Search - Carolyn Mark :: Party Girl

Great songwriter, singer, entertainer

06/20/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The back of this CD shows a map of Canada with a star where each song was recorded, and that's as good an introduction as any to Party Girl - all over the map. We hear live recordings, on-the-road banter, DIY lo-fi, and a few polished numbers as well. What IS consistent are the songs and the voice. "Both Ways" (my favorite track) is a classic old-school country number written 40 years too late; "Edmonton" and "Unlisted" are goofy, catchy, and touching too. At her entertaining best, Mark deserves a poolside seat next to Randy Newman and Robbie Fulks."

Live show is not to be missed and is better than the album

12/06/2000

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I almost feel guilty writing a less than positive review for this fine lady; I've seen her live a couple of times and laughed myself silly, thoroughly enjoying every minute. However, this is one of the few cases where the sound is better live than recorded. And to be truthful, some of the songs are kind of weak. However, some of the songs are also really good. I really like "Edmonton" and "Unlisted". My recommendation is that if you like artists like Carolyn's sometime musical partner Neko Case, you'll enjoy this album enough to shell out the twelve or so bucks it costs, AND you'll be able to feel good about the fact that you're supporting a very talented performer. By doing this you increase your chances of seeing her live which, if the opportunity arises, you must do - because you'll laugh your pants off and fall in love with this endearing crooner/comedienne. Plus, the guys in her band, her room mates, are really, really cute."

Tons of Fun

stormy3 | Austin | 04/02/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Carolyn Mark is Neko Case's sister and like Case she has that general Patsy Cline vibe. However, she is less polished and less restrained, a little sloppier. Kind of like Patsy Cline on the thrid week of a four week bender. Many of these tracks are recorded live, so this lacks the polish of The Virginian, but in many ways it is more intimate and relateable.
Mark opens her album with the swaggering "Don't Come Over Baby," a song dedicated to the glory of unrequited love. "Edmonton" is a fun song about watching the guys you open for become famous. "In A Valley" is a pretty, stately song about homesickness and growing up. Then comes another of her sardonic moments "Not Another Other Woman" a gentle honky tonk about a women who gives up her cheating ways when she meets her married boyfrinds other mistress. Every woman's favorite song though, will be "Both Ways" with it's "If I could find 12 honest men to try you/If I could find 12 honest men you'd die you/The evidence is painted/you're apology is tainted/You're lucky honest men are hard to find." Next comes the remarkably beautiful a capella cover of "Leaning on the everlasting Arm." "Untitled" is another of her fun tracks, in the same vein as Amy Rigby" that swuings it's way through the life of a women who "Always get it wrong when I try to move along." "Hazy Memory" feels very much like a song from a USO tour featuring a more country McGuire sisters. She slows it down a notch for the pretty ballad "Moonbeam" Case closes out the album in trade mark fashion, with a fun song about a woman struggling between liberation and the stress it can bring.
This album feels like an old time country show. Getle swings, much like a Patsy Cline with lyrics more along the lines of a Loretta Lynn, Mark brings a quieter, sloppier, cd that is every bit as endearing in its own right as her sisters, for all that it lacks the production."