitar J.Mascis)
11. Propstar (lead guitar J.Mascis)
12. He Vanished (lead guitar Joey Santiago)

* ex-Miracle Legion frontman’s third solo album
*Features Dinosaur Jr’s J.Mascis and Joey Santiago of The Pixies

"Mark Mulcahy is crouching at the rear of the stage, tuning up, taking the occasional sip of water .. He slouches up to the microphone wearing Tom Waits’s 1974 haircut and holds his mouth open for six seconds. It looks, for a moment, like he’s going to greet us with a standard "How’s everyone doing?" banality, but then something extraordinary happens: he sings. The entire crowd appears to hold their breath and freeze simultaneously, as if they’ve come to watch a singer-songwriter, only to find him replaced by a professional trapeze artist. Former Miracle Legion frontman has the kind of male voice you just don’t hear anymore: breathy, acrobatic, sensual, utterly, rapturously in-touch"
Tom Cox – The Guardian

Of all the bands that surfaced in the wake of REM’s success in the mid-to-late 80s, the one widely regarded as ‘most likely to succeed’ was the USA’s Miracle Legion. When they imploded amidst a series of crippling major label legal wrangles, frontman Mark Mulcahy, although semi-satisfied with the band’s achievements, knew that his astounding voice could carry him further. After a series of very low-key solo shows in NYC he was back in the game and with the release of 1999’s Fathering – a stripped down, bare-boned pean to lust and longing – he found himself responsible for what was soon to become regarded as an instant classic.

After unexpectedly dedicating the show to Mark at the end of a Radiohead gig in Boston long-time fan Thom Yorke – who claims Mark possesses the "most beautiful voice I’ve ever heard" – invited him to open up for his band, and in the UK and Europe in particular he received universal acclaim. As well as appearing in several end of year polls the album’s stand-out track Hey Self Defeater was included alongside Springsteen’s Thunder Road and Van Morrison’s Caravan in Nick Hornby’s collection of essays ’31 Songs’ as one of his all time favourites. A follow up in 2001, SmileSunset – a lusher, bolder affair that found Mulcahy collaborating with a host of musicians and various members of the cast of The Sopranos – was again praised for its vocal acrobatics and skilled songwriting while the accompanying tour found Mark in startling form.

In Pursuit Of Your Happiness lies somewhere between its predecessor and Fathering. In many ways it’s a return to the orgiastic-no-limits-abandon of his solo debut – tales of illicit affairs and claustrophobic sex clamouring for attention with his musings on those over the years he’s lost and found – and the verdant melodic glory of SmileSunset. Aided by guests such as Dinosaur Jr’s J.Mascis and Joey Santiago of The Pixies he’s produced a deceptively beefed up album that retains the aural power punch of what has come before but is complimented by a rueful maturity that, while still celebrating the wonders of the flesh, also contemplates its frailty.

Its a grown up album that comes at a time when we never needed one more. As Uncut’s editor Allan Jones said in a review of one of Mark’s London shows: "At a time, sadly, when popular music seems to mean less than it ever has to a lot of people (Mulcahy offers) a timely reminder of what’s still possible, the extent to which great music can still blow your fucking mind".

[Hugh]

Everyone should really seek out this record when it comes out on April 12th. It is so very good. One of the best things I have heard so far this year. Mulcahy is way underrated. You can order the album now…

http://www.mezzotint.com/sale”>http://www.mezzotint.com/sale

[AGAP]

Cool find, definitely will check it out

[rambleon]

cool … i’m pretty sure mark mulcahy opened up for j at the shepherd’s bush empire in 2001 …

[Author]

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