All of the other bands who have sent me their CD and who are waiting patiently for a review...you can blame my tardiness on Craig Marshall's new 2008 CD, "Point of View". The CD has been in heavy rotation in my house this holiday weekend. I can't bring myself to eject it and listen to something else right now. It is THAT good.
"Point of View" is my introduction to Craig Marshall, so rest assured I will be checking out his previous 2 solo releases and even his time in Lucky Strikes as soon as I can. "Point of View" is the epitome of infectious, melodic rock, and is jammed packed with 10 timeless masterpieces that just get better and better with each listen.
Craig Marshall lists influences from the Beach Boys to Matthew Sweet; you'll hear the full span of 30+ years of pop rock history in his tunes. Vocally, he sounds a lot like John Wesley Harding and Buffalo Tom, with a hint of Elvis Costello. This makes his songs, which have a lot of structural similarities to hits from the 60s and 70s, sound very contemporary.
Craig Marshall crafts the music to fit the words when appropriate. Take "Lost in Space" for example, which sounds very atmospheric - like the band is floating towards some sort of temporal anomaly. Oh yes, they are approaching the year 1979 and Cliff Richard is singing, "It's So Funny, We Don't Talk Anymore"!
Standouts for me include the eye-opening opener, "Difficult", the gracefully elegant ballad, "Paper Cut", and the gentle and catchy epilogue, "Small Reminder". But what knocked me out of my chair was the upbeat pop perfection of "I Know What It's Like." Brilliant...just brilliant. Hit written all over it.
iPOD-worthy: all tracks!
Craig Marshall on MySpace. Official site.
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