On
Mr. Serious, the criminally underappreciated
Mark Mallman takes his love of Ziggy-era
David Bowie and
T. Rex to new heights. "I Just Want to Play Piano" is as glittery and cocksure as anything on Electric Warrior, and if
Mr. Serious isn't quite as consistently mind-blowing as that glam staple -- well, what is? There are a few lackluster tunes like the trudging "Executioner, but for the most part,
Mr. Serious is a euphoria-inducing slab of rock. "True Love" is an epic three-and-a-half-minutes of rock bombast, and the piano ballad "Simply in the Distance" enlists a melody familiar enough that listeners will swear it's from a lost, late-'70s
Elton John collaboration.
Mallman has never marched in step with any trends, and
Mr. Serious hardly meshes with any contemporaneous releases. But Minneapolis' own glam superstar has more heart than
Interpol, less pretense than
Franz Ferdinand, and a sense of retro that seems entirely genuine and anything but simply nostalgic. ~ Charles Spano