Ghost of the Robot - "Mad Brilliant" Review

Artist: Ghost of the Robot
Title: Mad Brilliant/ David Letterman cd single
Producted by: Ghost of the Robot
Label/ Date: Self release / 2002

Mad Brilliant: 1. Liar [2:54]; 2. Vehicles Shock Me [4:42]; 3. Dangerous [2:54]; 4. David Letterman [4:29]; 5. Angel [2:01]; 6. Valerie [2:37]; 7. Mad Brilliant [1:45]; 8. Call 911 [4:35]; 9. Blocking Brainwaves [3:47]; 10. German. Jewish. [4:00]; 11. Good Night Sweet Girl [4:55]
"David Letterman" CD Single: 1. David Letterman (edit) [3:28]; 2. Sounds Like A Personal Problem [4:00]; 3. Mefiant [6:31]

The Review:

In the world of Actors turned singers, most of them are so talentless and not so successful in the crossover into the music world. But here,James "Spike" Marsters, as a frontman for local LA band, Ghost of the Robot, shows that he has quite a strong vocal presence. He is backed by a solid 4 piece band. For reference not comparison, James' voice treads into the Billy Idol territory which I think will help bring a familiarity and a god way to categorize this band's musical output.

There's no "new" ground covered within the Mad Brilliant CD, but with the combination of memorable hooks and lyrics as well as some well played alternative rock is sure to please most of today's audiences. And it's not that bad of a CD too, at just under 40 minutes.

I like the fact that it's a group effort, with the refreshing inclusion of keyboards that is virtually unheard of in a rock band in today's market. The guitar playing is raw in your face while also subtle melodic playing throughout the disc.

The David Letterman cd single contains an edited version of "David Letterman" along with two unreleased tracks. Personally, I think that they should have released "Liar" instead, mainly because it's more of a rocking tune that will get the mtv and vh1 generation audience to listen.

The track that caught my ear was a song called "Mefiant". This is an atmospheric sounding song that is way different than the other songs. So different that it may be appealing to more adventurous music fans such as myself.

Reviewed by Ron Fuchs on March 14th, 2003

Band Members:

Aaron Anderson - Drums

James Marsters - Vocals

Kevin McPherson - Bass

Steven Sellers - Keyboards

Charlie DeMars - Guitars