Mark Stein – There’s a Light

Before there was heavy metal, and before there was hard rock for that matter, there was Mark Stein. As the singer, organist, and arranger of psych rock pioneers Vanilla Fudge, Stein has spent the past 55 years watching hard rock and metal evolve from an embryo to a full blown spiderweb of subgenres and microcosms. Yet what people seem to forget is that it wasn’t just the natural evolution of rock music that encouraged Vanilla Fudge and their peers (i.e. Jimi Hendrix, Blue Cheer, Deep Purple) to play harder and faster than their predecessors. It was also a musical reflection of the turbulent times they came up in.

While presented today as a rose-tinted vision of free love, happiness, and innocence, the late 60s was riddled with darkness. There was the Vietnam war, political unrest, racial division, and a score of other social issues. Not to mention, the Manson murders, Altamont, the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy. Heavy times called for heavy music. Stein answered the call then and has done so now as well. Noticing the parallels between today’s current climate and the late 60s, Stein wrote There’s a Light: a collection of socially conscious, thought provoking rock songs, yet with an underlying message of hope and positivity.

The album opens with an uplifting piano ballad, “We Are One”. A marriage of Elton John melodies and ELO strings, it’s a timeless message set to a 70s AM radio soundtrack. Other piano centric tracks include the retro harmonies of “Lyin'” and a jazzed up rendition of “America the Beautiful”, which closes the album on a shining note. For the rest of There’s a Light, Stein combines his soaring vocals and soulful keys with a band that packs equal parts passion and power. You need it to play with Stein, who at 74 years old, miraculously sounds the exact same as he did at 20.

Of the three covers (“Ball of Confusion”, “People Got to Be Free”, “America the Beautiful”), my favorite is “Ball of Confusion”. Stein reinvents The Temptations’ psych-soul classic into a hard rocking monolith of epic proportions. The aforementioned lyrical themes of the era are reflected not only on this cover, but original tracks such as the groove laden “We Are Survivors”, the Vanilla Fudge-esque “All Lives Matter”, and my choice cut, “Racism”. The riffing and soloing on “Racism” are especially heavy, resulting in a fiery Deep Purple inspired midsection. One can only wonder what an entire Stein affair in the 70s metal style would sound like.

For what was essentially a solo excursion intended to keep Stein busy throughout the pandemic, There’s a Light is just as strong as any Vanilla Fudge album, or even Boomerang’s 1971 self titled (a true cult classic). The light of Stein’s music shines brighter than ever upon the rock n’ roll faithful. Let’s pray it never dims!

7 out of 10

Label: Deko Music

Genre: Hard Rock

For fans of: Vanilla Fudge, Grand Funk Railroad, Deep Purple