Mark Holley (the lonely (tribute for Jay))

Reviewed by LARRY LANE on (Tuesday, March 20, 2007) Rated 7.9 / 10
Category Rating
Track Structure 7
Interest 8
Melody 9
Performance 8
Lyrics 0
Enjoyment 8
Recording Quality 8
Commercial Appeal 7
Overall 7.9

     First off, Mark is one of the nicest guys I've met on the site and has always been willing to give more then he receives.  He's a very well rounded musician who plays multiple instruments in multple bands.  Now, I haven't listened to Mark's entire library, but have sampled a few  (I will get to that Mark).  Most are well played and solidly written, although none have knocked my socks completely off yet.  That being said, I really enjoy the feel and inspiration behind this one.  A very classical sounding song that was inspired by a member of an mp3unsigned artist who recently passed.

     This fits perfectly with the song inspiration.  As he describes it, a melancholic song.  The intro starts off very sad, yet hopeful and continues the hope theme throughout.  The inspration is evident as this is packed with raw emotion.  I sense sorrow, yet healing, and the hopes for a day better than the one we are in. 

     What would appear to be a nylon classical guitar taking the lead, I do remember reading weeks before that he had actually perfomed this on his keyboard.  You could've fooled me.  I keep wanting to talk about the classical plucking but have to remind myself that his fingers are on a keyboard.  A definite compliment to his skill as a keyboardist.  Strings compliment the guitar playing as well as a soprano sax which helps present the duality of the melancholy in the song.  The sax plays almost like a bagpipe which gives me the feeling of venturing out into the unknown.

     Overall, this is a very emotionally packed and dynamic instrumental that is obviously inspired by a very emotionally charged event.  It keeps you interested without getting bored, while still sticking to it's core theme.  I really love the darkness of the intro and kept hoping to hear it reoccur again somewhere else, but didn't.  I would have loved to heard that a little more which I think would've made the melancholy and drama of the song even more powerful.  Not much in my definition of commercial appeal, though I do not believe this is it's intent.  The intent is to draw out emotion of which it does an excellent job of bringing out multiple emotions at once.  Marks a pro and very dynamic.  This is one of the better keyboard instrumentals I've heard.  I recommend listening to this, but have a tissue ready as you smile.

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