Monday, April 30, 2007

"Ten Years of Tears" Review

My copy turned up in the post today, #260 of 500. It is a white CDR with a rubber stamp on the front. It does actually say Vol.2 which implies Mark may have released a Vol.1. If he has then I have missed it. The front cover is a portrait of a small uni-browed child who might possibly be Mark.

So, what does it sound like? It is all good quality recordings. Mainly all originals except for his covers of Joy Divisions "Heart & Soul", Springsteens "My Fathers Place" and a couple of tracks from the solo albums.

It starts with 4 Music Club tracks with the Undertow Orchestra and then jumps back 10 years to a couple of "60 Watt" tracks. Next there is a track from "West". I don't know if that is Pete Buck on guitar is it? Then comes my fave bit, 3 tracks with the band that toured "Invisible Man". They only played one gig in the UK supporting J Mascis and they rocked. Big time. Next come the covers and finally there are 3 of the old classic.

It could easily have been an hour of Mark and his guitar so it is good to hear a nice selections of bands playing on there. At 64 mins they could have stuck some auidence banter on there or possibly a couple more unreleased tracks. Still, worth getting as a document of the man in his prime.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looks like I got to the prize before you. Mine own copy is number 203.

Eitzel seems to be one of those crazy secrets. Febrile attempts to convert various friends have produced just one new fan (I took him to the Manchester leg of the 'Love Songs for Patriots' AMC tour). I've got a better success rate with Tom Waits and The Fall for Christ's sake.

ShaunP said...

Yes, he is the ultimate cult artist with an extremely small but dedicated following. My mate (or me, he will never know) got #205 which arrived in the same envelope.

Anonymous said...

Did The Invisible Man band really only play one UK date? I saw him touring the album at least twice. Who was in the band at the time, Shaun?

I got 322 by the way...

ShaunP said...

I could certainly be wrong, it was a long time ago. I am sure the only London date they did was supporting J Mascis & the Fog. No idea who was in the band but it certainly wasn't any one from the Music Club. I just remember the gig as after several years of seeing him solo with his guitar there was a band. With loud guitars and loud drums!

Anonymous said...

They played several full band dates in the UK with the IM band in 2001, check the touring history.

http://www.geocities.com/rsjbraz/AmericanMusicClubArchive.html

The (only)London date thoughwas indeed at the Sheperds Bush Empire as part of an Uncut night with Mark Mulcahy & J Mascis. There was meant to be a seperate headline show but sadly it fell through.