Mark Buerschaper is a Chicago-area singer/songwriter
who may or may not be familiar to those who follow the local folk scene, as it seems to be
a fairly crowded playing field as of late. His bio states that, before embarking on his
current solo career, he has held lead guitar posts in other people’s bands and his
playing on his new CD, Triple Love Bookends, proves this out and is adequate for
the arrangements presented here. Unfortunately, the CD goes downhill fast once you get
past the guitar playing. "TLB" comes off more as a collection of four-track
demos than a finished CD release, right down to the $99 drum machine that is used on some
of the tracks. The instrument sounds are weak, the grooves are non-existent thanks to the
drum machine, and the overall vibe just screams low-end home studio. The production on
this disc is so bad it gives one pause to wonder if Mr. Buerschaper ever took the time to
listen the CDs by any of the more successful local songwriters (Ellen Rosner, Bucky
Halker, etc.) to get an idea of the actual level of competition he is up against. A bit of
advice, Mark, for your next project: If the frontrunners in your style use an actual
studio, engineer, and producer to ensure professional audio quality, maybe you should too.
In all honesty, Buerschaper’s songs are not terrible. In fact, the instrumental
cut "Gaelic Frolic" is quite pleasant. His vocal style, however, is indistinct
and mumbled, which makes the lyrics impossible to understand without the lyric sheet.
This, combined with the bad production, makes Triple Love Bookends tough to
listen to. If this CD was intended as an exercise in self-entertainment and a learning
experience regarding the recording process, the flaws here are forgivable. If this was
intended to compete for fans in the open market against the best artists on the local
scene, it misses the mark entirely.
