Search - Mark Eitzel :: Ugly American

Infinitely Better than I Expected!

gillettecourt | 07/31/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"When I first heard about a Greek Mark Eitzel album, I was quick to dismiss the idea as another mediocre side-project, much like the covers album "Music for Courage and Confidence", Eitzel's last effort. While "MFCAC" was hit and miss, these Greek interpretations of Eitzel/American Music Club songs are superb. The arrangements, filled with mandolins, violins, et cetera really lend themselves to Eitzel's compositions. The only instrument that strikes me as out of place is the flute/recorder, which doesn't surface too often, thankfully. The best aspect of "The Ugly American" is Eitzel's voice. He has never sung better. His pitch is precise, his phrasing wonderful, and his overall emotion at a greater level than ever. I know it's difficult for Eitzel fans to imagine, but I actually think these versions of "Western Sky", "Last Harbor", and maybe "Will You Find Me?" are better than the originals. Eitzel has changed the lyrics to many of the songs. Sometimes these are nice simple changes, such as changing "astronaut" to "moon man" in the beautiful "Will You Find Me?". However, other songs suffer from too much change. "Here They Roll Down" suffers from such dramatic lyrical change, as well as the worst musical rearrangement on the CD. I actually find it unlistenable. The music consists of the most annoying drone immaginable and the only unchanged lyric is the repeated line "Here they roll down, til the miracle was over". "Nightwatchman" also features quite a few lyrical changes, but is still an interesting listen. Overall, this CD brings yet another dimension of longing, beautiful sadness to Mark Eitzel's songs. Old American Music Club fans will love the AMC era songs. Fans of Eitzel's solo music will love the interpretation of "Anything" and the previously unavailable (except on the limited-to-500-copies "Lover's Leap USA") "What Good is Love?". This is an exceptional track, and I can't believe it hasn't been officially released. "Love's Humming", written by the album's producer, isn't bad, but I would have much preferred an additional Eitzel/AMC track. All picky complaints aside, if you're an Eitzel fan, a fan of Greek music, or if you just love beautiful, melancholy lovesongs, "The Ugly American" is a must-have."

The Universal Sound

Martin Dawson | Royton, Oldham, United Kingdom | 02/27/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The first revelation here is 'Western Sky', a swooning, majestic version of the old AMC classic. Mark is playing here with a backing band of traditional Greek musicians and so you get mandolins and tzouras and pipes and zournas but what you get above all else is an intuitive feel for each track and what is required in terms of the arrangement. So, for example, 'Western Sky'is all silky and smooth whereas the following 'Here They Roll Down' is almost discordant. Perfectly so. 'Jenny' and 'Last Harbor' in particular sound exactly like you always wanted them to.
Existing fans of Eitzel will have gathered from the song titles already referred to that this a trawl through the back catalogue of his old band, the seminal American Music Club although there are treats too from the solo years, such as 'Take Courage' and 'What Good Is Love', which genuinely deserves a wider audience than the 'Lovers Leap USA' limited release it has enjoyed to date.
Don't think though that this is a case of an artist lazily going through his back catalogue one more time. Each song is transformed and the effect is one of exhilaration, almost of the artist discovering the song anew. Listening to this I'm struck by how this is the perfect marriage of Eitzel's poetry and songwriting craft to sensitive, sympathetic arrangements. No note rings false. This appreciative understanding between the players reflects, I am sure, the fact that Mark Eitzel's concerns are not individual concerns but really are universal, the universal sound.
Finally, the players tackle a song called 'Love's Humming', written by the mandolin player Manolis Famellos. Which is a fitting finale to a wonderful album.
In short, this is that rare thing : an album which would serve as an ideal introduction to newcomers but at the same time should represent an absolute delight to the long-term fans.
Oh, and one final point...Almost unbelievably, this is only a warm-up for the true follow-up to 'The Invisible Man' which may be due later this year. I, for one, can't wait."