Jean-Manuel from the Yahoo group..
Sit in your favorite chair and listen ot Mark Long's solo album. It is at the corner of George's street/Trains at midnight (from War Begins at Home) ; Black Bird / Rocky Raccon (The Beatles) and Low (for those who would know this canadian ban). It also has some heavy connexions with the soundtrack of "Paris TExas" by Ry Cooder. Only good references to me.
It is accoustic, very accoustic, and very raw. It is a real gift that Mark sends to us, his music instincts, first emotion, of music creation. Here, no overdubs, no sounds effects or technological gimmicks. You can hear the lirycs as if Mark would be whispering in your own hear. All this sounds we've forgotten, the fingers on the guitars strings, breathe and not drums ;-)))
Close your eyes and see Mark playing near you, you could be expecting the phone to ring and see him stop to have a chat with a friend and come back saying "excuse me" before he goes on wandering along his musical inspiration.
It's not a factual album. It's more a collection of songs, and only few are actually linked together (by the way, Mark please remember to click the "disk at once" option on your burning sotfware next time, this will avoid those little annoying silent gaps between most tracks) The disk also came with a short letter, thanking us for our order and inviting us to surf on the Right Back records web site (a nice attention) and as stated by Mark on the site, the artwork is very little, only a cardbox sleeve and that's it. But as the website is full of notes and picture you are a click to more details.
Quite all tracks are heavily enjoyable. My favorite being the two last tracks (whihc are not listed on the card box cover), surely because it is about a father and his daughter, and sung by Mark and his very warm voice, this brings me back to feelings that could easily make me cry. (My only dislike is #7 ... but it's very personnal).
So If you haven't ordered this labum yet, you'd better do so very fast, because it's a real gem, a treasure.
Then, if you want The Opposition to release more albums, and maybe to play live one day again, they need your active support.
and by e-mail...
I got my first listen of the live album and Mark's cd last night. Both great!