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Review: 'Mulholland,Mark'
'Revolutions Go In Circles'   

-  Label: 'Port Of call Music'
-  Genre: 'Blues' -  Release Date: '29.7.22.'-  Catalogue No: 'POCM2201'

Our Rating:
Revolutions Go In Circles is Mark Mulholland's third solo album, in his very busy and truly peripatetic musical journey, many of the songs on the album have been around a while but to this listener they are all new apart from 900 Miles. The album was recorded in Bamako, Paris, Berlin and New York with an international cast of musical magicians.

The album opens with Moving On a song that mentions Jack Kerouac in the first two lines, something that will always grab my attention, especially since I added yet another unreleased Kerouac book to my collection since my first listen to this song, this has a gentle road worn feel to its guitar interplay and sense of always being ready to go onwards to the next place on the endless tour.

Filling Up The Silence is a late night assignation in winter as you sit wondering, should you chatter away or just sit in silence, what difference will it make if you natter away, as they beg and plead for you to do something you haven't the energy for, the rural picked bluegrass, blues backing is quite wonderful and sounds effortless especially Sean Condron's banjo picking.

River Walk is about walking along by that River and getting to feel it's vibrations, this is an African delta blues that features one of Tony Allen's final performances alongside Yacouba Sissoke and Pamela Badjogo's intrinsic backing vocals.

Getting There was about moving to Paris from Bamako this has a careworn sensibility and vocals somewhere between Nikki Sudden and Peter Perrett and Matt De Harp's piquant harmonica solo.

Walk A While is like an old Scottish rambling folk song, but with Toumani Diabate and Yacouba Sissoko adding African elements and taking this on a far different walk that’s majestic and flows beautifully.

Living Anywhere is another song of a wandering minstrel whose internationalism is all over this album and was written in Paris, for an at the time forthcoming US tour, with all sorts of road worn observations from along the way.

Your Race Is Almost Run is more statement of intent for living your life to the full and not sitting down near the end regretting everything, even if it wasn't meant to be this way at all, this is far more upbeat than it might have been.

Carousel is a very slow turning ride as life just goes on and keeps coming back to where you started out from over the gentle countrified blues.

Head Against The Wall was half completed before lockdown and being locked down inspired Mark to complete it, while it could be played as a frantic song of anger and distress, instead the anger is in the lyrics not the gentle calming music.

Silence Falling Slow was recorded in Bamako and Paris with the acoustic guitar and mandola making a haunting vibe that Yacouba Sissoko's Calebasse adds texture too, beautifully simple and wonderfully sophisticated.

On My Way is another road song that features some super restrained drumming from Tony Allen as Mark does all sorts of things on guitar and Jean-Phillipe's bass strolls through a song that feels like an updated traditional Scottish folk song.

The album closes with a version of 900 Miles the traditional American folk song made famous by Bert Jansch, Woody Guthrie and Joan Baez among others. this is played with an African twist coming from the bewitching sounds Baba MD gets from his Kemelengoni, Calabash and Karanya and of course Mark was far more than 900 Miles from his home even if he was living in Bamako when they wrote and record this magical version.

Find Out More at https://portsofcallmusic.com/albums/revolutions-go-in-circles/ https://portsofcallmusic.com/product/revolutions-go-in-circles/ https://markmulholland.net/ https://www.facebook.com/markmulhollandmusic


  author: simonovitch

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