ost of the writing concerning Mark Eitzel never fails to mention that he was Rolling Stone’s Songwriter of the Year in 1991, as if this endorsement meant shit then, or means shit now. Either way 1991 and the masterpiece that was Everclear was a long, long time ago….

Certainly, in his solo career, Eitzel has already surpassed the songs of his American Music Club days, yet solidifying any kind of solid reputation has been hampered in the past by some terribly temperamental live shows and some weak efforts. The critical recognition, sales and security he deserves are still just beyond his reach, but he’s obviously happy with the way his solo career is going (confident enough to put it on hold while he gives American Music Club another crack at the whip anyway). But from this fan’s perspective he’s been shooting himself in the foot for the last couple of years. After the best received solo LP The Invisible Man and two self-released collections of demos and live sessions, he made a painful left turn releasing a covers LP Music for Courage and Confidence in 2002 and then recorded AMC and solo songs with a Greek band The Ugly American (essentially another covers LP) in 2003. The net effect of these two moves was to ignore the bud of impetus that The Invisible Man represented. And now, he’s putting it on hold to record music with the band that made him famous.

The Eitzel Superhits International (Demos 1999) collection was much stronger than its name implies. In fact, with the removal of “Kristin Intro”, it would’ve stood as a proper LP release. His other self release Live on WMFU NYC is a live acoustic recording from the famous New York radio station interspersed with tracks of a dialogue with host Irene Trudel, whose sycophantic Kermit drawl clashes with Mark’s self deprecating comments. I drew nothing from this session, as these simpler sounding acoustic tracks (all but one are from The Invisible Man) don’t do any justice to the originals; entertaining but inessential.

But, back to The Invisible Man, even though this is my favourite LP of his, I think that by rejigging it a bit, I could yield a stronger overall disc which would possibly appeal better to both newcomers and fans who balked at the thought of Eitzel using electronics. Another bone of contention with the original was the vocals, which were more hushed as opposed to his emotive trademark howl. Here I’ve hopefully combined the best elements of his collection of 2001 releases to create a more welcoming LP to the uninitiated.

Christ, this guy is incredible.

01. “Shine” (The Invisible Man)

The original LP kicked off with the slowly building narrative of “The Boy with the Hammer” which found itself struggling a little with an attack of the killer disco beats which were stapled underneath it. It’s a good song, but works better as a second side grower, rather than a beginning. “Shine” (the track where the LP gets its title from) is an altogether gentler and hushed preface to the LP and showcases a well crafted song as opposed to that slapped together confusing start. The building reverb of the plucked melody jangles along to the shuffle of the beat track opening everything up with a little subtlety and warmth.

02. “Charm School” (Superhits LP)

The main riff here is uncannily similar to the intro of Madonna’s “Beautiful Stranger” and buoyed by a jaunty Monkees’ type beat, placed here this song keeps things fairy breezy with Eitzel’s clear voice and lyrics singing out to the loser’s bullshit.

The chiming electric guitar sounds a little like Bacharach parping horns; in fact even with headphones on I can’t be sure there isn’t something else there apart from guitars. The damaged pedal buzzing solo is perfectly in step with the sharpness of the rest of the song’s elements.

03. “Christian Science Reading Room” (The Invisible Man)

You’d have to be as high as a kite to believe, as Christian Scientists do, that disease can be overcome solely through prayer, faith and thinking yourself into a deep relationship with your god. Eitzel’s lyric about joining up with these crazy theists also includes a cat talking to him via his tail; evidence that he was ingesting something pretty fucked up if this is indeed a true story.

Holding its place as the LP’s third track, this subdued and peculiar lull represents Eitzel with a slightly more untraditional/experimental production style than he’s used on a lot of his earlier work. Some of the verse vocals on this psychedelic tinged Lennonesque song have a kind of codeine drawl to them, further abetting the druggy vibe. I’m not talking a desperate ‘where’s the tinfoil?’ type of drug atmosphere, more of a coming up with trace patterns and twinkly Christmas lights going off in time to the tinkles, peals and chimes of the guitars and percussion.

04. “Hold Me” (Superhits LP)

The simplicity of the understated acoustic strum and the warm honey sound of the slide guitar encourages anaesthetised swaying and toe tapping. I add it here to balance the layering and light effects of TiM.

The sheltering chorus “Hold me if you don’t have anyone, Warm me when the world is frozen” is held down by the chains of the lyrically bleak verses. This song is so beautiful that I still can’t believe that Mutt Lange hasn’t replaced the melancholy here with a more general daytime radio yearning and rescued Shania from her faux disco hell or saved Dolly from promoting Partonland. My only complaint is that it fades out while he’s still singing

05. “Without You” (The Invisible Man)

Loss - lounge style. I can see it all; the velvet curtain, an immaculately attired horn section, and an Astatic WR Crystal deco style microphone centre stage in spotlight. It simmers, Mark’s vocal and the horns threatening to turn it up and spill the front row’s expensive fizzy wine. The way the bass seems to catch a groove and picks up a little pace at the end always makes me think that a blow-out end section was chopped off.

06. “Proclaim Your Joy” (The Invisible Man)

My initial plan was for this to be the first thing to be removed from this PG version of Tim, so bad were the memories of my first play of this track. As the most atypical song on the LP, it was a spectacularly bad choice for the only promotional single, sounding like an end of studio session joke around. But after listening back to it many times, there is charm and profundity to be found in its stream of consciousness hoedown rambling and that ragged sing-along backing choir with that one lone voice at the back singing loudly out of time.

A “Subterranean Homesick Blues” for the literate red wine drinkers, with the message that ‘It is important throughout your life to proclaim your joy’ made all the more potent coming from a man best (but wrongly) known as a chronicler of hard and lonely times. Plus there was a brilliant move adding the pronounced banjo from the second chorus onwards too. Ending side one with this less introspective song gives this TiM II a steroid shot in the arse, and if you still find it slightly bizarre, be thankful it wasn’t the one step beyond lounge slapstick of the ‘Swinging Single Version’.

Side Two

07. “Will You Ever Make Room at Your Table” (Superhits LP)

The highlight of the batch of songs released in 2001 that was unforgivably and insanely doomed to obscurity on Superhits. This is the finest ever example of a hopeful yearning against intolerance, as opposed to the violent ranting of the belligerent and converted. Here is the closest we get to Eitzel’s full throated howl (2:55) and even though this song is quietly lost, hushed and genuinely sad, there is still space for the truly personal and the humorous.

The magical Rhodes piano sits behind his voice, giving him all the space he needs to hold the listener for the full duration of the song.

08. “Can You See” (The Invisible Man)

A wheezily unpolished Wurlitzer introduces this spotlessly clean arrangement, which is almost easy listening were it not for the munchkin de-de-de-de-de backing vocals. The soft bass clarinet, horns, ticking percussion brings “Can You See” in just under the right side of lush. The story of a late Halloween night chat in a Moth Costume (who wears Moth costumes at Halloween? Is this an American thing?).

09. “Come In” (Superhits LP)

Starting off slowly enough, it soon livens up into a strum along acoustic number with the reaching ‘hum along everyone’ chorus of the title.

The lyrics are the reason why something as refreshingly melodic and poppy as this won’t ever be covered by Emma Bunton; the opening lines of “Come In”.

Strong cold hands that are always shaking through overcoats, sweaters and the Sun,
Your skin is cold as the morning,
You’re abandoned, all done.

A sample of excellent but uncommercial poetry.

10. “Highway 40” (Superhits LP)

As with most of the Superhits this is based around the acoustic guitar riff, though it’s a little less chirpy than the other examples used here. This is a mini rant across the US, packed with some great one liners and an opening salvo of:

‘Well, America would be beautiful if it wasn’t for the people,
People who only wanna be taken for a ride’

The song revolves around those negative folk who like nothing better than to piss on your parade, but he only really spits venom when he gets onto the evangelists. Sadly, the song is cut short with a hastily faded edit.

11. “Sleep” (The Invisible Man)

Mark prematurely blew his beans using this as the Fourth song on TiM, and let the LP end lazily with “Proclaim Your Joy”. “Sleep” is the strongest melody here and the ideal closer, leaving the listener drift off on a high, cloaked in and structured from reverb and effects. With touches of Camoufleur and guitar work that recalls some of The Verve’s more strung out McCabe led material, snatches of sampled feedback and backwards echoes glide through the mix. The final 2:10 of the song gently plays the listener out with overlapping Loveless drones like the tide drawing in just before the Sun finally gets up. Or something else that’s a little dark but very powerful and very beautiful.