Middle of the road.
In an age of record label cutbacks, threats of downloads and self-run labels, who is still funding the rise of singer-songwriters? Idiots, morons and people who don’t like music, that’s who. However, these punters spend a lot of money in shops (usually Asda or Woolworths) and if you a label can get themselves a slice of the songwriter pie, its going to pay for a good few extravagant houses so who can blame them for continuing to push these artists.
So what can be said for the release? It's compact and tells a tale with the three songs focusing on falling in love, seeing your partner leave and the hope of getting them back, which is good because without hope we are nothing. Of course, it tells nothing of the times in between, the good times or the times where Mark Timothy acted in such a cruel and barbaric manner that left his ex-lover faced with the fact that she would have to leave him. We wouldn’t like to speculate on the cruel and barbaric treatments that were suffered but who knows, perhaps they were forced to listen to the demos for the new album?
‘Falling’ is the main track and it is perkier and punchier than the other two, so it deserves its place up front but it also offers a more positive outlook and a decent time-change to keep you interested.
Musically, ‘Leaving Me’ nods at the soft-rock of America and its not a massive push to liken it to later-era Bon Jovi but would it have killed Mark to add some lyrics that weren’t just “You were leaving me” to add some weight to the chorus, sure simplicity is the watchword for people who like the current batch of singer-songwriters but a little bit of thinking wont necessarily harm them.*
One great thing that must be mentioned about Mark Timothy is his biography on his website and the way it explains the way his backing band has developed. In all the lines of guff and pomp that are written about bands in their biographies, the following is rather puzzling; “The new line up of two guitars, bass, drums and keys, has become synonymous with classic rock bands.”
So what are they trying to say here? Is the new Mark Timothy band about to be catapulted into the land of superstardom and be, in the words of Nickelback, rockstars? (Oh if we only had the time to dissect Nickelbacks latest turgid offering, if only dear reader.) Does the website believe that bands with a different line-up are not a classic rock band? It's absolute filler guff that was thrown in there to convince some gullible people that this was an act that really matters. They don’t.
These songs but more pertinently, the genre they hail from, are the aural equivalent of fast food. There is no redeeming value in it, if you had the time and means to do better you would but for some strange reason, there is a mass clamor for this type of thing and no matter what some folk will tell you, more money is spent on it when there are far tastier substitutes available. You wont remember Mark Timothy in two years time, a bit like you won't remember that Big Mac you bought at the weekend but hey, the mass-buying public cant be wrong…
*R13 accepts no responsibility for any fans of acts like James Blunt, James Morrison or Jamie Cullum who attempt to think and cause themselves some damage.