I've just had the pleasure of listening to the new release (released Tuesday) Smartest Man In The Room by Paul Mark & the Van Dorens. This is a very cool and seductive cd with a lot of reality satire. This is blues rock music for people who like it rough. Smartest Man In The Room is a loping Texas style blues with Paul Mark on vocals and guitars. It is a song you really need to listen to to get. Very cleverly written about life as it is today. This guy really knows how to lay it down. Time Will Tell follows suit and and is really in the groove. Sitting here looking at the cover art and noticing a school classroom where many of the students have been replaced with adults.... inside of the liner notes is a key of the adults with famous quotes by each... very interesting... and exposing. When God Finds The Time slows it down a little but is delivering a message over a subtle melody... it's some pretty heavy stuff! One More Coat Of Paint, a tune about the status of the economy, takes time out from delivering the message to play an off beat guitar riff. Barrio Stroll is an instrumental mix of Latin Rhythm and surf music. I mean this is really cool...you gotta check it out... the smooth guitar chords ... this is the chit. U Must Come 2 is a great blues track in standard blues format. One thing that this cd is so successful at that I see missed in other contemporary blues cd's is the ability to relate today's life successfully to the actual music. mark plays a really fine guitar solo on this track ... think Ronnie Earl. Wrist Rocket, the second instrumental of the release is another winner. This one is really upbeat and may have a little surf built in as well but not so much with the lush chords and reverb but just in the sound. It's really a great song. Can't Remember Nothing brings back the tracks of the 20's and the dazzling piano work (also by Mark) and it works really well. Bob Dylan's Don't Tell Henry comes out as a Texas style blues track and gets right into the groove but doesn't lose it's identity. Mark takes a nice guitar solo on this track demonstrating once again he can pretty much do it all. Choke Hold, the third instrumental on the release is more of a swing number and really gets a great groove going with solo's all around. The Creature Walks Among Us uses a lot of guitar effects and environmental noise to create a virtual soundtrack to this interesting song. The last track, Road Hawg is a guitar rocker with a little little 60's thrown in. It a really cool track and a fine finish to a great cd. I really highly recommend this really intelligent cd. It's a blast... and there's a message there too.. if you care to listen.
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