Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
There is something intrinsically special, something that really gets underneath the skin of an artist when they can change tack between albums and give you further insight into their talents. It is an insight that hits you with without a warning note, without a declaration of war being announced or even hostilities being discussed; more like an offering of peace and long lasting diplomacy, an offering that makes you realise yet again how versatile Mark Poutney is as artist.
The complexity of Time is the order of the day; the shifting of boundaries that MARK II presents is that of involved with territories being explored, not ravaged as some might do, but more with the interest and sophistication of a traveller, both through Time and the genre, one who is only there to add to the experience and to place an offering at the gates of the growing dynasty. It is testament to Mr. Poutney that this album reflects that thought, as some might go in with all guns blazing and stake claim after claim, MARK II just adds the most beautiful of additions to a flourish state.
The homestead has been left behind for MARK II, the country and the acoustic, not abandoned, but left to its devices and for the soil to become fertile for what follows this latest album and in songs such as Forget About the Girl, Just Can’t Seem To Get You Off My Mind, Heartbreaker and Dream, the sense of the beguiling is important, it stretches the sense of the Progressive tale with the allusion to the psychedelic placed gently within its welcoming arms.
That psychedelic whisper is outrageously cool and dismisses anyone from its 20-20 sight who dares complain that artists cannot cross boundaries, who try with self –righteous conviction to take the passport away of anyone they deem of not carrying the right stuff about them and to never allow access to the riches beyond their own selfish interests. For Mark Poutney, the passport is stamped and access is granted, yet they don’t see the thousands he is carrying with him on the journey, the blinkered never truly see what they can’t imagine.
MARK II has been crafted with style and elegance, listening to the journal of a well composed traveller has been worth it.
Ian D. Hall