60 Watt Silver Lining

Mark Eitzel | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 19, 1996)
• Original Release Date: March 19, 1996
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Warner Bros / Wea
• ASIN: B000002N4P
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #29,652 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars no easy way any up or down, August 1, 2000

By 

William Chaisson "microfossilboy" (Trumansburg, New York) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: 60 Watt Silver Lining (Audio CD)

It is sad to read some of the reviews here that want Mark Eitzel to do what he has always done and then read another review that mentions him self-destructing on stage out of embarrassment and self-loathing. Anybody see a connection here? ... Uh, I didn't think so.

Mark Eitzel is one of the greatest living songwriters on the planet. But he is also a great singer. He could do an album of Irish ballads and I'm sure it would be tremendous. But _60 Watt Silver Lining_ is one of the best combinations of great songwriting and great singing that you are going to find in the Eitzel/AMC catalog. I simply don't understand why listeners want this guy to always alternate between rock and roll and country folk all the time. He can do anything he wants; he is a musical genius.

"Sacred Heart", "Cleopatra Jones" and "Southend on Sea" are three of the best songs that Eitzel has ever written. They perfectly combine humor and pathos (or at least melancholy) to present a view of the world that anyone with the courage to actually pay attention knows is accurate. And the music really swings. I find myself humming these tunes all the time, years after the record was released.

The rest of the album is more contemplative and purely sad. "Mission Rock Resort" is a tale of a doomed person sitting the middle of beauty. "Some Bartenders ..." is about a stupid accident. There isn't a single misstep on this record. Listen to it when you are alone and need some perspective.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Beautiful Record--Good Luck Trying To Find It, June 16, 2000

By 

Jason Motz (Victoria, BC Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 60 Watt Silver Lining (Audio CD)

Long before the official word came down on the fate of American Music Club, enigmatic frontman Mark Eitzel released this lp, the first of two solo offerings for Warner Brothers. Gone is all that was musically characteristic of AMC. No pedal steel or wailing walls of dissonance here. Jazz percussions, bass, piano and a almost non-existent guitar take the listener through the 12 tales of heroic bartenders, vulnerable blaxploitation superstars and other assorted denizens of the dank San Francisco bar scene. With his deep, crooked croon, Eitzels voice is the voice for those with a thirst and a raw hunger for L-O-V-E! The production is less ragged then the early AMC lps and more spacious than the final two. This openness serves all of his trademark aches, pains, doubts and miserabalist shenanigans well. By your lonesome or with the person you love/hate the most, this is THE Summer evening record. A must! Unfortunatley this record is out of print and the future of this and all other Eitzel-related lps is in limbo. Seek this record out! Then search for the others. The legacy of one of the most important, potent and origianl voices of modern music depends on it.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mark Eitzel is the god of melancholia!, November 10, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (San Diego) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 60 Watt Silver Lining (Audio CD)

...and we must all worship at his throne. Genuflect while getting lost in the aptly named 'Everything is Beautiful,' prostrate yourself before the sad initial track 'No Easy Way Down,' and deify the glory that is Mark Eitzel's deep, world-weary voice. I rank this as one of my top ten albums of all time, and hey, I'm 41, so I've heard alot! I've listened to this incredible, slightly jazzy piece of work too many times to remember (early on, several times in a row), and it still holds a very real emotional weight. A weight you too will be happy to bear.