Carolyn Mark - Terrible Hostess

  by Malcolm Carter

published: 3 / 11 / 2002

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Review

This follow up to Carolyn Mark's ‘Party Girl’ album of a couple of years back is a collection of songs firmly rooted in what could be termed old or traditional country, rather than the increasingly popular alt. country genre. Carolyn is also half of the Corn Sisters with the ever excellent Neko Case. On this album she is backed by her Room-Mates, who are Tolan McNeil on bass and guitars and Garth Johnson on drums. There are some great songs on this album, not least the title track and ‘Dirty Little Secret’ where Carolyn sounds not a million miles away from Natalie Merchant vocally. In fact the song would not sound out of place on 10,000 Maniacs ‘In My Tribe’ album. Unfortunately, however, the album falls just short of being a great album. After repeated listens this is probably down to the running order of the tracks. If the album had kicked off with say, the third track, ‘Gopherville’, it would have given the initial impression of the album a completely different feel. And a more fitting one. Of the ten tracks here the first two songs, ‘Fuzzy Slippers’ and ‘Chumpville’ are probably the two weakest songs. Not there is anything drastically wrong with the songs. ‘Fuzzy Slipper’ is a run-of-the-mill country number that, quite honestly, is the sort of song to be found on countless country albums. The only redeeming feature is Carolyn’s pure vocals. ‘Chumpville’is in contrast jazz-tinged. Admittedly some artists would kill to be able to compose a song like this (Carolyn wrote or co-wrote all of the songs here apart from one), and again her vocals are superb but that something special which is expected from her work is missing on this track as well. It’s track three, the aforementioned ‘Gopherville’ where the album really starts to shine. Recalling Patsy Cline in places this song showcases all that is special about Carolyn’s music. You’d have to look long and hard to find a traditional country song as good as this. Carolyn’s trademark strong lyrics and those vocals are simply stunning. If the album had to start with an energetic track than maybe track four, ‘After Bar Party’ would have been a better choice than ‘Fuzzy Slippers’. It’s proof that Carolyn can write and perform the more upbeat type of country songs with ease, and would have made a better opener to the album. Maybe having two average songs on an album of ten is not that bad but when tracks like the incredible ‘Inevitable’ are on the album it just underlines what Carolyn is capable of. This is one of the standout tracks on the album with Carolyn’s amusing lyrics shining through- “Inevitable, as the way environmentalists always leave the house in a such a mess, saving trees and saving fishes, saving water but leaving dishes”. It’s a classic country song. The guitar playing and moody background vocals from ‘The Man Chorus’ add an authentic touch. ‘Catscan’, the only song Carolyn didn’t have a hand in writing, and which was written by Tolan McNeil, is, however, a duet that sounds like it could have come straight off a Lee Hazelwood album from the sixties. No mean feat. So program the CD player to play the first two tracks last (by the time you’ve listened to the rest of the album you’d forgive Carolyn for daring to put a couple of average tracks on her album) and start with ‘Inevitable’ or ‘Port Moody’ and understand why Carolyn Mark will one day soon make a classic album.

Track Listing:-

1 Fuzzy Slippers
2 Chumpville
3 Gopherville
4 After Bar Party
5 Terrible Hostess
6 Dirty Little Secret
7 Inevitable
8 Catscan
9 Port Moody
10 Country In The City