Mark Holley - Wonder Why

Hear The Track Here

I ended my last review of MP3 Unsigned's Mark Holley by calling myself a opinionated, perfectionist knobhead - which as most readers will know is a fairly accurate description. The reason I covered myself in such glory was that although I liked what Mark was doing from a professional attitude (good performances, good production values), as a listener I was left wanting. It wasn't that Blink Of Any Eye (June 2006) wasn't good, it was. It did, however, lack that most vital of sparks: excitement. If it doesn't connect with the listener, it not much more than a musical intellectual exercise, at least in the world I live in.

The world of the knobhead perfectionist, obviously.

Nonetheless, here we go for another bite of the Holley apple. I'm not sure if he is assisted in Wonder Why by Mark Alexander, who played bass and sang on Blink Of An Eye, but judging by the sound, I'd say not. Again, I have to state that I don't like this shade of rock (think Billy Joel, Elton John), and that fact alone probably colours my judgement. So let's tackle it first technically. Again, Mark shows that he has all the requisite skills to come up with some mighty goods indeed. He's a good lyricist, writes a catchy tune and I find no fault whatsoever in what he dishes up sonically, especially considering he is coming from a home recording evironment. As someone who has worked from 4 tracks to 64, I pretty much understand what it takes to deliver a professional texture to the music, and on all counts Mark Holley knows his onions.

The main reason I mentioned my antipathy towards the genre earlier is because in this case I do think any criticism of what is here would be gratuitous (or for the literallly challenged, unnecessary or unwarranted). For my money, whether you like Wonder Why will pretty much depend on your own musical taste. If you happen to like what I have described above then you will love this track to death because it shows everything that is good about a terrific song, well performed. On a more reflective note, whenever I hear a track of this quality, it's a given that - sooner or later - something WILL come up that I can feel right about raving about.

Excellent pop rock. Highly Recommended.