Well hello there Mark T. Old rogue
folks never die, they just get involved in community music projects, well, maybe
not all of them, but for a decade or more Mark T did.
Mark T – as in Turauskis – used to front the Brickbats and made a soupy trad-cum-global
beat way before such fusion was fashionable. Add in the fact he was a true enthusiast,
bags of gusto for whatever he was doing, no tow recordings were the same, the
bloke was a true individual. Comforting to know that he still is.
So welcome to a new century and Where Are You Going? - the first Mark T album
in an age to properly escape over the barricades and despite all his sins or
otherwise, it appears that he can’t or won’t, doesn’t want to escape his folk
roots. There’s a picture of him from 1977 on the inside cover posing with acoustic
guitar, collarless shirt, every inch the Carthy wannabe. Check out the ‘who
plays what’ list next and you realise that with strings, steel guitars, drums
samples and a sound beam (a what?), 2006 Turauskis is slightly altered. Yet
there is enough of the old rebel left in him to warp out chestnuts like Whiskey
In The Jar, Wild Mountain Thyme and his perennial Green Brooms, as well as turning
in a clutch of idiosyncratic originals which display his West Country fascination:
Apple Town being one such, an Albion blues of some quality.
Chiefly unplugged on purpose, the good news is that he’s scheming to record
his next album with a full band and take them out on the road to shake a few
feathers loose. Good to have him back.
Mark T, the Berkshire based roots troubadour, since his activities in the early roots-rock crossover scene with his band The Brickbats, has continued to undertake his solo musical journeying of which Where Are You Going is the latest example. It’s a collection of originals interspersed with the occasional re-working of classic folk numbers like ‘Wild Mountain Thyme’ and ‘Whisky In The Jar’ given the distinct T treatment.
The parochial nature of his own songs,
concerning his life, environment – its streets and pubs – adds to the pastoral
feel and with his insistent acoustic guitar, make for a heady atmosphere. The
psych influences on ‘River Wye Song’ bring to mind early Bolan whilst his own
‘Apple Town’ and a pulsating and powerful reading of ‘I Wish I Was In Heaven
Sitting Down’ display a real penchant for the blues, most notably in the former
on which he pulls some impressive slide guitar rifling out of his own mixed
bag. It’s also pleasing to see him re-visit old territory and, as well as providing
a fresh lick of paint, he gives it a full re-wiring job and fixes the plumbing
(Green Brooms)!
Like a lot of the UK’s musical mavericks, Mark T won’t be to everyone’s taste
– his vision and inventiveness has often been out of step with the world of
commerciality. What he does have in abundance though, is real identity and passion.
Mark T. made his name as an award winning musician, composer and musical director. Although entitled ‘Where Are You Going’, ‘Where Have You Been?’, as it says on the back of the CD, would probably be the more appropriate title. Mark’s songs are strongly linked around his early roots in ‘Apple Town’ – Hereford.
The album spans folk, blues, world roots and electronic music. Most are original songs interspersed with traditional folk songs – but not necessarily sung in the traditional manner. His highly original take on Wild Mountain Thyme is certainly not one for the folk purists! Nor his versions of Green Brooms or Whiskey in the Jar, come to that. Great fun, though!
Mark’s great strength as a songwriter is his wonderful ability to describe a scene in such a way that you can easily feel yourself there in the pub with him and his mates. Having said that, I generally found Mark’s songs just a little bit hit and miss at times. My particular favourite of his was the enjoyable Dooney (never was a singer like…). I loved the short instrumental track, Closer to The Ground. Of the rest, I thoroughly enjoyed his version of the traditional blues, I Wish I Was in Heaven Sittin’ Down, with its excellent bottleneck and a great gospel backing.
Dave Emery
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