New for 2022

[qjamesfloyd]

I think it makes little sense to make an album, and barely manage to cover the production costs, just for the pleasure of doing it.  Especially the record company would object as it would struggle to support such a thing without having a decent income.  And Mark?  Where would you get the income from?  For this reason I believe that if he does not do any more live, he is almost forced to make a radio album.

This is not always true, sorry to keep mentioning Mike Oldfield, but he is the answer to a lot of questions, he hasn't done a tour to promote an album since 1993 he has done a few one off concerts though, his last tour was 1999 for 2 months, but that was not to promote an album as such. He has his own studio so doesn't have to pay for studio time, but the record label (Same as Mark's) don't seem to mind him not touring. So, I can see Mark not doing any full blown tours anymore, but I can't see him not doing some live promotion for an album.

[dustyvalentino]

I don’t think any artists of his age are going to have radio pop hits.

At least MK doesn’t have to pay for studio time.

Yes he has.

It is his studio but he pays for his time there as any other artist. It's true that is money that goes from one pocket to the other, but is something he needs to do because when he's recording there are professionals working there with a salary and that salary needs an income to be paid

I used to work in a hotel who belonged to a company that used the hotel facilities for meetings with rooms and lunch and dinners for people at the meetings and the company paid for all the services like any other client because all the services they were using had people working with a salary, if you don't pay for those services, you are loosing money, if you pay for it, at least the hotel doesn't loose money, and in the end is money going from one pocket to the other, and if you use other facilities, you are giving the money to someone else, this way you give the money to yourself.

Maybe, really you or I have no idea about his arrangments. He maybe books it at quiet times to minimise losses.

[jabbathehut]

The money is in touring even if he did just  5 nights at rah  he probably covers everything and makes a bit irrespective of album sales .Rough guesstimation 5000 tickets a night at average of £100  is £2.5 million .

[cannibals]

Come on, we're trying to be positive and force him to play gigs, lol

Seriously, I think that, despite his playing is not as used to be, the middle part of last tour, where he played songs like "heart full of holes" etc was good enough to have him playing an entire show in an intimate way without too much guitar playing. He would do a perfect show that way, and I truly would love to see such a concert, with no guitar demanding songs .

He should tour UK and Europe in a way they did the showcases about 15 years ago.

[Eddie Fox]

I think it makes little sense to make an album, and barely manage to cover the production costs, just for the pleasure of doing it.  Especially the record company would object as it would struggle to support such a thing without having a decent income.  And Mark?  Where would you get the income from?  For this reason I believe that if he does not do any more live, he is almost forced to make a radio album.

I don’t think Mark has financial concerns at this stage of his life… yes, just for the pleasure will do.

[MaxG]

Without speculating on his diminishing physical abilities, its sad realising that he has aged, but this is reality. There has to come a point whereby you just not putting out what you feel you want to or should be, perhaps he realises this. I know a lot of others carry on into their late 70s and even 80s but its not a benchmark for the industry, its a personal thing and everyone ages differently. You also have to realise MK has extremely high standards and always had exemplary guitar and musical skills, he is also the main focus of the show so this is much harder to maintain or mask over any cracks in your playing than if you in the Rolling Stones for example, they older but as each does only one specific instrument so its spread out, probably also less technically/physically difficult and therefore easier I would imagine to carry any weaknesses appearing.

I would be happy if he doesn't feel capable anymore and just puts out a few more albums. I am hopeful however there will be some live promo. work for the new album which is not to demanding like appearing on talk/tv shows, radio work etc. where he can perhaps do a few songs live.

[ds1984]

My view on the question is : Mark performing a club gig residency in London playing stuff he's able to  with local musicians. Low profile, low effort, low cost, low everything except admission fees of course.

But even this seems to be out of his scope.

More probably hiring the usual promo band, 5 european tv or radio apparence performing one to three tracks max and that will be all.

[cannibals]

I hope for a few showcases like the ones they did about 10 years ago...

[ds1984]

My opinion on MK showcases : they sucks.

When not playing with his touring band there is always something not right to my ears.

Baloney Again performing live on french Canal+  is an exception, just him and Guy.

[quizzaciously]

My opinion on MK showcases : they sucks.

When not playing with his touring band there is always something not right to my ears.

Baloney Again performing live on french Canal+  is an exception, just him and Guy.

To each their own... I sometimes love Mark's local British band more than his usual mastodons band. I think he generally gains something from this raw, stripped-down outfit. For the most part, his regular musicians are complete overkill for his music anyway. You don't need to have 60 years of recording experience to play 3 chords rhythm in "Donegan's Gone", you know!

[ds1984]

I had no fun listening "Donegan's Gone" even with his 2005 line up

Postcards from Paraguay in 2008 was just fab, but was not as good in the later tours.

I Dug Up A Diamond in 2006 is in my top 5 of killer songs performed live.

[quizzaciously]

I had no fun listening "Donegan's Gone" even with his 2005 line up

Postcards from Paraguay in 2008 was just fab, but was not as good in the later tours.

I Dug Up A Diamond in 2006 is in my top 5 of killer songs performed live.

Yes, and it's a good point. Even having top musicians in the world it's not a guarantee of having a great performance. Mark probably thinks it is though.

But I think the lack of official material is also to blame. Personally, I judge nearly all recent (from 2010) recordings from concert USB sticks and the quality of those... Well, sometimes I even wish there were no such recordings at all. Having a band like this and barely recording proper live albums is beyond any understanding.

[ds1984]

In my opinion Mark wasn't interested even by Alchemy.
It was for me sort a contractual live album asked by the record company.

[qjamesfloyd]

I think the point is the 96's et al really enjoy Mark's music, otherwise they wouldn't keep playing with him both live and in the studio, there is plenty of work for them elsewhere. Mark can choose almost any musician he wants to but he choose them, and they have had nothing but praise to say about Mark. It will be interesting though, if he chooses to stop touring does that mean the length between albums will be shorter? maybe more film score work? This is him moving into a new phase of his career.

[quizzaciously]

In my opinion Mark wasn't interested even by Alchemy.
It was for me sort a contractual live album asked by the record company.

I think you can say that about every Mark's live performance. Even in interviews, you can clearly see how he would want to be somewhere else instead of recording this interview. Good for him, probably, but not for us.