Comments on: A Perfect Solution fails to equal Mesh’s past albums

By: Ethan

Ethan — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 22:22:38 +0000

Mesh magnetism pulls another willing (former) Wisconsinite to your blog…well done, Chuck, and thank you.

I’d agree that APS isn’t quite as good as WWOM or We Collide, but I’d still take Mesh on their day off over today’s Camouflage, De/Vision, VNV, Iris, and DM themselves put together if forced to choose. There, I said it.

And yeah, ModeMan101, Brian…”Hold and Restrain” and “Shattered Glass” clearly join “Soul,” “Document,” “From This Height,” “Let Them Crush Us,” “In the Light of Day,” et al. with respect to being just too good to wind up on an album.

By: Brian

Brian — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 01:55:28 +0000

I agree with Modeman101.
As a fellow longtime Mesh fan, I think A Perfect Solution contains some of the best SONGWRITING that Mark and Rich have come up with (however I still think We Collide is their best PRODUCED album overall). This album contains very little flaws, one of them being the guitar is a little too loud in the final mix, and I agree, too many instrumental interludes throughout the album this time. But Olaf Wollschlager currently in my opinion is the best synthpop producer out there (used to be Jose Alvarez-Brill) and with the exception of the overuse of guitar, he did a great job polishing these already tremendously strong songs.
Every song has at least some merit, although Is It So Hard? and Want You are probably the weaker tracks on the album, so I agree with you about that…but how did Hold And Restrain NOT make it to the album proper???
This cut is GOLD! I absolutely love every other track on the album, even though It’s Gone and Hopes.Dreams took some time to grow on me. And Mark’s vocals are as good as they’ve ever been. This was my favorite album of 2009.

By: ModeMan101

ModeMan101 — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 23:58:53 +0000

Mesh fan since 1993 here, first time reading your blog. Good job!

Have to say that I disagree with your overall review of “A Perfect Solution” though. I think it’s arguably their strongest collection of songs since “The Point At Which It Falls Apart”.

I was also hesitant over how this album would fare on my ears, but mainly because I was somewhat disappointed with “We Collide”. The production on that album seemed lacking in depth and polish (especially considering the much-lauded Gareth Jones on mixing duties for half the album), and a handful of the songs felt more like ideas that hadn’t been fleshed out enough. It was still Mesh, all the hallmarks were there, but it didn’t have the edge that had always drawn me to their earlier releases.

On the latest record, however, from the very first track I was hooked. Olaf Wollschläger’s co-production has added the cohesion that I felt “We Collide” lacked, and there are so many stand-out tracks. The only songs I’m not so fond of are “It’s Gone” and “Want You.” As for the instrumentals, although I’m glad they’re back – they always were a cool addition to the past albums – I agree that there are a few too many, and some of them detract from the full length songs they’re attached to.

The two other recently released tracks “Shattered Glass” and “Hold And Restrain” are also gems. All in all, I’m really pleased with the new record. Definitely up there with the best material Mesh have ever produced.

By: Afront

Afront — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 16:42:37 +0000

I couldn’t get into this or indeed anything else by Mesh. I’ll follow your advice and give We Collide another go though…