Mark Holden: Live at the George Ballroom
Part live recording session, interview, documentary and retrospective, this is pretty much, Mark Holden unplugged. The intent was to create a dimly-lit ambience with royal blue velvet curtains and rustic unpainted walls of the George Ballroom: a candle-lit, laid-back acoustic atmosphere with dynamically and harmonically rich instruments such as cello, violin, accordion, mandolin, guitars and by some mind-bending twist of absurdity, Joel Turner's hip-hop style beat-boxing. Even reading his name on the jacket didn't prepare me for the alarming style clash.
Turner sits in on the entire session, and his contributions are peppered throughout the set, like a tablespoon of chilli powder delicately sprinkled over a lemon sorbet. At the conclusion of the first number, there was a slight indication Holden may have been questioning Turner's contribution, as he politely asked to him to stay in time and recommended the addition of some mouth clicking and popping, but leave out the imitation turntable scratches.
The mix of songs, featuring some of his early trademarks and assorted covers and originals is an eclectic but inconsistent selection, interspersed with archive footage including clips from Countdown and The Paul Hogan Show which really would have been better kept for the extras. They only added to the interrupted pace of the DVD and of the overall performance, which was continually held back by Holden's blabbering.
Highlights of the live performances were The Travelling Wilbury's End of the Line and Short Term Memory Loss Blues. Holden should have stuck to this sort of material as these were the only points where I could sense any sort of vibe between the musicians in an otherwise sterile, yet proficient set of performances. It would seem the idea to “learn, rehearse, record and shoot 11 songs in one day” may not have been such a great one.
Visually, the look achieved by Matthew Romanis was quite nice for what was essentially a crusty old room, full of crusty old musos shot on video.
This DVD is equally intended for people who aren't familiar with the Mark Holden story, “turned on” to him through Australian Idol and of course those who are long time fans. Mark Holden's efforts would be better invested in that which he has had most success, and it shows here that it's the producer's chair, not the stool-and-mic-stand.
Quite frankly, Mark, as an audience member I was confused by your goody-goo-goo-doo-doo-kaka choice of instrumentation, which seems unsuited to the style you were going for. Several yards short of a touch down.
Available Just in time for Christmas. In stores 11 September.
-- Kinko P Douglas
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