Consumer Guide Album

Mark-Almond: Mark-Almond [Blue Thumb, 1971]
Despite a few jarringly saccharine choral bits and some dumb screeching, this mostly instrumental enterprise by John Mayall grads Jon Mark and Johnny Almond is indeed relaxing--so relaxing people are getting excited about it. That's what happens when you confuse enlightenment with more mundane contemplative states. Miles Davis's In a Silent Way on the one hand and Booker T.'s Melting Pot on the other are just as pleasant and offer both thrills and substance underneath. This offers neither. C+