Customer Reviews

Live from the Memory Hotel

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

 

 

He's collaborated with some musicians from my personal library, he has a very nice website, he plays lots of shows, so why isn't this CD better? Forget the hoopla, he must have another one of those devoted band girlfriends working hard to make him look good.

I had heard of this guy and his band and thought I would give it a listen. I heard more of the same stuff that everyone is doing these days and was a little disappointed. I want to hear something new, where are the new creative ideas?????

the cool thing about this cd is you see this guy you might not have ever heard of before, and he has this live cd. so you check it out, maybe half skeptical, and it's really really excellent! he has solo tunes, tunes with a full electric band blasting, AND acoustic numbers with female vocals and violin making those tunes mournful. if you look at this guy's website (www.markmckaylive.com) (there are a lot of mark mckay's out there!!) you can see some kind of cool pictures and news and it really looks like he is going places. (He is working with Eric Ambel from Steve Earle's band?!) One listen to the cd though and everyone could hear that for themselves. Variety but with a powerful dynamic through and through. Mark McKay, Live from the Memory Hotel, I recommend it!!!!

This album confirms Mark McKay is the real deal; he sounds great on the solo tracks as well as the full band tracks although I prefer him with his own band than with June Star. His live shows are great as well. I highly recommend this album as well as Nothing Personal which I bought the last time I saw him in New York.

I was browsing looking for new music and realized Kris Delmhorst is on this album (and his other one, too, called "Shimmer"). Here on this page is a free download--check it out-- Kris's backing vocal and fiddle stands out from the start. I bought this album and highly recommend it though on its own merits. Mark McKay has a tender voice and it's cool the way this disc can be intimate and folksy and then become rockin' (with a killer cover of Atlantic City and some other stuff too). I found more downloads also on iTunes. But it's totally worth it.

I read about this album in the Village Voice and bought it online. The critical hype that abounds at this guy's website is justified; the songwriting is rich and challenging and the live show is punctuated by an extremely talented band. Come back to New York City!

I first heard Mark McKay on the CCR tribute album Chooglin'. His version of "Who'll Stop The Rain" with Scott Murawski from Max Creek really rocks. So I bought his first album, Nothing Personal. It is great, he has a strong voice that reminds me of Michael Stipe but McKay is not as pretentious. The songs on Nothing Personal are friggin' great. The songs are full of both dense imagery and compelling storytelling; moreover, Mark McKay writes songs that are catchy and get your foot stompin'.
When I heard that he put out a live album, I was definitely curious. Well, this live album gives me more reasons to like this guy. This Live album proves two things.
1) His songs hold up in the singer/songwriter guitar and vocals thing.
2) When he wants to rock, with some band called June Star backing him up, the man can truly get gritty and sort of swampy.
So buy this album if you wanna listen to a live album that has both good folky stuff and passionate roots rock.