Smart Barker’s brand-new, fourth album is now available for download at iTunes and for streaming at Spotify. The album is a record of the three-piece years, when it was just Bob, Mark, and me playing live. The songs weren’t recorded in front of an audience, but they are live, three-piece recordings—warts and all. I believe some of these versions are better than the more-produced, studio versions. Standouts for me include our cover of The Police’s “Truth Hits Everybody” (another power trio—get it?), a 6/8 version of “The Gods” that medleys into Ritchie Valens’s “We Belong Together” (featured in the motion picture La Bamba and a former staple of The Furleys), and an epic “Coward of the Conscience” into “Not To Talk” that features the craziest guitar solo Mark has ever put on record. Sadly, Bob is onto other projects; but the original MDP lineup (me, Mark, Pat Manley, and Martin Evans) is reforming—so there will be some shows in the future. Not sure if we’re Smart Barker or Milton and the Devils Party or Smart Barker performing as Milton and the Devils Party. I suppose that—until Smart Barker finally releases an album of all-new songs—we’re a Milton and the Devils Party tribute band.
Here is the album available for purchase at iTunes.
Here is the album available for streaming at Spotify.
Please keep in mind that I had to pay Sting in advance (Sting gotta eat / Sting gotta heat his castle) for the license to release the cover of “Truth Hits Everybody,” so it’d be great if somebody would actually pay for a download of the record. Same with the three guys who were needed to write “We Belong Together.”
Hope you will give it a listen! And like it!
