David Mallett Albums (9)
'Midnight on the Water'
Release Date 8/22/2006
Tracks 17
Label North Road
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What The Critics Say
It sometimes seems that as they get older, folkies spend more and more of their concerts talking and less and less time singing. The exception to this tendency, at least on the basis of his 2006 live album Midnight on the Water, is David Mallett. Over the course of the hour covered on the disc, Mallett doesn't say much other than "Thank you" and "Goodbye" (once each) and offer the names of his backup musicians, Susan Crippen (violin and viola) and Michael Burd (bass). (He himself plays acoustic guitar and occasionally blows into a harmonica.) The rest of the running time is given over to performances of 17 of his songs, songs previously heard on albums of his released over a period of 25 years, from 1978 to 2003. Both ends of that range get special attention: Four songs come from his most recent studio album, Artist in Me, while five were introduced on his debut LP, Dave Mallett. In between are some of the better songs (all self-written) from throughout his career, including "Somewhere in Time" from This Town, "Summer of My Dreams" from For a Lifetime, and "Hometown Heroes" from Vital Signs. As Midnight on the Water appears on Mallett's own North Road Records label (it's his second release following Artist in Me), he may be trying to reclaim his song catalog from Flying Fish and Vanguard, for which he recorded earlier in his career. In any case, Midnight on the Water functions well as a Mallett best-of, capturing his lyrical, melodic music with its literate reflections on life, love, and the virtues of rural living, even if fans may miss such standout songs as "Red Red Rose" and his most valuable copyright, "Garden Song." ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
When last heard from on record four years previously on his tenth album, Ambition, Maine folksinger David Mallett seemed to have succumbed to bitterness. But Artist in Me, released on his own North Road Records, finds him persevering and even displaying moments of hopefulness in comparison, though it certainly is no laugh fest. Mallett's murmuring voice and gentle folk-rock arrangements tend to belie the sadness and bile sometimes found in his lyrics. As usual, his songs are full of references to life on the road, even when that is not their main subject, as it is in the self-pitying "So Far, So Good." The narrator of his songs tends to be an isolated, diffident character, but he manages to celebrate that in the title song, in which he sings, "Why I make my livin' being lonely right out loud/Guess it's just the artist in me." In addition to his personal disaffection, Mallett also recognizes a global malaise, notably on the antiwar "Livin' on the Edge," and sometimes he relates the two, such as on "Like Me Without You." But the album also contains moments of respite, and one of them is the disc's best tune, "Angel Standin' By," which even reveals a wry wit in lines like "When you run outta luck/And you can't even fix the truck/Someone sends a hundred bucks." And, occasionally, love seems to present at least a temporary solution to a world of loneliness and despair (for example, on "The Wind Is on the Water"). David Mallett is still a sad sack on Artist in Me, but he seems to have backed away from the precipice he had arrived at last time around. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
In the four years between his last studio album, In The Falling Dark, and this one, David Mallett left Nashville and returned to his native Maine. This retrenchment is reflected in the songs on Ambition, all of which are at least tinged with sadness and most of which are downright bitter.Mallett begins with "Here In This City You Live In," one of those on-the-road songs about cold-calling someone you used to know. But there's no story here, just the singer's own regret. And he remains regretful in "Wild In The Sixties" and "You Can't Go Home Again," both of which look back at the past without much affection and at the present with less. "Greenin' Up," about the coming of spring, provides some relief, although it begins with the singer comparing himself to an old horse: "Just like me he's seen his better days." "Whiskey Talkin'" is full of drunken raving, while "Walkin'" anticipates getting laid off. The title track comments on the singer's "best friend and my worst, " and "The Next Time I Leave Here" is about a romantic breakup. It isn't until the album's last three songs that Mallett seems to feel he's made things too dark and tries, through the more gently described past history of "Sportin' Days," the romantic "Lilacs," and the stubbornly hopeful "Turn It Over To Love," to lighten things up. But it's too little too late. Mallett has sometimes been compared to Merle Haggard, and the comparison is valid in that both songwriters can take an unremittingly bleak world view that goes beyond criticism into sheer bile. His restrained performance style undercuts the negativity in his lyrics; if you don't listen too carefully, the record sounds like an old Gordon Lightfoot album you somehow never heard before. But as you get to know the songs, Mallett comes off as a curmudgeon and, ultimately, a boor. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Here is another pleasantly produced and well-sung collection of David Mallett's predictable story songs about growing up and feeling out of place. ~ Richard Meyer, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
A folk/rock/pop effort that sometimes detours into pop-country, This Town showed Dave Mallet to be a thoughtful and expressive storyteller. Mallet was also an obscure storyteller -- this little known CD wasn't a huge seller by any means. But those who were lucky enough to hear it agreed that Mallet was someone who deserved a higher profile. The singer did much of the writing on This Town, and the stories that he tells are stories that stick with you. "Main Street" laments the commercialization of a small town, while "How Much More" and "Take the Time" question the fast-paced, rat-race lifestyle of the '90s. All of these songs sound quite personal to Mallett, who obviously has a great fondness for small-town America and yearns for a simpler, less hectic time. As far as influences go, he seems to have learned a few things from Gordon Lightfoot as well as Johnny Cash and Merle Haggard (even though this is far from a hardcore country album). But whatever his influences, Mallett is very much his own man. This Town is well worth searching for. ~ Alex Henderson, All Music Guide
'Open Doors & Windows'
Release Date 1/1/1983
Tracks 10
Label Flying Fish
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What The Critics Say
This is a well-recorded collection of intelligent and mature original folk songs. Dave Mallett's warm baritone delivers these songs of love and loss with just the right amount of folkiness to make them sound contemporary, yet timeless. "I've Been Around" is a wonderful evocation of falling in love after having been around the block a few times. "Milly, There's a Dance in Town" captures the small-town feel of a bygone era that the listener can't help but visualize and yearn for. ~ Jim Newsom, All Music Guide
'Pennsylvania Sunrise'
Release Date 1/1/1979
Tracks 10
Label New World
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