New John Illsley album

[Darling Pretty]

Very interesting I think:

JOHN ILLSLEY NEW ALBUM: Recorded at Mark's British Grove studio, John's new album, Streets of Heaven, will be released on the 17th of May. The 11 track Creek Records CD was produced by John and Guy Fletcher. It features a terrific musical line-up, an Irish rhythym section, a couple of mates from the old days and Mark guesting on two of the tracks. For more info visit John's website. (23/03/10)

[Love Expresso]

Yeah, on MKNews, you can listen to the title track. There is a nice guitar on it, but I would bet that it is not one of the two MK-tracks... could be
wrong, but somehow that sounds not like MK to me - it doesn't reach me if you know what I mean. If it is really played by MK, I am flabbergasted...
There is a link to John's site with more information but I can't find which are the two tracks that MK plays on...

LE

[superval99]

I thought this was a beautiful song and, yes, I do think it is MK playing.   I think I will buy the album!   

[Rollergirl]

Nice song! Nice to hear his voice has matured since his eighties albums! The guitar is MK of course (or a very good impersonator but why would he play like MK?, doesn't make sense), very nice too!

[Love Expresso]

Don't want to be grumpy or something. It is just that I remember John trying to copy MK's guitar style very obviously on some of his latest recordings.
I listened to the song now several times, and yes, of course, it could be MK. I asked Guy about it. The song is very beautiful and I thought the same
about John's voice. It is a little rougher, and it sounds better then on "Glass". In any case, it is an album that I want to have.

LE

[Tally]

My guess is that it's John doing his MK impersonation on guitar. Who can blame him, don't we all? 

[Rollergirl]

I didn't think he sounded like MK on "beautiful you". Or are you talking about another album?

[superval99]

My guess is that it's John doing his MK impersonation on guitar. Who can blame him, don't we all? 

Why would John or anyone else impersonate MK when he is there on the album himself!   It just doesn't make sense!   

[dustyvalentino]

Why would John or anyone else impersonate MK when he is there on the album himself!   It just doesn't make sense!   

John Fogerty did an MK impression on the track he did with MK a while back.

Yes, it's bizarre.

[koobaa]

You mean "Nobody's here anymore", Dusty? John's part sounds VERY much like MK's indeed and it took me a while to realize that Mark's part is actually only filling spaces in the background.

Talking about Streets OF Heaven - I don't know. It is very Knopfleresque guitar but I wouldn't bet it's Mark.

[Jules]

I can be wrong (of course) but I

[Tally]

I was talking about Streets of Heaven, don't we all? I think it's John under heavy influence from Mark. That should hardly be surprising since he played like Mark with Greg Pearle too.

[superval99]

Well, before too long we will all know for sure.   I still think it's a lovely song and I like the guitar, whoever it is!   

[dustyvalentino]

Will be very interesting to find out if it is MK or not. If it isn't it's one of the most blatant impersonations I've heard, lots of real MK "cliches" in there.

As for the song, meh. Sorry, I'm not particularly interested in buying an album of somebody just because they have an association with MK. I'm no more likely to buy John Illsley's album than Glen Worf's.

Don't get me wrong, John's a lovely guy and of course I love him for his work with DS. But this is really not a great song, the lyrics about "The streets of heaven are paved with gold" are the kind of thing a 16 year old would write in English class.

For those of you saying you will buy this, if you heard it on the radio and didn't know there was any association with MK, would you still buy it?

[superval99]

For those of you saying you will buy this, if you heard it on the radio and didn't know there was any association with MK, would you still buy it?

Yes, if I had heard more from the album and still liked it.  The same applies to John's album - I need to hear more samples before buying and if I like them, I will buy the CD.