Mark Helm - Everything's Ok (2000)

Soul Music -- Nope, this is not that kind `o soul, but “Everything`s OK” is one of those moving, deeply personal recordings that will seep into your soul, exposing bitter struggles, life-threatening weaknesses, and ultimately, a break in the clouds. Evoking the transcendent spirit of such artists as Badly Drawn Boy, Elliot Smith, Mark Eitzel (American Music Club), Grant Lee Phillips, and The Eels. Mark Helm`s searching musical phrasings whisper inside a chilly private room, hinting at the darkness inside a life shot through by loss, love, and addiction. Think Big Star`s “Sister Lovers” meets Neil Young`s “Tonight`s the Night” (with the spirit of The Beatles and Brian Wilson popping in and out) and you`ll hit the mark. “Everything`s OK” is a soundtrack of the soul. “Helm serves up the kind of ballads that put a smile on the face of blind ambition”-LA Times. Slain in the spirit of refreshing originality with no pretense for fame or fortune, Helm is a writer for the ages --Bruce Brodeen