Mark Eitzel-Music
For Courage & Confidence
(New West)
Mark Eitzel is a wonderful songwriter, but he
does have the ability to be a terrific musical interpreter, too. His
American Music Club cover of the Carpenters' "Goodbye To Love" was stunning.
Which makes this new all-covers project all the more confusing and
disappointing. The song choices, while all good tunes, really do not
work for Eitzel's musical style. For example, in theory it might be
interesting to turn Anne Murray's lightweight "Snowbird" into a funeral
dirge, but it doesn't do the song or the singer justice.
Too many of
these recordings, from depressed ballads like "Do You Really Want To Hurt
Me" to soft romantic whispers like "I Only Have Eyes For You" to dance jams
like "More, More, More" sound almost exactly alike when taken through the
morose paces in this album. A musical sound that Eitzel can make
fascinating with his own originals just chafes on these songs.
This
album isn't a total disaster, it's just a strange misfire from a singer who
can do much better. (6/02)
Jay S. Jacobs
