The Salvation Blues

Mark Olson | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 12, 2007)
• Original Release Date: 2007
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Hacktone Records
• ASIN: B000P6R6W4
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #123,001 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Here starts the third stage of Mark Olson's recording career. He first came to prominence as the primary singer-songwriter for the Jayhawks, before leaving that seminal alt-country band to make music with his wife, Victoria Williams, in the more acoustic, organic Creekdrippers. With his reedy voice and elemental imagery, Olson details the painful dissolution of that marriage on this solo album, clinging to music as a lifeline when everything else is lost. In the album-opening "My Carol," he compares his love to "an animal bleeding in the snow," while "National Express" asks "Where's my home? How could I lose this in a day?" Yet musically, "Clifton Bridge" and "Winter Song" rank with the best of his Jayhawks work, and both the title track and "Look into the Night" find redemption in the midst of despair. Gary Louris joins his former Jayhawks bandmate for harmonies on three cuts. --Don McLeese

Product Description

Mark Olson was the founder of The Jayhawks, the most important band to emerge out of the '90s alt-country scene. Olson left after their most successful album, Tomorrow The Green Grass, to pursue a simpler life in the California desert. A decade later, everything fell apart: Mark's marriage to singer/songwriter Victoria Williams ended, his group The Creekdippers disbanded, and he lost the home he had built by hand. These songs were written in the wake of that profound loss, during the two years he spent homeless staying with friends in places as farflung as Norway, Poland and Wales. Produced by Ben Vaughn, The Salvation Blues is Olson's first true solo album, made with some of LA's best session musicians. The album also features Mark's long-awaited reunion with Jayhawk Gary Louris, who provides harmonies on three songs.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Instant Classic, June 19, 2007

By 

Craig Fisher (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Salvation Blues (Audio CD)

Mid-way through Mark Olson's new album The Salvation Blues, the track Sandy Denny references the late 60's, early 70's British folk artist who would come to known as much for her personal difficulties with her husband (and alcohol) as she was for her songwriting. Such allusions echo Olson's painful split with his now ex-wife and bandmate Victoria Williams and loss of his beloved home in Joshua Tree, California; they also set the tone for this highly moving and personal recording, his first standout release since the Creekdippers' December's Child album from 2002 and My Own Jo Ellen, a classic from 2000.

As opposed to Olson's recent recordings that seem born of his life grounded in the California desert, pure Americana radiating joy, warmth, and belonging, The Salvation Blues conveys a sense of movement, distance, coldness and isolation while also making several references to Olson's travels through Europe (check out Clifton Bridge and National Express, both great songs). However, though the lyrics are evocative and moving, if not somewhat oblique, they aren't overly mournful either. Similarly, the music is generally, surprisingly upbeat, more sweet than bitter (as on Winter Song), capturing that folksy, acoustic sound Olson has become known for. Don't get me wrong, there are some sad tunes here (his solo Wurlitzer performance on My One Book Philosophy). It's just that in spite of darker themes, these songs ultimately give rise to deliverance and liberation, and in that context are as much about hope and optimism as they are about pain.

And while the excellent understated instrumentation of Olson's accompanying musicians should not go unacknowledged, Jayhawks fans will especially rejoice in Olson's former bandmate, Gary Louris offering up sweet vocal harmonies on a few tracks including Poor Michael's Boat, one of the album's standout tracks. It's revisiting Jayhawks days gone by and their collaboration on December's Child (Say You'll Be Mine), as well as foreshadowing a new Olson/Louris album which Louris himself reported has been recorded and is set to come out in early 2008. When you consider that Olson's relationship with Ms. Williams marked his departure from the Jayhawks and the dissolution of one of the best songwriting teams of our generation, this album finds him coming full circle; opening his heart, exposing his soul, and achieving epic proportions.

Salvation indeed.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great record!, July 7, 2007

By 

Music Fan (Illinois) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Salvation Blues (Audio CD)

This is easily the best work Mark Olson has done since he was with the Jayhawks. This record shows the heartbreak he has recently encountered, but all the time there is a message behind the music, that there is something better coming along and he is ready for whatever that is. Through the heartbreak this is hope, and well, salvation.

The 3 tracks that his former partner Gary Louris sings on, are just what is needed, it brings us back a little to their former greatness, and promises what is to come when their duo record comes out next year. Best tracks are Clifton Bridge, Salvation Blues, Sandy Denny and of course the old Jayhawks gem that was never recorded until now, Poor Michael's Boat.

Highly recommended for anyone who loves singer-songwriter, from the heart, just good music, something that is sorely lacking in most of today's music.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the voice still has it, July 20, 2007

By 

greg s. (Minnetonka, MN United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Salvation Blues (Audio CD)

I have been a fan of Mark Olson's since the first time I heard him with the Jayhawks in about 1985. His voice, and how he used it, absolutely floored me. Now, over 20 years later, that voice is still there.

Plus, Gary Louris sings with Mark on a few tracks. When these two sing together, it is pure magic.