Search - Mr Mister :: Go on

Almost the pinnacle...

A. Taylor | Scotland | 04/25/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Go on..was the Misters third and final commercial release and one with a more stripped down and mature sound than the intense Welcome To The Real World. Maybe the world wasn't quite ready for them to change so quickly having just reached their commercial height, or the more thoughtful style was too out of step with the hair metal pap that so dominated 1987, but whatever caused its lack of success it wasn't due to the album. The song writing is exemplary, the vocals better than ever, the variety much improved over the previous albums and the production left enough room for Steve Farris to really show people how he can play the guitar!



I would urge anyone that has an ounce of musicality and an interest in what GOOD AOR can sound like to purchase this album. The sad fact is that this shouldn't have been the last album. Although Steve Farris left before the tour, and was replaced by Buzz Feiten, the Misters actually recorded a fourth album "Pull" which can be found floating in the grey areas of cyberspace. It really is worth a download if you can find it. Many have claimed it was too experimental but only one track, "Buddy" really falls into that category. The remainder was stunning. "Waiting In My Dreams" can be found on "The Best Of..." but "Close Your Eyes" and "Wait A Lifetime" could easily have replicated the success of "Kyrie". It also features Trevor Rabin of Yes on some tracks, giving it a sound not disimilar to "Talk" by that band."

Gone on

I Wear the Face | Ireland | 08/11/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I don't know why, but I love Mr. Mister's music. I love "Go On..." because it is a work of musical perfection. Which is what one might expect of session musicians. Unfortunately RCA have deemed this record as unworthy of remaining in print, which now only prints a "Best of" and "Welcome to the Real World." I would proclaim that "Go On..." is the better of the three albums they released. It may not have been as sucessful as Welcome to the Real World, but in musical composition, this album was far more advanced and deserves more recognition.



Mr. Mister, for reasons unknown to the world, decided to abandon the uplifting 80s pop sound that the World had come to expect from them, and even though they had the lineup of an 80s pop band, they somehow managed to elevate synth to an instrument that could produce a serious sound. The album travels down a much funkier road than that of it's predecessors. It also sees Richard Page using his chords to their best advantage. This seems strange because they always seemed so amazing on the other records. How could they be better? If you find a way of acquiring this CD if purchased you'll understand what I mean.



Tracklist:

1. Stand and Deliver

2. Healing Waters

3. Dust

4. Something Real (Inside Me/Inside You)

5. The Tube

6. Bare My Soul

7. Control

8. Watching the World

9. Power Over Me

10. Man of a Thousand Dances

11. The Border



The superior tracks in my opinion are Healing Waters, Dust, Something Real (Inside Me/Inside You), The Tube, Bare My Soul, Power Over Me, Man of a Thousand Dances, and of course The Border.



Healing Waters is a spiritual masterpiece which employs the use of a Gospel Choir. If you're interested in sampling the album before you buy, try the iTunes music store to hear the tracks available on the best of. On the Irish store, the best of has different tracks if you wish to hear others. You can do the same with Something Real which shows Richard Page using his Voice to it's best ability. Dust is a beautiful ballad featuring excellent percussion parts by Pat Mastelotto (who I believe really stands out on this album alot more than on previous.) On Dust Steve Farris really shines also.



Here, I have to say that as a guitarist, I respect Steve Farris a lot as one of my favorites, I think he is underated and should be known to more guitarists around the globe who listen to Yngwie Malmsteen to open up their eyes on how laid back guitar playing can be much more powerful than some hour long shredding solo. Steve is the best on this album for me. He writes interesting rythym parts, shows he can really play guitar even though he is masking his virtuosity in soloing underneath Floyd Rose abuse. He makes excellent use of volume swells and general rythym playing on this album, and with my intentions of becoming a session musician, I hope I can develop the wide range of styles and talents that he uses. Steve if you ever read this you are an inspiration in my books!



The tube is an interesting funky number, it disses television in a very strange way, it has a cool solo. Bare my soul is a fast number by Farris, John Lang (Lyricist for the entire album) and Page. It is a harder song, though distortion free, it has a heavier feel to it. Power over Me has a very spiritual feel to it, though I find the choice of Synth sound as an odd one, but it works, and has a beautiful Sax (I assume) solo which suits the music. Interestingly about this song, though the chord progression seems to be minor, which sounds dark, the vocals contrast this darkness and take a more major influenced line which creates a beautiful blend of tone and melody. Man of a Thousand dances is an unusual upbeat funky and spiritual ballad with an interesting lyric choice. The vocals take an interesting direction which makes for a genius song. The Border is possibly the most beautiful ending an album can have. Here we have Steve George revert to a good ol' acoustic piano. This is a perfect choice. It sets the mood for the ballad. The lyrics seem a little too cliched for this particular song, but they are sentimental and suitable none the less. Farris adds little flourishes in with use of a delay pedal in the opening sections. This is the ultimate closer for my tastes. The song begins slowly and maintains the same tempo, but becomes more upbeat when the percussion enters. Unfortunately, the song fades out.



Which leads me to my single complaint about the album. Too many god damn fade outs. They are fine some of the time, but they get tiresome. I like to hear the end of every composition. With 8 of 11 songs fading out, I find this annoying. Ideally, no fade outs, but I'd meet them half way with one or two, not eight!!!!



This CD is a 10 out of 10 though. Just if you ever can, re-release the album without fadeouts! Then, I would give it 11/10 for the 11 tracks that should have made more of an impact on the music buying public.



"We must go on now""

And I Always Thought I Was Alone....

John Murray | Fredericton, NB, Canada | 03/24/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"...because I thought this album was one of the best of the entire decade, and nobody bought it. At least on Amazon, I can see that at least 6 other people revere it the way I do. The progression from its highly successful - and highly trendy - predecessor, 1985's Welcome To The Real World, was absolutely stunning. The cover art set the tone for a huge change, and the music, both lyrically and sonically, confirmed it. To my knowledge, "Dust" is the only song written as a plea to American soldiers to reach out to children they may have fathered during wartime. I still get chills when I hear "Out of the dust reach tiny hands/to touch their fathers in other lands." While the sound does have a heavy dose of 80's synth sound, Mr. Mister uses that sound as well as anyone did, and songs like the aforementioned "Dust", the stark "Bare My Soul", the thoroughly underrated single "Something Real" and "Watching The World", all deliver a sound that still sounds fresh. "The Border" is definitely one of popular music's lost songs - I think that it's the band's best song, a gorgeous midtempo ballad that subtly recalls the crossroads - indicating we must persevere and "go on", but the chorus says to us "I am standing here/my arms open wide/I am waiting here/heart in my hand on the border." Considering that the band largely disappeared after this album, the distant horizon depicted on the cover along with the final song's desire to wait and persevere seems a fitting epitaph for a band that disappeared from the public's eye far, far, far too soon."