Customer Reviews

No Problem Here

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

 

 

This is one of ten albums that I would take with me if stranded on an dessert island. Mac is one of the most gifted song writers of all time. The song "Opinion on Love" has got to be the epitomy of calling like it is and should be required listening for all single folks. Each song offers a story on life as only MAC can tell.

This is one of my favorite albums. I'd love to see Mac again. It breaks my heart that he's under-promoted and almost unknown. If you love a great tune and lyrics that touch you so deeply, it's as if he knows your life, you will love this music and never let it go. When I share Mac's music with my friends, the reaction is always the same - why don't I hear him on the radio? Why haven't I heard this before?

I've concluded that it's because he doesn't fit the narrow musical categories of our radio stations. If you're lucky enough to happen on a Mac McAnally album, it's always in "country music". Country music fans hear him and say, "This isn't really country music." Maybe it's that the subjects of Mac's music align more with country music themes than with other musical styles. Pop music fans say it's not pop. It's not really rock and roll. It's all the those and more. He's so unbelievably talented, almost a musical Renaissance Man, that his lack of air play is everyone's loss.

At a loss for a gift for a friend, lover, ex-lover, neighbor, relative, in-law, co-worker? Buy this album for them. They'll wonder how you chose music so perfectly suited for them.

A few other artists that I like for the same musical reasons are James Taylor, Karla Bonoff, Jimmy Buffet, and Jackson Browne.

Lyrically, however, none of them are in Mac Macanally's league. Listen, and you decide.

I can only echo the sentiments of the other reviewers that this is one of my all-time favorite albums, and it's about time it was issued on CD. You'd be hard-pressed to find more insightful lyrics ("Driving Away My Pain," "Lazy in Love," "No Problem Here") or better flat-out Travis picking on an acoustic guitar than the dueling lines in "Opinion on Love." Now, when the heck will Mac's other equally fine, early '80s album, "Nothing But the Truth," be released on CD??

Over 20 years ago, a friend played this album for me. I was so knocked out by it that he gave me the record. Unfortunately, we all know what happens to albums after hundreds of spins. I was ecstatic to find that this recording had been released on CD. It is easily one of my ten favorites ever.

Mac's take on life is comical yet dark. Witness the song "Funeral," the hilarious symbolism on the sad, yet true "Driving Away My Pain," and the album's highlight "Opinion On Love." The latter is, by itself, worth the purchase price.

I am not a musician or a songwriter, but I am fairly certain there are few who can match Mac's writing and playing. Forget the wonderfully crafted lyrics for a moment - some of the songs on this record could hold their own as instrumentals.

Just buy it. You'll be happy to have it in your collection. Even better, you can't wear it out.

I fell in love with this album 20 years ago, but unfortunately it was my roomate's album, and by the time I started hunting it on my own, it was out of print. For twenty years I have searched for it in used record bins, but all I ever managed to do was make a bad copy of another friend's scratched album. You can bet I won't let it get away again!

In 1978, Mac was just 21 when he recorded this, his second album (don't miss his 1977 self-titled debut album; it, too is in my mind a five-star, along with 1990's Simple Life). If you were to read his biography on, say, Wikipedia, you'd get the impression that his No Problem Here album, which does not even warrant a mention, is forgettable. So not true! Since buying this in 1978 on vinyl, I've worn out two copies of LPs, two cassettes, and a CD when it was released in 1990. I am now reordering, I must. McAnally has a way with simplicity of folk rhythms and a real gift of observation of human behavior.

You'll love his keen insights. "Then the sun came out and all the legs appeared and he might love her but he couldn't be sure," he sang in Opinion on Love. "Everybody wants inside of Catherine," he deadpans, and not just within a sexual context; he observes that people want what they can take from others rather than earning it for themselves. That's like Mac, to take an artistic notice of the town slut and get inside her head.

The title track is one of the weaker ones, but witness the maturity in observing the stages of life in Driving Away My Pain, the storytelling skills in She's a Doll (opening line is "Back in the days when no one had girlfriends/Those Were the good days and we were okay back then... and then we got girlfriends,") and the no-holds-barred honesty about ruthless narcissism in Lazy in Love. Mac McAnally is nothing if not a master lyric writer and entertaining storyteller. Buy this album.

I've been searching for this recording since I lost the original LP over twenty years ago. I'm thrilled beyond words to finally get it back on CD. Mac's songs and incredible musicianship on this album have been haunting my memories for years, and now that I've had a chance to listen to this recording again, it's much better than I remembered.

I HAVE OWNED THIS ALBUM FROM THE DAY IT CAME OUT. BEING FROM MISSISSIPPI, ITS KIND OF A CULT TYPE FOLLOWING OF MAC. THE ALBUM AND FORTHCOMING CD ARE RICH WITH GUITAR LICKS THAT ONLY THE RED HAIRED MAN HIMSELF CAN PLAY.. ALL THE SONGS HAVE DEEP MEANING TO THEM, AND MOST ARE ABOUT EVERYDAY LIFE. IF YOU WANT TO FEEL GOOD ABOUT LIVING, LISTEN TO THE WORDS OF THE TITLE CUT.. GREAT SONG. MY FAVORITE IS "OPINION ON LOVE" CHECK IT OUT. A CD THAT I THINK ANYONE WTIH ANY FEELINGS AT ALL WILL ENJOY..

Remembering old college days in Alabama. Mac's No Problem Here was a great find 30 years ago and sounds just as good today. Was happy to find an original copy through Amazon's Marketplace. The Music Connection filled and shipped my order flawlessly. I will definitely shop here in the future!

Mac's second helping also displays his talent on the
acoustic guitar - especially on "Opinion on Love".
Jimmy Buffett had to sit in the back seat awhile
when this one came out.