CD Odyssey Disc 1901: Carolyn Mark

Due to the random nature of my album selection, it’s been almost five years (Disc 1484)  since I reviewed an album by this next artist, but she’s always been in my heart.

Disc 1901 is… Nothing is Free

Artist: Carolyn Mark

Year of Release: 2007

What’s up with the Cover? This is one of the best album covers in my collection, so kudos to artist Kelly Haigh, who is also a singer I plan to learn more about…

Here we have our heroine, chained up on the outskirts of town and apparently intended as an offering for a demonic badger. Badgers don’t usually behave this way, but the skulls in the foreground suggest this one didn’t get the memo.

In the distance we have some industrial development pumping pollution into the dusky sky. Was it some nefarious Captains of Industry, bent on silencing our pesky folk singer by throwing her to the badgers? Will our chanteuse enchant the creature with her guitar playing and narrow-corseted waist, or will she disappear without a trace?

Well, not without a trace. Again, the skulls.

How I Came To Know It: I’ve been a fan of Carolyn Mark for a long time (first introduced to her by my friend Casey). This was a record I found on one of my innumerable searches through the CD stacks. I knew any Carolyn Mark album would be good, but let’s be honest – I would’ve bought this one for the cover alone.

How It Stacks Up: I have five Carolyn Mark albums, and “Nothing is Free” comes in at #1. I know the early stuff will always gain a glory for being first, but this record is simply lovely.

Ratings: 4 stars

A Carolyn Mark record is sure to feature some great folk songs, and likely a few chuckles as well. “Nothing is Free” has plenty of both, with Mark’s songwriting prowess on full display.

The musical structures are pure Canadiana folk, with touches of fiddle and mandolin filling in the space between Mark’s relaxed guitar strumming. The songs lilt along somewhere in the no-man’s land between weary and content. It’s a fine time exploring themes that are heartfelt, with a helping of brazen and a touch of naughty.

Mark’s vocals suit the space well, with a healthy handful of gravel in her tone, but a light sweetness in her high head voice. She deploys the tension well, a girl who’ll give you a sweet smile and then tip your macchiato into your lap for fun. It isn’t cruel or malicious, just playful. Besides you had it coming dragging your macchiato-sipping ass into the imaginary gin joint a Carolyn Mark song calls home.

A great example, these opening lines from “The One That Got Away (with it)”:

“There’s 2 kinds of women you let in your life
Exciting New Mistress and Boring Old Wife
There’s the 1 that got away
And the 1 that’s here to stay
I just want to be the 1 that got away with it.”

To say it is self-deprecating is to miss the point. Yes she plays around with her predilection for sin, but it isn’t with shame, it’s with celebration; a common thread through her many excellent records. Relationships are hard, and rather than feeling sorry for yourself, it’s OK to celebrate the mess of it all.

While I love the song, I do not love the dodgy use of numerals in place of words that is littered throughout the liner notes on this record. I must assume Mark was listening to a lot of Prince at that time.

Mark does not have blow-the-doors-off vocal power, but that’s not necessary for these songs. Successful delivery of tunes so laden with a barrage of clever words, requires air-tight phrasing, and in that department Carolyn Mark has talent to spare. She trills lightly across the top of the instrumentation or fills in the gaps in staccato faction as the song’s structure dictates, never losing musicality or tone through all the gymnastics. You may not notice it, but that feeling like she’s always landing the perfect punchline? – that’s what it does.

Near the end of the record Mark takes a slight detour into Vaudeville with “Poisoned with Hope”. I know the rhymes in this song are designed to be strained, but I didn’t love the effect, intended or otherwise, and missed the musical trill that gives the rest of the record its easygoing charm. A minor quibble, and not enough to knock a star off – just keepin’ it real.

Otherwise, not much to complain about on this record, which showcases an artist at the height of her talent, writing timeless folk songs that make you smile, nod knowingly, and feel small shivers of discomfort in all the good ways.  

Best tracks: The Business End, Happy 2B Flying Away, 1 Thing, Pictures at 5, The 1 that Got Away (with it), Pink Moon and All the Ladies

CD Odyssey Disc 1484: Carolyn Mark

This marks the second album I’ve reviewed where someone has self-identified as royalty. Tami T takes on the mantle with her song “Princess” and Carolyn Mark takes things up a notch, going with Queen.

Disc 1484 is…. The Queen of Vancouver Island

Artist: Carolyn Mark

Year of Release: 2012

What’s up with the Cover? Maybe a camping trip? That would account for the forest, and a guitar for playing campfire ditties in the evening. It doesn’t explain the dress. I guess that plus the Crown is how you can tell she’s the Queen. Also that third way, for any Monty Python fans out there.

How I Came To Know It: It was my friend Casey who initially got me interested in Carolyn Mark’s music, but this album was just me buying her latest when it came out.

How It Stacks Up: Out of my five Carolyn Mark solo albums, “The Queen of Vancouver Island” comes in at #3, so right in the middle.

Ratings: 3 stars

Every Carolyn Mark album sounds like the best party you’ve ever attended. On “The Queen of Vancouver Island” she delivers yet another celebratory selection of songs, where even the sad subjects are sugarcoated by her quick wit and ready laugh.

The music is a mix of folk, old school country and even a bit of old-time vaudeville. Whatever the style, each song is buoyed by Mark’s bright and brassy voice. She sings with a playful lilt, tinted around the edges with grit. Think a bottle of sparkling wine where the cork broke and fell into the bottle. It is mostly sweet, but you’ve got to pay attention for those bits of regret floating in the glass.

The best example (and the album’s best song) is “Not Talk,” which has a lighthearted tune which belies the nasty breakup it depicts. Here (and later on “Nobody(‘s Perfect)” Mark uses imagery like a film negative, giving you a fresh perspective on well-worn topics of loneliness and heartbreak.

That said, “Not Talk” isn’t a heartbreak song so much as it’s a “get the hell out” song, as it demonstrates that some arguments are so pointless there’s no need to have them at all. My favourite lines are:

“Now you might say I have ‘issues with trust’
I mean, you might if we were still talking
But I don’t think that’s it
It’s just hard to trust someone so full of shit
But we can not talk about that later.”

Ouch! “Nobody(‘s Perfect”) is similarly situated in negative space, where Mark personifies her loneliness, turning the experience into a positive experience of realizing that your best company is sometimes yourself.

The record is downright ribald in places (Carolyn Mark feels like the kind of old soul that might appreciate being called ‘ribald’). There are two songs about whores, and both are sex positive. “Old Whores” is a sad song, but it is also a reminder that when you see someone down on their luck, that isn’t how they started. Everyone starts out with dreams of a great life. “You’re Not a Whore (If No One’s Paying)” is back to Mark’s playful but biting humour, as she opines,

“You’re not a whore if no one’s paying
You’re not a whore, it’s just an exchange
So strap on high heels
Don’t sell yourself short
If you’re enthusiastic, babies, nothing’s a chore”

The musicianship on the album is solid throughout, and every player, from lead guitar, to horn flourishes, to the backup singers is fully committed. There are even impromptu laughs and lascivious gargling. OK, technically the gargling is Mark herself, but whatever the role, every player is clearly having a blast. It made me wish I could’ve just hung out in the studio while they recorded it. Every unsung band member, backup singer, or studio musician should have at least one record where this much fun is had.

Mark is a local gal, and the record is replete with BC coast imagery – notably a lot of talk of the ferry (as it happens, I too live on Her Majesty’s Island). She used to do a lot of shows at a local pub called Logan’s and listening to “The Queen of Vancouver Island” made me more regretful than ever I never went and saw her there. Logan’s Pub has since closed due permanently, an economic victim of the pandemic.

Fortunately, Mark shows that music can always infuse a little light and humour into a sad situation, and this record gave me plenty of smiles over the past few days.

Best tracks: The Queen of Vancouver Island, Not Talk, Nobody(‘s Perfect), Old Whores, You’re Not a Whore (If No One’s Paying)

CD Odyssey Disc 1209: Carolyn Mark and NQ Arbuckle

My apologies for my lengthy absence, dear readers. I have had a hectic week of work and social engagements that combined to ensure I was hardly ever home. The result of this was that I was able to immerse myself in this next album.

Disc 1209 is… Let’s Just Stay Here

Artist: Carolyn Mark and NQ Arbuckle

Year of Release: 2009

What’s up with the Cover? After three days the maid finally broke down and violated the sanctity of the “do not disturb” card on the hotel room door. After all, beds had to be made, toilets scrubbed. The heads were remarkably well preserved, and she could only assume Ms. Mark had been watering them. How that actually helped was the real mystery…

How I Came To Know It: My friend Casey originally put me on to Carolyn Mark and this was just me digging through her collection. This particular album was devilishly hard to find until a couple of months ago when someone obviously “went digital” and dumped their entire Carolyn Mark collection off at the local record store. I found this one, as well as a second copy of “Nothing Is Free,” which I gave to Casey as payback for introducing me to such a great artist.

How It Stacks Up:  I have six Carolyn Mark albums, but this is the only one that shares equal billing with NQ Arbuckle. Because of that it can’t really stack up against the other five albums so I leave it to stand alone.

Ratings:  4 stars

I love Carolyn Mark on her own just fine, but there is an alchemy she creates playing off her fellow Canadian alt-country band NQ Arbuckle that gives “Let’s Just Stay Here” a special magic.

The songs are divided roughly evenly between the two artists, and while I was expecting to lean more toward Carolyn Mark’s work, I ended up enjoying the whole experience without ever having to pick sides.

The record has a cohesive flow to it, despite moving through a lot of musical styles. Folk, country and rockabilly all get a workout. The opening track “All Time Low” has an echoing and spooky electric guitar, reinforced by Mark’s sultry-sweet vocals as she sets the scene:

“Down in Death Valley

On the Day of the Dead

At the lowest point in North America”

Great stuff, and underneath it all Mark’s trademark self-effacing humour. In this case, I got the impression of cancelled gigs and nothing to do but lie around in your hotel room and stare at the ceiling. The song has a haunting beauty, grounded with Neville Quinlan’s backing vocals (of NQ Arbuckle fame) which float to you from what feels like under the ground, but is probably just the room one floor down.

On the second track “Officer Down” Quinlan takes the lead. There is a taste of whiskey and wheeze in his voice that gives everything he sings an extra dose of weariness. It is exactly what is needed for the song, however. Here we get the light airiness of Mark’s vocals adding the poignancy, this time from the room upstairs.

Mark and Quinlan favour loose harmony, and the space in between their voices adds a tension to the songs. They don’t overuse the effect, sticking to specific points in specific songs to lend their talents. They are also more than content to let each other drive solo when the song calls for it.

The lyrics on all these songs are loaded with both great narratives, with flashes of images and moments that shine like gems within them. On “The Second Time” Mark’s chorus of “how can the second time be an accident?” is both funny and uncomfortable as she contemplates once again not being invited to a party. On “Saskatoon Tonight” Quinlan sings “Stay up so late with my friends talking through a downpour/Guitars and rockabilly girls drinking beer on a back porch” and you feel like you’re there, slightly drunk, slightly tired and mostly content.

There are many references to Canadian locations that ground the record in the specific. I knew a lot of the locations personally (on “Canada Day Off/Toronto” I suspected Mark of singing about the old Victoria night spot, the Cuckoo’s Nest, which makes sense, given Mark is a local). It is satisfying when a song sings about locations that you know intimately (New Yorkers are very lucky in this respect) but when it is done right you don’t have to know the place. Very few people have raced muscle cars down by a trestle in New Jersey, but that doesn’t prevent “Darkness at the Edge of Town” from being instantly relatable.

As an extra bonus, NQ Arbuckle contributes a cover of Justin Rutledge’s “Too Sober To Sleep.” I’m not a big fan of Justin Rutledge but he is a talented songwriter and “Too Sober To Sleep” is a masterpiece. Now I get to have his best song without having to own a Rutledge album. (Don’t feel bad for him – he gets paid as the writer either way).

I have a list of albums that I am looking for that I carry around with me every time I’m going to be near a record store. A lot of these records are damned hard to find, and those albums can languish on that list for a long time but the list ensures I never give up. That was the case with “Let’s Just Stay Here,” which was on the list so long I had forgotten why I wanted it. It was a delight to be reminded over this past week.

Best tracks: All Time Low, Officer Down, Saskatoon Tonight, Canada Day Off/Toronto, Too Sober to Sleep, When I Come Back, Let’s Just Stay Here