Music for Courage and Confidence

Music for Courage and Confidence Artist: Mark Eitzel
Label: New West Records
Category: Music


Average customer rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1


UPC: 607396603824
EAN: 0607396603824
ASIN: B000063CLT


Release Date: 2002-04-23

Music for Courage and Confidence


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Categories | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music
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Tracks:

  1. Snowbird
  2. Ain't No Sunshine
  3. Do You Really Want to Hurt Me
  4. Help Me Make It Through The Night
  5. I Only Have Eyes For You
  6. Gentle On My Mind
  7. More More More
  8. Move On Up
  9. Rehearsals For Retirement
  10. I'll Be Seeing You

Similar Items:

  1. The Invisible Man
  2. Caught In A Trap And I Can't Back Out 'Cause I Love You Too Much, Baby
  3. 60 Watt Silver Lining
  4. Candy Ass
  5. The Ugly American

Customer Reviews:

3 out of 5 stars Too Many Albums, Not Enough Consistency.......2006-03-18

For my money, the most strikingly obvious talent Mark Eitzel possesses is his songwriting capabilities, so that would tend to cast an album of cover tunes into doubt. After all, Eitzel is not gifted with a broad vocal range, nor is he given to extravagant embellishments or a liberal use of melody. He can be an excellent interpreter, though, as shown on his contribution to the Carpenters tribute album ("If I Were a Carpenter"), and Mann/Weil's "No Easy Way Down" from his own "60 Watt Silver Lining", so perhaps his instincts told him that the listener's familiarity with these songs would bode well.
Unfortunately, it doesn't, at least not consistently. It's a blast to hear Eitzel perform "Snowbird" (yes, that "Snowbird"; Anne Murray's "Snowbird") as though he were singing from a wheelchair, and Curtis Mayfield's "Move On Up" retains most of the syncopated energy of the original, but they mostly manage to whet my appetite for the original versions. When I start craving the original versions of Culture Club's "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me" and (egad!!!) porn star Andrea True's only hit, "More, More, More", you know that things are pretty screwed up. Why did Eitzel pick these songs? I personally have no idea, seeing no thematic or stylistic tie between any of them.
Knowing that they were (and perhaps still are) friends, I can't help but wonder if Eitzel was following the lead of Mark Kozelek of the Red House Painters. During his career as the lead vocalist for the Red House Painters, Kozelek proved that by slowing down a Kiss or an AC/DC song, it could completely alter the perspective of the lyrics. Eitzel is doing much the same thing here, but when he sings "Get the cameras rolling, get the action going," it sounds as though he is dreaming the song from a hospital bed. Most of Eitzel's interpretations sound as though he's on the brink of flat-lining, so it only serves to make me wonder if the album title, "Songs for Courage & Confidence," is a wry commentary, or perhaps wishful thinking. B- Tom Ryan

2 out of 5 stars HARRY CONNICK ON HEROIN.......2005-10-11

I like these songs; I like the genre here; but if some "go over the top" this one sure goes way "under the bottom." Take a Harry Connick Jr. record, turn down the speed -- but shoot Harry up with heroin first! Gloomy is the word. I don't think this album is worth purchasing. By the way, that's not to say that Mark Eitzel isn't worth listening to at some point -- I would recommend "Snowbird" to vindicate him from this awful grandma's basement crap.

2 out of 5 stars If You're Unfamiliar With His Work, DON'T START HERE!!!!!.......2004-03-27


I love Mark Eitzel and his band American Music Club, but I really can't sit through this album. The music rarely comes close to the haunting beauty of that in his own songs. And his vocals are more subdued (in a bad way) than on any of his other albums. The only covers that I really enjoy here are "Snowbird" and "I Only Have Eyes For You," both of which are quite different from the originals. By the way, everyone I've come across who loved the original versions pretty much dislike these covers.

Basically, the point I really want to get across in this review is that this is the worst introduction to a brilliant body of work I could possibly think of. Please do not buy this if you've never heard Eitzel's solo work or his more amazing work with American Music Club. Instead, I'd recommend AMC's "Everclear" or "Mercury" or Eitzel's "60 Watt Silver Lining" or "The Invisible Man." Oh, and don't buy "West" as an introduction, either. Thanks, Peter Buck (R.E.M.), for that disaster. ; )

Long-time Eitzel/AMC fans will most likely find "Music for Courage and Confidence" an interesting and fun listen, but it'll probably leave the CD player after the first few spins.

4 out of 5 stars Fun and Gloom.......2002-11-22

This may be the gloomiest album of the year. It may also be the funniest. And the 2 are inextricably entwined. Eitzel, former leader of American Music Club, casts a late- night, lounge- lizard light on everything he does. Usually those are austere and obtuse, frequently beautiful creations of his own design. Here, however, Eitzel covers the songs of other writers in his inimitable style. The fun lies in the choices he has made. Covering a spectrum of pop artists (and in some of those cases, this may be the only time that the word `artist' and their name is used in the same sentence) that is among the broadest ever recorded, Eitzel puts his own `spooky-beauty' stamp on songs formerly recorded by the likes of Anne Murray , Boy George and The Andrea True Connection. His most potent covers are by R&B artists like Bill Withers and Curtis Mayfield. Curiously, the only cut he strikes out on is the DooWop classic `I Only Have Eyes for You'. That's because the hit version by The Flamingos is already the undisputed standard of spooky-beauty (unless, of course, you'd care to dispute it). Eitzel's whispered vocals, his musicians' delicate instrumental flourishes, and the intimate production create a wonderful soundscape and make for a strange and singular listening experience.

5 out of 5 stars Courage For My Best Man.......2002-06-16

Mark Eitzel is a great composer, but in this album he is a "interprete" for great songs along 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 years.

Music Album:

  1. Brown Eyed Handsome Man: St Louis Salutes Chuck Berry ~ Various Artists
  2. The String Quartet Tribute to Pixies
  3. All's Quiet On The Western Front ~ Dead Beats
  4. Nuada ~ Candidate
  5. Darkness Before Dawn ~ Last Second
  6. Porn Shoes/Gabriel in the Airport ~ The French
  7. Limited Lifetime Guarantee ~ Marc Copely
  8. Item
  9. Quadra ~ Asia
  10. Chicago VI ~ Chicago

Music Album

Music Album

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In a Mellow Tone ~ Howard Alden, Bucky Pizzarelli

Joyful Noise: A Tribute to Duke Ellington ~ Don Sebesky

Project G-7: A Tribute to Wes Montgomery, Vol. 2 ~ Various Artists

Romantic Latin Jazz: The Best of the 70's ~ Various Artists

Animals ~ Frank Macchia

Mystical Veil ~ Mal Barsamian

Anos de Mil Novecientos ~ Smiley Y la Fuerza Musical

Anime Candide ~ Daniel Sepe

Miracle of Klezmer ~ Klezmiracles

Casa de Samba, Vol. 2 ~ Various Artists