I am willing to bet that most of you are not familiar with Adam Marsland, or his late-90s outfit, Cockeyed Ghost. The bad news is that you’ve been missing out on 10 years of some of the wittiest power pop put to tape this decade. The good news is Adam has made it easy to catch up thanks to this 2008 release of self-proclaimed “greatest hits”. Even if you already own Adam’s discography, you’ll be interested in this release as all the songs have been remastered, and the disc contains seven exclusive new tracks to boot.
So what does this guy sound like? You’ll hear hints of Joe Jackson and Ben Folds, but also Matthew Sweet and Dave Grohl at times. Adam’s voice is perfectly suited for his quirky - yet undeniably - catchy brand of pop rock. He has a falsetto that would make Lou Christie proud (seriously, check out "The Big Bear"), but he’s also smart enough not to overuse it. The plentiful harmony vocals are reminiscent of the Beach Boys, so it comes as no big surprise that Adam has worked with Mark Linett, the Grammy-award winning engineer who has worked on Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE.
Adam is a true multi-talent to admire...he sings, plays guitar, piano, and - of course - the clavinet. It is all too easy to get caught up in the infectious melodies and sing along without thinking…but you would be doing yourself a great disservice because Adam pens some of the most captivating and humorous lyrics of our age. There are too many ace lines to quote - take my word for it - the guy is a true poet with the wit of a modern Whitman. Adam reminds me of what Dennis Miller might have been like if he had started a band back when he was still funny and relevant.
Standouts for me include "Other Than Me" (comic genius), "Ginna Ling" (wonderfully fun chorus), "The Foghorn" (here we see a more serious side as Adam contemplates the big question), and "My Kickass Life". "My Kickass Life" should be a daily listen for each of us taking the quality of our lives for granted. As Adam sings, "I had food on the table and easy demons to fight, I wanna thank you for my kickass life."
"I Can't Do This Anymore" hints at retirement for this incredible artist, but I hope it isn't so. To those in the biz: wake up! Hollywoodland drops what it don't need, but the world NEEDS artists like Adam Marsland.
Unfortunately, my CD arrived damaged and tracks 18-20 do not play. So while they are not included in the iPOD-worthy list, odds are you'll want to add them too.
iPOD-worthy: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 10, 12, 14, 16
Adam Marsland on MySpace.
Check out a live performance of "Other Than Me":
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