Mark Colquitt - Something New

Hear The Track Here

You ever get the feeling you are surrounded by guitarists? I get that all the time, probably because I am; both as a reviewer and musician, guitarists seem to be my daily staple. Nothing wrong with plank spankers mind, except some of them could do with a good wash and a nice haircut (Ed: wtf??) but damn they are everywhere. Mark Colquitt is obviously one, but lets not hold that against him. he's also from Las Vegas, NV and has been playing (according to the webpage) for over 27 years. During that time you would learn a bit, even if you were a sandwich short of a picnic, and judging by Mark's influences, he's not only learned some stuff, he's covered a lot of my favourite tracks. For more on covers of (amongst others) Queen, Aerosmith, Ozzy, LedZep, go trawl his Soundclick site.

I've never been that keen on reproducing things from the past, but I know there are many people out there who do like covers but for me it has to be more than a cover. To do it properly IMHO you have to own the song, make it your own. That is why I tend NOT to listen to a lot of covers. Something New is exactly that, and it's not a cover, it's an original. The years of experience show immediately in the crisp, clear yet punchy production and mix and the tracks arrangement and performance. I think everything we are hearing is the man himself so my hats off to him and I suspect you won't be far behind me.

The only spanner (Ed: wrench to you guys) in the works, and it's a humongous spanner at that, is that Something New is also a ballad; nay a rock ballad even. Regular readers are only too well aware of my intense loathing for the genre, and with just cause. What helps this track enormously is the experience Mark brings to the party. OK, so it's highly redolent of something written by Bryan Adams but it still manages to sound fresh and appealing - even to a grizzled old rock veteran like myself. The bulk of the praise for that has to be the performance, especially the vocals (lead and backing); this is a lovely voice and one I'm sure I could get to like - even if its always singing mawkish ballads :)

Highly Recommended rock ballad (and I don't get to write that too often).