Mark's WOW Factor is gone?

[hunter v2.0]

Apart from the occasional song, Mark hasn't wowed me in a long, long time, neither as a songwriter nor as a guitarist. He's become a great craftsman, but artistically it's all too safe and predictable. And as a person, he has in my opinion become incredibly dull. I keep up with what's happening in Mark's world, but it's mostly for "old times' sake".

Yep.
I think that we like the most is the Fake MK.

You nailed it.

"Fake MK"? What's that supposed to mean?

[dustyvalentino]

It's weak for you, for me is a masterpiece, one of my top MK records!

Let me explain about 'weak album'

The are great songs on KTGC.
In The Sky, Heart Full Of Holes, Fish And The Bird, Punish The Monkey.
And some strange ones like, Madame Geneva, Fizzy And The Still, Behind With The Rent

It's (as i said before) a very artistc album.
However, in my opinion is badly recorded.
And, for me has almost the WOW Factor.

For me, EVERYTHING MK has ever released has been well recorded - possible exceptions could be the Twisting EP and Badges, Posters which sound a bit grubby.

And two of your "strange" songs on KTGC (Fizzy and Behind With The Rent) are two of the better songs on that record IMO!

[hunter v2.0]

Yeah, great recording and sound quality from the get go. It's a joy to play any MK album from that perspective. The only objection I have is the recording of his vocals on many of his solo albums. Often they are buried deep in the mix, and you can barely make out what he is singing.

[Rolo]

"Fake MK"? What's that supposed to mean?

hahahaha.
Maybe i went to deep into a joke.

Sometimes i read things like the 80's MK. The hitmaker, leader of a rock band wasn't the Real MK. The real one only appears in 2008 or so.

So, maybe the "Fake MK" was the one that have the WOW Factor.
That one that brought excitement on his releases.

[rmarques821]

Hi everyone,

I've never posted on here before, I'm just a lurker, but this thread piqued my interest quite a bit so I wanted to throw my two cents in.
I'm quite a new fan of Mark's work, so if I had to guess why my opinion might differ so heavily to everyone's here, it would be that. Personally as if shifted through Mark's solo discography over this year (yes that's how recent of a fan I am, I'm very late to the party) I've found his catalogue is beautiful and quite diverse which I'm sure isn't very groundbreaking to say. However, I find a real standout to me has always been the tracker album, especially the songs Basil, River Towns, and Silver Eagle. Yes, it's not his most musically interesting or technical album, but I find a lot of beauty in its retrospective atmosphere and storytelling.

Again I'm a new fan, I think it has a lot to do with why I feel like, "Oh wow this is incredible!" whereas I've gathered most of the people who regularly post on here have been living with his music for decades and have watched every album slowly trickle out. I can understand my opinion isn't worth much but I thought maybe a fresh-faced perspective on Mark's music would also be interesting to some of you. I'm certainly not trying to change anyone's mind on whether Mark still has the so-called "wow factor" but he definitely has a new fan in me and it's been a joy discovering his music.

Welcome!
And Tracker is probably my #1 album of Mark's solo career. I listen to it randomly every other day.

[SG]

Hi everyone,

I've never posted on here before, I'm just a lurker, but this thread piqued my interest quite a bit so I wanted to throw my two cents in.
I'm quite a new fan of Mark's work, so if I had to guess why my opinion might differ so heavily to everyone's here, it would be that. Personally as if shifted through Mark's solo discography over this year (yes that's how recent of a fan I am, I'm very late to the party) I've found his catalogue is beautiful and quite diverse which I'm sure isn't very groundbreaking to say. However, I find a real standout to me has always been the tracker album, especially the songs Basil, River Towns, and Silver Eagle. Yes, it's not his most musically interesting or technical album, but I find a lot of beauty in its retrospective atmosphere and storytelling.

Again I'm a new fan, I think it has a lot to do with why I feel like, "Oh wow this is incredible!" whereas I've gathered most of the people who regularly post on here have been living with his music for decades and have watched every album slowly trickle out. I can understand my opinion isn't worth much but I thought maybe a fresh-faced perspective on Mark's music would also be interesting to some of you. I'm certainly not trying to change anyone's mind on whether Mark still has the so-called "wow factor" but he definitely has a new fan in me and it's been a joy discovering his music.

I'm a new fan too (since 2021). On Tracker my favourites are the same as yours: Basil, River Towns, Silver Eagle... and Lights of Taormina.
The albums I listen to the most are Shangri-la, Privateering, Tracker and also One Deep River.

[superval99]

Hi everyone,

I've never posted on here before, I'm just a lurker, but this thread piqued my interest quite a bit so I wanted to throw my two cents in.
I'm quite a new fan of Mark's work, so if I had to guess why my opinion might differ so heavily to everyone's here, it would be that. Personally as if shifted through Mark's solo discography over this year (yes that's how recent of a fan I am, I'm very late to the party) I've found his catalogue is beautiful and quite diverse which I'm sure isn't very groundbreaking to say. However, I find a real standout to me has always been the tracker album, especially the songs Basil, River Towns, and Silver Eagle. Yes, it's not his most musically interesting or technical album, but I find a lot of beauty in its retrospective atmosphere and storytelling.

Again I'm a new fan, I think it has a lot to do with why I feel like, "Oh wow this is incredible!" whereas I've gathered most of the people who regularly post on here have been living with his music for decades and have watched every album slowly trickle out. I can understand my opinion isn't worth much but I thought maybe a fresh-faced perspective on Mark's music would also be interesting to some of you. I'm certainly not trying to change anyone's mind on whether Mark still has the so-called "wow factor" but he definitely has a new fan in me and it's been a joy discovering his music.

Welcome to AMIT!    I'm a big fan of Tracker too, along with Shangri-La and Kill to Get Crimson, but I also like ODR very much. 

I don't think MK has lost the WOW factor at all, at least not for me!

[stratmad]

"Fake MK"? What's that supposed to mean?

Lol, nice phrase, and MK would probably appreciate it.
Anyway, "fake MK" reminded me of that weird 1980s telephone prankster who used Mark's name - do you still remember that one? Some bits are actually on youtube.

[iorch82]

To me MK stopped being appealing musically after STP. I don't find any spark in any of his latter albums, with the exception of perhaps some cuts of Privateering. I am the kind of fan that goes to the shows to listen the oldies and that's it. OFC I can appreciate most of the newer tunes in a live setting, but in terms of recording yep, pretty much all are dull and boring to my liking.

There's nothing wrong for being a MK fan because of his work in the 80's and 90's. To be fair, if he had started with say KTGK he would barely be filling up 200 person capacity venues in his shows. It's very niche music and kind of an "adquired taste" if you ask me. 

[Wizard]

Greg Leisz steel guitar has the wow factor for me. I have never heard the steel guitar played with such feeling and soul. He is a good a steel guitar player has mark is a electric guitar player.

[KnopfleRick]

Hi everyone,

I've never posted on here before, I'm just a lurker, but this thread piqued my interest quite a bit so I wanted to throw my two cents in.
I'm quite a new fan of Mark's work, so if I had to guess why my opinion might differ so heavily to everyone's here, it would be that. Personally as if shifted through Mark's solo discography over this year (yes that's how recent of a fan I am, I'm very late to the party) I've found his catalogue is beautiful and quite diverse which I'm sure isn't very groundbreaking to say. However, I find a real standout to me has always been the tracker album, especially the songs Basil, River Towns, and Silver Eagle. Yes, it's not his most musically interesting or technical album, but I find a lot of beauty in its retrospective atmosphere and storytelling.

Again I'm a new fan, I think it has a lot to do with why I feel like, "Oh wow this is incredible!" whereas I've gathered most of the people who regularly post on here have been living with his music for decades and have watched every album slowly trickle out. I can understand my opinion isn't worth much but I thought maybe a fresh-faced perspective on Mark's music would also be interesting to some of you. I'm certainly not trying to change anyone's mind on whether Mark still has the so-called "wow factor" but he definitely has a new fan in me and it's been a joy discovering his music.

Welcome to AMIT!    I'm a big fan of Tracker too, along with Shangri-La and Kill to Get Crimson, but I also like ODR very much. 

I don't think MK has lost the WOW factor at all, at least not for me!

+1

[KnopfleRick]

Greg Leisz steel guitar has the wow factor for me. I have never heard the steel guitar played with such feeling and soul. He is a good a steel guitar player has mark is a electric guitar player.

Absolutely! He also really impressed me and his contribution to Mark's songs is phenomenal. His soulful playing fits perfectly with the new songs.
A real master of his craft.

[Robson]

Greg Leisz steel guitar has the wow factor for me. I have never heard the steel guitar played with such feeling and soul. He is a good a steel guitar player has mark is a electric guitar player.

Absolutely! He also really impressed me and his contribution to Mark's songs is phenomenal. His soulful playing fits perfectly with the new songs.
A real master of his craft.

It's true. Greg Leisz is great. His pedal steel guitar is not in the foreground like on the Golden Heart album. It is more subtle, delicate but noticeable.

[hunter v2.0]

To me MK stopped being appealing musically after STP. I don't find any spark in any of his latter albums, with the exception of perhaps some cuts of Privateering. I am the kind of fan that goes to the shows to listen the oldies and that's it. OFC I can appreciate most of the newer tunes in a live setting, but in terms of recording yep, pretty much all are dull and boring to my liking.

There's nothing wrong for being a MK fan because of his work in the 80's and 90's. To be fair, if he had started with say KTGK he would barely be filling up 200 person capacity venues in his shows. It's very niche music and kind of an "adquired taste" if you ask me.

For me it was after Shangri La. After that album the 'quiet man of rock' simply became the 'quiet man'. Sure there are some gems and exceptions on the following albums, but on the whole his work became too subdued and 'genteel'. And I can't forgive him that he decided to so totally disrespect his guitar talent in favor of songwriting. It's not like the man haven't had the time to put in an hour a day to keep his chops up.

[Rolo]

For me, EVERYTHING MK has ever released has been well recorded - possible exceptions could be the Twisting EP and Badges, Posters which sound a bit grubby.

And two of your "strange" songs on KTGC (Fizzy and Behind With The Rent) are two of the better songs on that record IMO!

To my ears, KTGC sounds a bit rushed.
I think that Guy had a perspective in mind that, if were few instruments, very expensive microphones e no compression, the listener could have the best experience. Almost like the band was in their room. (Very different from the quadriphonics, of course)

KTGC is a very artistic album and, sonically (engineering) is a conception that how Tracker could be. In other words, is a naked album.

In my opinion, KTGC have thin drums and a much trebbly athmosphere in general. The acoustics, in general, are a bit blurried, but it is what it is.

When Tracker was released, i ask Guy something similar as : - You guys ever think on re-record KTGC with the actual studio setup/equipment. The sonically achievement on Tracker was huge and KTGC was recorded very rushed (GF words).

And GF responded something like: - We are thinking about it. The possibilities that we have now could elevates the KTGC recording. A very artistic album that could be better with the knowledge that we have now.