Customer Reviews

High Noon

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This record is a good place to start if you've never come across any of Mark's music before. You get songs from his last three recordings ('Dry Bones Dance', 'Second Hand' and 'Satellite Sky') plus some unreleased stuff plus a track lifted off the multi-artist 'At the Foot of the Cross' album. This should have been a double album so as to showcase the length and breadth of Mark's talent and sweat-stained recording work. Nevertheless, unlike a lot of artists his later work is just as vital, creative and passionate as any of his earlier stuff. His untimely death in 1992 left a legacy of work that belies his lack of 'success'. Mark's lyrical depth and his commitment to roots music is powerfully displayed by this collection. Musically this record runs the gamut from aching solo-piano-driven balladry ('What Kind of Friend') to rollicking, noisy, full-tilt hillbilly-inspired, country rock ('The Dry Bones Dance'). The songs 'Another Day in Limbo', 'Hammer and Nails', 'Treasure of the Broken Land' (from 'Satellite Sky) and the previously unreleased 'She's Not Afraid' have a 'harder' electric feel, (unfortunatley they seem to have that tinny, treble-friendly sound common to recordings made by sound engineers with hearing damage :-)), and the first three have an almost '80s New Wave edge to them (as bizarre as that might sound!). The use of classic roots music instruments like piano-accordian, harmonica, upright-bass, hammond organ and fiddle flow over a consistently excellent foundation laid by Mark's own great guitar work and the likes of Michael Been ('The Call') on bass and David Raven on drums. This whole delicious, rootsy sound is augmented by kalimba (an African (?) thumb piano which sounds like a synth on these recordings), hammered dulcimer, electric mandolin, chapman stick (courtesy of Fergus Jemison Marsh, a long time Bruce Cockburn co-conspirator), pump organ, a horn section and more percussion than a world music festival! - you get the picture right?! Mark wore his spiritual and socio-political bents un-selfconsciously and they are laid bear here with such poetic, beautiful gentleness that you'll be crying out for more. Mark's lyrical creativity touches upon everything from domestic bliss under pressure (the humorous 'Shaky Situation') to the plight of illegal migrant workers (?) ('Another Day in Limbo') to the unseen presence of God in our lives ('Strong Hand of Love'). The bitter-sweetness of 'House of Broken Dreams' which mourns the fact 'That dreams are quickly spent/Like a pouring rain on dry cement/Or fingerprints in dust/Nectar on the wind/Save them for tomorrow and tomorrow lets you down again' is only one example of the lyrical gems on this album. Enjoy!

If you've never heard Heard (sorry) then it's time you did. Criminally underrated, Bruce Cockburn called him America's greatest songwriter and Pierce Pettis swore to record a Heard song on every album until people started to pay attention. This is a great album, with all of his usual lyrical depth, but it's a little one paced. You should buy Dry Bones Dance if you want a real intro to Mark, but until that's available on Amazon, buy this. Great songs, relevant lyrics and lots of rootsy groove, you'll love it.

Literate, philosophical, introspective, but sensual and lively, this CD delivers a welcome kick in the head to shallow rock-themes and the morbid, self-absorbed ear-candy passing as folk music. The musical hooks are addictive and creative, often relying on unusally rich combinations of mandolin, guitar, fiddle and accordian; the drum-work on some of the tracks (listen to "Dry Bones Dance") rattles the bones. The arrangements are energetic, spare and honest, and the mood ranges from mournful to jubilant. In short, a thinking manic-depressive's perfect all-purpose disc for both the peaks and valleys.

As good as the music is, it's the lyrics which are too good to just hang in the air: they demand a close hearing, both for the ideas and the poetry.

Too often collection albums do serious injustice to the creative vision of an artist. Not so here. Dan Russell, Mark's friend and a good producer, has pulled together a collection designed both as a tribute to Mark's last three or four albums and as a really worthy offering to the newcomer to Mark's music.

If you want room-noise, go elsewhere. If you love edgy, confident folk-rock and are hungry for meaningful, engaging lyrics, spin this a few dozen times.

Mark Heard's music has never lost its freshness or relevance. I have been listening to it since the early eighties, when I first heard "Castaway" on the radio. I find his lyrics coming unbidden to mind in many of the situations life has brought...they are that honest. He was true to his faith in Christ, and true to life, and the world is a lonelier place without him. I believe there are four preeminent Christian artists in the rather short history of "Christian" music...Mark Heard, Phil Keaggy, Rich Mullins, and Fernando Ortega. Mark heads my list, for his lyrical ability (I am a "words" kind of person) as well as his musicianship.

I particularly love the songs, "Nod Over Coffee" (reminiscent of J. Alfred Prufrock!) and "Just Wanna Get Warm." They are so expressive of everyday human experience, Christian or no. "House of Broken Dreams" with its simple chords breaks my heart every time I hear it. I also loved his "Dry Bones Dance" album, with its Louisiana flavor. His lyrics on that album are alternately playful and deftly incisive. However, "High Noon" is a very good introduction to his music. I can't speak highly enough of this artist and the profound effect he's had on my life.

If you only want to own one Mark Heard CD - shame on you!! Just kidding. But seriously, this CD belongs in every CD collection. Mark was a stellar musician and a gifted songwriter. This is a collection of songs from his later CD's and has a few unreleased gems on it as well. Mark is an artist who deserved a wider listening audience, but died before he could achieve that honor in his lifetime.

All of the songs on this CD are wonderful examples of Marks passion for life and music. His music reflects life as it really is and the joys and heartaches that we all share as human beings. Undergirding all of the songs are Mark's Christian beliefs, probably best illustrated by the song 'Stong Hand of Love'.

"We can laugh, we can cry, and never see the stong hand of love hiding in the shadows".

Unlike many singer/songwriters, Mark Heard's later music is at least as good as his earlier work, and probably better on the whole. (His musical growth reminds me of the Beatles'.) This CD picks four or five of the best tracks from each of his last three CDs, adds in four unreleased tracks (each of them very good), and BINGO!-- you have a generous 18-track album that's hard to equal: musically very listenable and memorable, lyrically poetic and full of insight, spiritually poignant and uplifting. Wow. It's like a great meal that's delicious and leaves you comfortably satisfied. Not only that, but it's probably the best place to start if you're not familiar with Mark's work-- or if you haven't heard his later work-- because you get to sample each of his last three albums. The "Satellite Sky" CD in particular was stylistically quite different from most of his other work, so it's nice to be able to sample some of its best tracks to see how much you like them before deciding whether to buy the CD they were originally on.

A few months ago, I was listening to a friend perform an acoustic show in Nashville, TN. My friend did a cover of Mark Heard's song Orphans of God. I immediately bought this album and can't stop listening to it. If Orphans of God was the only song on this album, I would still give it five stars.

For more than 20 years Mark Heard crafted songs that were insightful, honest, and catchy. For most of those years Mark toiled in the Christian music industry, gaining immense respect from artists, critics, and loyal fans but never receiving substantial marketing or huge sales. Struggling to maintain his artistic integrity while earning a living in the music business was hard on Mark, and his later work took on a feel of brokenness and longing. His death in 1992 came in midst of rising expectations after some moderate successes with the independent label Fingerprint Records. This compilation selects songs from that later era, which mixed a rootsy rock with folk, pop, and Cajun influences. They combine raw poetic lyrics, musical artistry, and a spiritual realism that is hard as bone but humble as dust. They may be some of the best songs from one of the best songwriters of a generation.

There are few songwriters that have been able to blend Christian faith with art as wonderfully as Mark Heard did. "High Noon" is a great collection of songs that display Heard's prowess at music and words. Unfortunately, the last 3 albums he recorded are rare and expensive to purchase on their own, but this album gives a taste of Heard's work that is perfect for a newcomer to listen to. It is a shame that more people have not listened to this great American poet.

Mark Heard has had a profound impact on many people's life. His lyrics have a way of capturing the essence of how a person feels at a particular moment in life. On this album, "Hammers and Nails" is particularly memorable, with a haunting harmony from the mandolin.