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Don Mescall is a gifted singer-songwriter with many of his songs successfully recorded by other artists; the most recent song being “All Over Again” performed by Ronan Keating and Kate Rusby. Now, with his own four record deal with Curb, he has rightly been given the space and opportunity to record and put an original stamp on his own music. “Innocent Run” is the first CD in the set. As a live performer, Don Mescall simply oozes masculinity, yet it is profoundly apparent that he is not afraid to express his deepest pain and disappointments. The raw emotion is expressed in a natural vocal style that manages to be powerful yet soft and harsh yet gentle all at the same time. Using beautifully crafted melodies and intensely moving lyrics, he leaves the mind and heart of his audience subtly changed. The fusion of man and instrument is very strong and I suspect Don Mescall would feel completely lost without at least one guitar to his name. On this debut album, his powerful, guitar-based songs are produced in a rather polished way. The instrumental and vocal arrangements are tight and slick and although the producer is not named, I wonder if the person responsible is the same man who produced the Brian Kennedy album, “Homebird”, also on the Curb label. Although the raw power and emotion are not as strong as in a live performance, the arrangements are sympathetic to the style and I find myself reminded of the rich sounds of The Eagles. The emotional honesty of this album touches me every time I hear it and Don Mescall is an unusual man in acknowledging his own responsibility in the breakdown of his relationship. As well as these heart-rending songs, such as “You Don’t Love Me” and “Why Didn’t I Know”; there is the fabulous up-tempo track, “Speed of Love” which must have been written for playing very loudly, whilst driving very fast, with the roof down. “Grace of God” shows that the composer has an active social conscience, and is admirably concerned with the plight of those whose who have so much less. I find it very hard to put the man and his music into any single category. Some of the songs on this CD have an “Americana” feel and others are much more simple in style; some songs are catchy and bouncy and others prick at your conscience and break your heart into tiny pieces. As you would expect, Don’s voice seamlessly adapts to each song; sometimes he reminds me of Bryan Adams, sometimes Sting and sometimes David Gray. However, those comparisons should not in any way detract from the unique style and tone of this exceptional voice. Innocent Run is an album that bears repeated listening and loudly announces the arrival of this talented musician and charming man; the very personal acknowledgements and dedications in the sleeve notes give a brief glimpse into the heart and mind of this performer. So buy this album, play it loud and play it often and, if at all possible, catch Don Mescall performing live somewhere (check him out on MySpace). I promise that you won’t regret it for a moment . . .Read full review
I first heard Don Mescall when he was supporting Brian Kennnedy in concert and was very impressed. His songs are mainly self written and really describe feeelings in a way you can empathise with. The cd shows his skill in this to perfection.
Great batch of songs, sang well by the guy who knowws what they really mean! Great batch of songs, sang well by the guy who knowws what they really mean! Great batch of songs, sang well by the guy who knowws what they really mean!
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