RECENSIONI
Gennaio 2008
Recensioni di MAKING MEMORIES
STREET VOICE UK
THE MARS PATROL - Making Memories:
The Mars Patrol have come so far since the days of just Davina Divine and Ross Nelson when they just played acoustic music. This excellent song writing duo got a band together and have been putting out some of the best Power-Pop tunes that Britain has ever heard. This six track EP is no exception and has been played all day today. Making Memories is really the nuts. Those wicked tunes and Davina's amazing tunes are just something else. The Mars Patrol are a band that should be huge with at least two albums to their belts by now. They really are a breath of fresh air and you'll find that out for yourselves when you play this EP from start to finish. As soon as the first song comes into play you're drawn into something very special. I love these guys and I really really can't recommend this release enough. Awesome is an understatement. Get the picture? 10/10 - EP of the Month
OCEAN VIEW PRESS
You and I. We go a long way back." The opening line of The Mars Patrol's latest release "Making Memories" seems to forecast what's ahead for the Scottish Quartet; a rather large fan base over a span of many years.
On the band's latest effort, they nailed it once again by following the formula that made their 2006 release "Are You With Me?" an international success. Release fewer tracks and make certain they all rock!. This six-track package is a clear-cut case of quality over quantity. In a day and age where most new bands are quick to shoot off all their bullets, The Mars Patrol knows all too well that slow and steady wins the race.
Track one, YEAH YEAH, sets the album off with its fist pumping chorus and air-drum groove. WHAT IF, a single that has been album-less for over a year finally finds its home on this CD. This is one of those great sing-a-long songs, much like that of HIT THE LIGHTS (released as a single only in 2006). The title track is truly a highlight of the album with its up-tempo bass-line performed by Stephen Parker and Ross Nelson's crystal clear, often bounce-able guitar riffs. FOR ME FOR YOU is a classic Davina Divine rock-ballad reminiscent of last years I STILL WANT YOU. GIMME TIME is a basic all-out rocker which showcases newest member Matt Evans' stellar drumming and time keeping. Capping off the CD is reflective sounds of TAKE A LOOK AT THE WORLD, complete with a backing band of chorus line singers. This smooth sounding knee tapping opus will have you singing along to the "Na Na Na Na" chorus in seconds.
"Making Memories" is available now at the band's website and live shows. Pick up a copy now and say that you knew them way back when." - Oceanviewpress.com
SUBBA-CULTCHA
The Mars Patrol continue to polish their creative groove
The journeys of The Mars Patrol can be traced by following the footprints of their back catalogue. Current location, 'Making Memories' is an impressive distance to have covered in the short time since the faultless 'Are You With Me?' They've managed to keep going in the right direction, which sometimes can be the most difficult route to negotiate. We can only admire them for that.
The 6 track 'Making Memories' album contains the melodic gifts such itinerant spirits often delight you with. The chorus on opening track 'Yeah Yeah' is such a voluminous procreation of joyous gratitude for life it should be adopted immediately as a neoteric happy pill and handed out, twice daily, to any tiresome merchants of gloom. The framework of guitar/drums so often employed by The Mars Patrol to further embellish the substance of their songs is at play on 'What If?' with its lazy upbeat meander being clever enough to unfold and present it brilliantly without any cynical freewheeling power chords.
The title track, surprisingly, fails to display enough fire in its belly to justify such giddy prestige. The trouble with being the 'song from the album of the same name' is the expectation that it should roar louder than the rest of its bedfellows. In this case though the namesake is a bit sleepy. The song itself is far from being a bad one it just doesn't have the energy to cut it with the rest.
If ever a ballad was worthy of a stadium then 'For Me For You' deserves the oscillating cigarette lighters approval. Thanks in whole to their instinctive restraint there isn't the cheesiness which so often surrounds songs like this. With singer Davina Divine being a remarkable voice at the best of times anyway, she captures the essence and soul of what the lyrics want to achieve. Nice emotional production and evocative vocal makes for balladry to be taken seriously. On the much pacier 'Gimme Time' it's a rawer, sharper edged attention grabber of a tune and in my opinion the best track on the record. The less urgent swagger of 'Take A Look At The World' closes the album in a way that makes you want to go right back and listen to everything again - and you will.
There's no doubt The Mars Patrol are a sexy little rock and roll band who write great songs and are important to music right now. I've always said they'd be massive and there's nothing on this record that changes my mind.
02 aprile 2006
Recensione del concerto di venerdì su [the-mag].
25 marzo 2006
Sul giornale inglese News Of The World si parla della band e di quello che stanno facendo attualmente. Ci sono inoltre alcuni spezzoni di un'intervista rilasciata da Davina qualche tempo fa.
23 marzo 2006
Southbound Beat Magazine recensione di "'Turn It Around" EP.
"Turn It Around" is an intriguing five songs of mostly acoustic rock. This EP has only Davina Devine on vocals and Ross Nelson on guitar, background vocals, and percussion. The group performs both as this duo and also adds other members to play as a four piece band.
There is overdubbing and electric guitar, but acoustic guitar is the basis of the songs. This adds a lightness to the sound, but it never becomes "folksy", due to Nelson's percussive strumming and Devine's energetic vocals. Considering the instrumentation, it is remarkable how much this EP rocks out. Dave Howell. http://www.southboundbeat.com/issue_11/Dave Howell/themarspatrol.php3.
Ross is surely one of Scotland's best guitar players. And Davina Divine is not only the best singer's name since Adam Ant but is also a fantastic singer." - Daily Record (Scotland, UK)
"Try to catch them now before they hit the stadiums" - Daily Record (Scotland, UK)
"The Mars Patrol has one of the freshest sounds with greatest vocals I’ve heard in years." - Independent Nation Radio (Jasper, Tennessee)
"Great music without swaying to any influence." - The Wax Conspiracy (Caringbah, Australia)
"Attention-getting sound comprised of driving rhythms, great lyrics and hooks, and good old- fashioned musical intercourse." - Chicago Music Guide (Chicago, Illinois)
"Do yourself a favor and search high and low for this gem of a debut album and enjoy it over and over." - Infuze Magazine (High Point, NC)
"Music for the soul indeed." - IS Magazine (Scotland, UK).