From: Tom Moellering <moeller@convex.com>
Subject: Re: Review:  Mark Heard - Satellite Sky
Originator: moeller@neptune.convex.com
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 18:39:20 GMT
Reply-To: moeller@convex.com (Tom Moellering)
Organization: Engineering, CONVEX Computer Corp., Richardson, Tx., USA
X-Disclaimer: This message was written by a user at CONVEX Computer
              Corp. The opinions expressed are those of the user and
              not necessarily those of CONVEX.

In article <1992Oct2.151236.28544@cbnews.cb.att.com> ajw@cbnews.cb.att.com (andrew.j.whitman) writes:
>Mark Heard made music for CCM labels for sixteen years.  He made 
>good music - plaintive, melodic folk, solid rock 'n roll, and,
>increasingly, music that borrowed from Cajun and Norteno sources,
>full of joyous fiddles and accordions and exotic rhythms.  He
>played a mean guitar, tried his hand at the Hammond organ and 
>harmonica, picked a fine mandolin, and sang with passion and
>intensity.  

When I read this, I still find it hard to believe that I like this music.
I am your basic rock and roll listener.  Or at least I thought I was.
Then I bought Dry Bones Dance on a whim, because my favorite reviewer (BQN)
wouldn't shut up about this guy, and because I found it used and it had
13 tracks and 60+ minutes of music.

How was I supposed to know it was acoustic/zydeco/cajun?  And how was
I supposed to know that it would become one of my most treasured musical
possessions?

And so I bought 'Second Hand', and was a little dissapointed.  I was expecting
zydeco again, and instead he varied his acoustic style a bit.
However, once I got rid of my expectations, I found yet another Mark Heard
style that I loved.

So then I bought Satellite Sky, and guess what:  I was surprised again,
here is a record in the acoustic vein, but with an electric mandolin.
And its good.  Very good.  Best of his last 4 releases IMHO.

>So I suppose I should say that and get it out of the way before I
>note that his music really doesn't matter that much.  Because Mark

Hmm.  I have trouble with that sentiment.  I think that ever since Ideola,
Mark was trying to bring the music up to the level of his incredible lyrics.

Ideola was almost a throw away in some respects for me, because once you
had heard all the cute hooks and sampler tricks, it was just another record.

But on his last 3 releases he seems to me to have increased his musical
skills.  Of course I never heard any of his pre-Ideola stuff.

>So let me note that "Satellite Sky" sounds about as good as the last
>few Mark Heard albums, which is good enough.  Michael Been from The
>Call plays bass.  Fergus Marsh from Bruce Cockburn's band plays 
>some nice Chapman stick.  David Miner from T-Bone Burnett's band
>shows up for a guest appearance.  And Sam Phillips adds some 
>nice backup vocals.  The production is horrid - some of the murkiest
>recorded sound I've ever heard.  Most of the songs drag on too
>long.  Mark's guitar work, along with the guitar work of Buddy Miller
>and Jack Sherman, is serviceable but nothing more. 

You're right about the production.  And I am confused, because Mark has
stood for quality in so many other's works, that I wonder if there was
a mistake in the mastering process.  Its like there is a murky
layer of varnish between us and the music.  But the recording underneath
(if it is possible to separate the two) seems to be of a high quality
nature.)

Two things make me believe that maybe there was a production problem:
1) This disc is not as loud as other discs of recent production vintage
   (Has anyone else noticed how high a signal level they are capable of
    putting on a CD these days?  Adam Again's Dig is one example)
2) There is a brief instant on 'Lost On Purpose' (inbetween the last verse
and the last chorus) where there is a, significantly louder than the program
material, pop in the left channel, almost like a real drum stick hitting
the speaker element, but I have a feeling it is really the sound of severe
excursion due to an unmusical voltage level hitting the speaker circuitry.
(sorry, my work cd player doesn't have a time display)

Does anybody know much about disc pre-emphasis?  I wonder what it would
sound like to have a disc that is mastered to need it, but is played w/o it.
Or vice-versa.

As for the guitar work, I beg to differ.  For me this was not only the
high point of Mark's career, but for Christian music this year, period.
The more I listen the more I find that I like, musically, lyrically, etc.

I guess it shows, but in case you haven't noticed, I can't get enough of
Mark or his music.  So the fact that this release has 15 songs and some
of them long, does not dissappoint me.

>And it's still the best Christian album I've ever bought.  Maybe it's
>because I'm rapidly approaching middle age, because a lot of the 
>things I thought were black and white keep blurring into grey, because
>my kids are growing up and I'm growing older but not very much
>wiser, and because the same old struggles are still there - to
>have faith, to follow a God I don't see, to shed my old, selfish skin
>and lose myself in love.  It's not a very victorious kind of life.
>And maybe it's because I suspect that the abundant life that Jesus
>talked about has nothing to do with happiness or joy or prosperity,
>but may have a lot to do with the struggle and the tension, of
>seeing with the eyes of faith that often don't seem to see anything
>at all.  

Mark's lyrics keep hitting me where I live, too.  Maybe that is why
all 3 of his last albums keep growing on me so much.  His insights
into politics, marriage, parenthood, life, are so incredible.
That and the fact that my tongue is a lot more tied than yours when
it comes to expressing these things, things that we all feel.  (thats
why I included your text here, it bears repetition, its how I feel, too)

>Listening to this album it's hard to escape the feeling that Mark
>Heard knew he was going to die, and lyrics like "I want to feel
>a big bang rattle my bones" take on a tragic context.  Heard
>crammed it all into this album, as if he knew, as if he understood
>that this was the farewell speech:  "What's happened to me/I'm
>walking in the bones of a mortal/The message is brief but I'm talking
>like there's no tomorrow."  And indeed he does talk, spilling out
      ^^^^^^^ ^^ ^^^^^^^^

Boy I share this sentiment.  It is so strange to hear him say these words
and to know the outcome on Aug 16th 1992.  It sends chills up my spine
everytime I listen.  But joy, too.  Think of a God who can reveal through
us to others around us that the end is soon, without giving us a clue
of what is going on.  Incredible.

When he was in a coma and I listened to these lines, man . . .
          "I'm a broken man, I'm a broken man.
           Outcast on the outskirts of the promised land"

>I can't ask for more than that in any album.  "Satellite Sky" is
>brilliant, disturbing, beautiful, and tragic.  You've not only
>done good, Mark, but you've done truth.  I can't imagine that 
>there will be a better Christian album released this year.

Ditto.

Tom (moeller@convex.com)
     There are felons out in the prison yard, imagining their release,
     And the free thank God for the atom bomb, the keeper of the peace, 
          Another day, another chance to curse away the doubt,
           Another night, another 1000 points of light go out.
              Long Way Down / Mark Heard / Satellite Sky