Despite a pretty great rock opera right in the middle of the album, Itch's Dyin' to Be Jesus is a very average project.
The idea behind it is great, mixing punk rock with Elton John-style piano rock.
And for the most part, the music is the strongest part of the album.
But it is Mark Critchley's voice that does the most damage to the quality of the project.
"More Gimmicks" and "No Life" are both good anti-establishment anthems that are tanked by his tight-throated vocals.
He doesn't quite sing, he just talks in tune to the music.
Only on a few songs, like the beautiful "Photosynthesis" and the aforementioned rock opera "Open Letter to Dr.
Strange," do the music and the vocals really come together.
The album is a noble effort, but should probably be avoided by anyone who isn't really dedicated to the idea that piano and punk should meet.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Energy VampireMark Critchley | Itch | Play | 02:05 | 4 MB | 0 MB |
| 2 | Freedom 55Mark Critchley | Itch | Play | 03:16 | 7 MB | 0 MB |
| 3 | More GimmicksMark Critchley | Itch | Play | 04:22 | 9 MB | 0 MB |
| 4 | No DeathMark Critchley | Itch | Play | 03:47 | 8 MB | 0 MB |
| 5 | PhotosynthesisMark Critchley | Itch | Play | 02:57 | 6 MB | 0 MB |
| 6 | No LifeMark Critchley | Itch | Play | 02:11 | 5 MB | 0 MB |
| 7 | The ClubMark Critchley | Itch | Play | 02:17 | 5 MB | 0 MB |
| 8 | Body and HeadMark Critchley | Itch | Play | 03:47 | 8 MB | 0 MB |
| 9 | Dyin to Be JesusMark Critchley | Itch | Play | 05:10 | 11 MB | 0 MB |
| 10 | Good To Be Alive | Itch | Play | 07:29 | 17 MB | 0 MB |
| 11 | Suspended Reflections | Itch | Play | 04:40 | 10 MB | 0 MB |
| 42 mins | 96 MB | |||||
| 0 mins | 0 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rick Arboit | Editing |
| 2 | Terry Armstrong | Photography |
| 3 | Mark Crichley | Bass, Design, Editing, Engineer, Guitar, Mixing, Photography, Piano, Producer, Vocals |
| 4 | Mark Critchley | Bass, Composer, Design, Editing, Guitar, Liner Notes, Mixing, Photography, Piano, Producer, Vocals |
| 5 | Glenn d'Cruze | Drums |
| 6 | Dale Darlington | Guitar |
| 7 | Philippe Doebeli | Guitar |
| 8 | Cecil English | Engineer, Mixing, Producer |
| 9 | Janos Fagi | Bass |
| 10 | Brian Gardner | Mastering |
| 11 | I Braineater | Paintings |
| 12 | Itch | Primary Artist |
| 13 | Sara Lapsley | Photography |
| 14 | George Maniatis | Editing |
| 15 | Keith Rose | Bass |
| 16 | John Rummen | Art Direction, Artwork |
| 17 | Geoff Wilson | Photography |
| 18 | Rob Wright | Bass |
Itch
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |