MARK BROWN - HAPPY HOUR
Article Link'Where do you scratch? That’s the kind of thing a guy should do alone'. Well, quite. And if nothing else that line - on 'Scratch' the opening track here - rather sums up the unconventional approach of Mark Brown.
Growing up with Johnny Cash, he saw Tom Waits almost 50 years ago and that pivotal moment evidently colours his music to this day.
After the quasi-disco of the opener, then there’s some quasi-bluegrass on “Davenport” and the truth is, nothing on “Happy Hour” is quite anything. The title track takes you through his childhood, in a raucous, near-punk fashion, and the excellent band that joins him album on number three is to the fore with the double bass on “Deer Cut And Wrapped”.
His love of Cash is best shown on the classic country strum of “God Bless Me Jesus”, and if “PCP” is a rather odd little thing, then “The Unanswered Prayer” ends things a little more conventionally, albeit with the lyrical flourish of his heroes.
Rating 8/10