David Mullen

Description

The self-titled, final album by the American singer and songwriter David Mullen was released on Warner Alliance in 1994, a gospel division of Warner Bros. Records. The album was produced by Chris Harris and David Mullen.

David Mullen is an artist that had seemed to slip through the cracks the past several years. His previous two albums of singer/songwriter roots rock were better received by the critics than the buyers, but his sweltering live performances is what initially attracted record execs and stirred the most interest among fans. Unfortunately, you can’t cut your Christian music career on a live show, no matter how mesmerizing (ask anyone who witnessed his 1990 GMA gig or his club shows opening for NRBQ and the like), and when his secular label (Warner Bros.) lost interest, he dropped out of sight for a few years.

He’s back with a self-titled new album on Warner Alliance, who know a thing or two about reviving a Christian rock career. Rock, however, is an adjective you have to stretch to describe the album ‘David Mullen’. In fact, absent are many of the elements that made ‘Revival‘ and, to a less effect ‘Faded Blues‘, so captivating.

Split between a Christian radio-soundtrack and some half-hearted experimentation into gospel and world music, Mullen seems to have lost his focus. His emotional voice, faces two dilemnas. Because the grit-and sweat-laden rock has been left behind, the formerly sharpened instrument has been demoted to a cameo, and the telling of real-life stories of struggle and triumph have been replaced with a patchwork of detached and even unconvincing Christianese. Before, Mullen’s songs were so real you could feel them. Now, the slogans and sweeping generalizations seem unconnected to the questions and frustrations of daily life.

The song titles – «Change», «Time», «He Comes» – gives hint of where Mullen is heading. It’s rare that a desire to go back yields a better perspective than a current viewpoint, but in Mullen’s case, he and rock listeners need the same thing – a shot of ‘Revival’. [Brent Hershey, Syndicate # 41, 1994 (Vol. 9, Iss. 5)]

CD tracklist:

01. Change Has Gotta Come
02. Time
03. Please
04. The Beauty Of It
05. Hero
06. Help
07. All God Has
08. A Slice Of Heaven
09. The Prodigal (One More Try)
10. It Ain’t Easy
11. He Comes

Note: Simultaneously released on cassette and CD by Warner Bros. Records.