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everything's ok (reissue + bonus tracks​!​)

by Mark Helm

supported by
Cooper
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Cooper think this record holds up incredibly well despite my obvious bias. will always love listening to it, and it is really one of the greatest gifts my father could have ever given me. Favorite track: dismantling the sun.
Wesley Hanks
Wesley Hanks thumbnail
Wesley Hanks pure, dream pop bliss Favorite track: week of days.
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  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    "More hooks than a fly fisherman's vest." --The Washington Post

    "Everything’s OK strives to achieve the eccentric richness of Pet Sounds, the fairgrounds psychedelia of Sgt. Pepper and the desolate emotional intensity of Big Star’s third album all on one little five-inch piece of plastic…"***

    "Mark Helm's songs put a smile on the face of blind ambition" --LA Times

    If you love The Beatles, Pet Sounds/Smile-era Beach Boys, Neil Young, Big Star and more contemporary artists like Elliott Smith, Wilco, and Grant Lee Phillips, you'll want to check out Mark Helm's 'everything's ok.'

    The NEW 2015 digital-only re-release of Mark Helm's critically acclaimed 2001 record 'everything's ok' includes the entire original album, 10 NEW previously unreleased bonus tracks (that's 26 TRACKS!), plus brand NEW track-by-track liner notes and lyrics in English (and Japanese by request)--ALL FOR ONLY $10.00!

    Visit Mark on Facebook and read his "Song of the Day" posts that feature his encyclopedic knowledge on some of the best songs and artists of the 60's, and 70's.

    New tracks and demos coming soon!
    ... more
    Purchasable with gift card

      $10 USD  or more

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Hard copies of 'everything's ok' are CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE available (October 1-9 ONLY; PLEASE EMAIL ME FORE A SPECIAL OFFER if you want a hard copy CD)! All CDs will be signed and personalized, from ME to YOU! NOTE:

    Includes unlimited streaming of everything's ok (reissue + bonus tracks!) via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 5 days
    edition of 25 
    Purchasable with gift card

      $25 USD or more 

     

1.
so faraway 01:54
so faraway jenny don't forget me please don't forget what we did together jenny don't forget meplease don't forget what we said the nights are longer than you think and it's hard enough to realize people leave us all the time sofaraway...
2.
i'm a wreck in the morning i'm awake in somebody else's bed i'm giving you a warning: i always act like this o i got detoured i lost your address i didn't have your number i didn't have a quarter* anyway my friends bought drinks and all my friends got lost in the neon off the highway in a galaxy of cars o when i get tired and i lose my way i just think about your sweet face and i wash it away well all my friends got drunk and all my friends got caught in the neon off the highway in a rosary of stars o when i get tired and i lose my way i forget about your sweet face and i wash it away... *this tune was written back before everyone had cellphones. i'm talking pay phones here. never imagined it would be such a blatant anachronism.
3.
you're always here you never go you warm my hands we fill the room together you close the light we lie in bed forever you're always there that's where i go you hold me close it holds the world together i think you know something i don't know falling through space i see your face there
4.
haircut 02:24
i had to go i shut the door behind me how could you know you wouldn't recognize mei don't follow you anymore i don't know what love is for stood outside your door for a while thought about the way it was... i won't forget anything we did more than once hey could you guess today i got my hair cut wonder what you would say out of the awkward in-between stage....
5.
it's an early start the headman says before the bloody thing gets up it's a long long day an honest wage work on the moon when you get done dismantling the sun i know you wait for me you wait i read your letters as the years fall by i slip the lightrays into boxes i'm sorry baby it's my job another thing needs to get done though i'm away you're always on my mind like everything it falls apart it's held together by some lies are we afraid of what it's like to hold each other in the dark nothing left to come between us nothing left to keep us apart you ask me sometimes what it's like a blast of heat in open space is all and it grows darker every day but i'll come home when we get through soon as i finish up my run dismantling the sun
6.
i can't live without you baby i wouldn't know which way to go lemons limes and flying saucers take me away into love's secret service take me away into a gin and tonic i turn into rain around you i slip out of flesh and bone i don't wanna revolution just take me away into a supernova take me away until we're scraps of paper no place like home there's no place like home leave us alone float away....
7.
week of days 03:21
maybe i don't understand you maybe i don't know myself maybe there's no way around you maybe i need help i do baby i get so tired i do fallking out on your way i say baby i love your lies i go through another week of days baby it gets cold without you baby it drags on and on and on baby i can see you in my sweatshirt you're talkin' on the phone... i waited for you i know where you'll be what you'll do what you'll see who you'll be yeah yeah yeah
8.
suite: #1 03:49
sweet one high above the ordinary skip the fall and skirt the worry every single second that we tumble toward forever's sweet never go without you never go without me sweet one love you sweet one let's forget the noise and hurry sweet one stay with me in bed 'til morning's over and another day unfurls with brightlit trumpets sweet all i ask of you is that you never go without me sweet one love me who's gonna help me if you can't help me now who's gonna save me deliver me from my imperfection if not you...
9.
there's got to be a better way to make it through these hard days hey hey is this what pappa hemingway felt or maybe kurt cobain whatcha say i'm not ready for this i can't make it without you baby i just wanna kiss i just wannna hear you say hey hey everything's ok i ain't got a shotgun no and i'm all outta pills o hey but something deep inside me thrills to make this feelin go away whatcha say are you ready for this can you make it with out me baby dontcha wanna kiss dontcha wanna hear me say hay hey everything's ok....
10.
my lines all got trouble my signals are crossed i can't hear you here down the wire so i'm mixing my metaphors with cuervo and limes and i'm throwing salt into the eyes of the blinded by love love you call out my name and you're gone. it's hard to be serious it's hard to be much when the sky's full of aeroplanes and radiosignals the clouds lose their meaning the stars aren't horoscopes the sun's wild pitches of light i can't say i love you i can't say you're here when you're not sleep it away sleep it away when the telephone rings don't you get up and answer it sleep it away sleep it away it's a matter of time and you're sure to forget her over and over you've thought of the moon as something too beautiful for men to go walkin' on but you saw the pictures and you read all the news 'til it gets hard to tell what's real what's ridiculous maybe i'm crazy but i don't buy into that stuff i sleep it away sleep it away when the telephone rings i don't get up and answer it i make up a lullabye get down and pray it's a matter of time...
11.
you wake up in a cold cold sweat and say jesus man i hate oslo for pennies they'll sell you stuff you usually have to borrow and love love is an old metaphor for itself and you crave her sweet bed so you go down to the government store near the ships where they sell vodka isolation day isolation day independence day graduation day you're a veteran babe you got your own day well it's another rooming house in hell above the bar where they make you sing american pie well bye bye miss america i got a girl in copenhagen and this life life it draws me to stuff that she'd never understand if i told her but here the sky get so grey and wet all i wanna do is hold her...
12.
i'll make some coffee you said i don't feel like trying anymore and i don't know why i feel like empty pockets wish i could answer your eyes but they're not familiar anymore and i don't know why you'd ever want to hurt yourself don't you try i try everything everyway everyone everyday every nite hear you say sweet dreams baby but i get tired so i just close my eyes...
13.
audrey hepburn's dead but she didn't mean to go so soon like all the things i said to you didn't mean to be so cruel in love and tell the truth is she up in heaven wearing a cool white dress i know everybody goes too soon but audrey hepburn's dead why do i take those pills i hear they helped her sleep i said i swear i'll wait for you as long as i can drink as long as i'm not up in heaven wearing a cool white dress i never heard her singing but i swear i loved you best i loved you best you unbuttoned your heart you took off your dress was it the weight of the past that held you back or the scar on your back that scared you to death
14.
nevermind 02:02
i love talkin' to you your face inches from mine sometimes i don't like people much but you i never mind and never mind i never felt this way before and never mind that that's a lie of course but there's so much we never say 'til it's too late and then we're gone away sometimes i don't like people much and sometimes i don't know what to say sometimes i just stare across a room and try to say o never mind you i never mind...
15.
16.
there you are out to sea shooting stars in your sleep what'll i do what'll i do without you if this is the last song for me cable cars chinese tea hey you stole the last of me what'll i do what'll i do without you if this is the last song for me near or far far out to see hey you stole the last of me what'll i do if this is the last song....
17.
18.
19.
drop a little love on your tongue fly away baby take a trip backflip no we're never gonna slip you know our love is here to stay i know that smile is never far away from here all love is a mystery to me let's see just how it's gonna be like a song r&b al green let's stay together please stay gimme one more little kiss come on gimme gimme gimme you're my lucky star my milkyway you're never far away from here cause you're my brightest star my milkyway you're never far away fro me i know where you go all day i see mystery moonlight fade
20.
maybe i don't understand you maybe i don't know myself maybe there's no way around you maybe i need help i do baby i get so tired i do fallking out on your way i say baby i love your lies i go through another week of days baby it gets cold without you baby it drags on and on and on baby if it don't get better i'll go off alone i waited for you i know where you'll be what you'll do what you'll see who you'll be yeah yeah yeah...
21.
Same as CD version
22.
23.
Hmmmm.....
24.
Here comes Alison! All I want is a girl like you to make me crazy Alison, there’s some things you never notice: I dig you Don’t know what is gonna come out of my mouth next Alison, I just can’t get your attention I dig you Here comes Alison! She’s the one Who doesn’t know me Here comes Alison! She’s the one that’s hard to talk to I could stand in line for ages Astronauts. Now, there’s a way To make a living I’d go up if I thought that She would notice Yes, I would Here comes Alison! She’s the one who doesn’t know me Here comes Alison! She’s the one who's hard to talk to I could lie awake for ages Listening to The Replacements (solo) All I want is a girl like you (A girl like you) Alison, maybe you should get to know me I DIG YOU Here comes Alison! She’s the one that doesn’t know me Here comes Alison! She’s the one She’s the one Alison... (chaos ensues)

about

Reviews of Mark Helm's 'everything's ok':

* “Elegant…more hooks than a fly fisherman’s vest…” – The Washington Post

* “Everything’s OK: a brilliantly diverse collection of harmonies, humor, horror and hope.” – Fufkin.com

* “Mark Helm…writes the kind of ballads that put a smile on the face of blind ambition.” – The Los Angeles Times

* “The complete package: the vocal harmonies, the soothing melodies, the shining hooks, and bouncy, jangly mindset….and Mark Helm reassures you that there are great songwriters out there that still care about giving the listener the complete package…” – In Music We Trust

* “Often recalling Neil Young and even (dare I suggest it) Brian Wilson at their most sublime, Mark Helm offers a series of songs which reveal themselves to be near crystalline in their unashamedly fragile beauty, (and) pure, simple majesty. In other words? This is an album that deserves to be heard far, wide, and as often as possible.” – Dead Flowers

*"Mark Helm's solo debut, [everything's ok] is an orch-pop noir gem " --Gary Pig Gold

*"Soul Music -- Nope, this is not that kind `o soul, but “Everything`s OK” is one of those moving, deeply personal recordings that will seep into your soul, exposing bitter struggles, life-threatening weaknesses, and ultimately, a break in the clouds. Evoking the transcendent spirit of such artists as Badly Drawn Boy, Elliot Smith, Mark Eitzel (American Music Club), Grant Lee Phillips, and The Eels. Mark Helm`s searching musical phrasings whisper inside a chilly private room, hinting at the darkness inside a life shot through by loss, love, and addiction. Think Big Star`s “Sister Lovers” meets Neil Young`s “Tonight`s the Night” (with the spirit of The Beatles and Brian Wilson popping in and out) and you`ll hit the mark. “Everything`s OK” is a soundtrack of the soul. “Helm serves up the kind of ballads that put a smile on the face of blind ambition”-LA Times. Slain in the spirit of refreshing originality with no pretense for fame or fortune, Helm is a writer for the ages --Bruce Brodeen (www.popgeenheaven.com; Not Lame Recordings, President)

***“Everything’s OK strives to achieve the eccentric richness of Pet Sounds, the fairgrounds psychedelia of Sgt. Pepper and the desolate emotional intensity of Big Star’s third album all on one little five-inch piece of plastic…[it’s] .a considerable achievement.”
The Architectural Dance Society

credits

released July 2, 2015

All songs by Mark Helm, lemons, limes and flying saucer sounds (ASCAP); Mr. Dowo and Kasusu Doll's Music; Warner-Chappell Music

Produced and engineered by: Henrik Krogh Christensen (Denmark), Michael Harvey (Actiondale Studios), Scott McKnight (Extremely Ltd. and Mark Helm; Bonus tracks produced and engineered by Mark Helm and Dave Newton (Rollercoaster Studios)

Additional musicians:

Scott Mcknight (The Neighbors; The Linemen): Guitars, banjo
Danny Ingram (Swervedriver; radioblue): Drums
Dave Newton (The Mighty Lemon Drops; Thee Mighty Angels): Guitars
Henrik Krogh Christensen: Bass, Keyboards, Synths, Programming
Tony Flagg (The Linemen): Bass
Mike Harvey; Electric guitar/e-bow
Eric Brace (Last Train Home): Vocals
Shannon Brown: Vocals
James Lee (radioblue; King Mixer): Piano
Sune Kempf: Piano
Evan Pollack: Drums
Jamie Blake: Vocals
Mookie Seigal (Rat Dog/Bob Weir; Dave Nelson Band): Organ
Peter Fox: Synthesizer
Amy Cavanaugh: Cello
Jennifer Lewin: Violin
Album art: Jennifer Helm
Design: James Lee Design
Photographs: Charles Votaw

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Mark Helm Nashville, Tennessee

A Margate NJ native formerly based out of Washington, DC, Mark Helm is a Nashville area singer-songwriter. His discography includes contributions to "Lynne Me Your Ears: A Tribute to Jeff Lynne," and "Full Circle: A Tribute to Gene Clark." Mark lives in Nashville where he helps raise his two children and teaches English, Creative Writing, Mythology and Film studies at a local arts college.. ... more

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