MRB

Mixes One of those tragic "could've been" stories, MRB committed suicide after these recordings were done, extinguishing the possibility of a brilliant career. 100 Penny Mixes is a simple guitar and vocal album done in an old-fi way, as if it were recorded in the '60s with that long distance, spacy reverb, psychedelic feel. The lyrical/vocal content is pretty disturbing if you listen, "Mr. Ted" is a song about a child being sexually abused. "Maxine Says" is a song about someone hearing that his loved one has died, but refuses to believe it and searches for her. "Affliction," definitely rendered in that '60s manner, appears to be a form of musical healing, or an exorcism of dark experiences sung in a low, soft yet passionate way, accompanied by acoustic and fuzzy sounding electric guitar. "Genocide" appears to be a thwarted love song, and "All Maxine Says" sounds like it was recorded in the '30s, since the vocals are pretty garbled. I'm not sure MRB intended some of these songs to be released, but it's good for us that they were. That being said, I have never heard such dark, miserable sentiments expressed so beautifully. MRB will mess with your mind, perhaps dredging up your own brand of painful experiences, exemplifying the essence of the blues