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Also, I realize that because I write CD reviews, anything I say critical about the new Mercy's Mark advertisement will come across as if I'm whining for not being quoted. (In retrospect, I should have used a different subject line, but it's too late for that now.) Honestly, truly, as clearly as I know how to say it . . . that's not the case. It's possible they didn't see it at all or didn't see it in time for the ad deadline. Of course, it's also possible they saw it and didn't want to use it. Whatever the case may be, it doesn't bother me one way or the other.

The problem with the ad is simple. It states "The reviews are in," implying that quotes in the ad are taken from reviews. Fair enough. Can anyone show me those quotes in their original form?

I've searched www.averyfineline.com and found "What a sweet, smooth, polished sound they have." I found the word "Untouchable" later in the same article. The article was a three or four sentence description of a live performance by Mercy's Mark at NQC. One song, in fact, sung during the Crabbfest set at NQC . . . yet you'd never know that from the third sentence in the quote. In fact, I can't find the words "I think the Mercy's Mark record is one of the best I own" anywhere on A Very Fine Line, and yes, I've used Google to assist with my search of the site. If anyone else finds it, let me know.

I've asked the A Very Fine Line editor to direct me to the original quote as well. He's already posted about my earlier comments on his site, and we've just exchanged a couple of emails on the topic. Look for further comments on his site after he gets his copy of the December Singing News. (He has not shown me where I can read the sentence in question on his site, though.)

I'm not saying Daywind fabricated that last sentence in his quote out of thin air, because I don't know at this point. It's clear the comments were pieced together from different articles written at different times, though, and it's misleading for them to arrange his comments as if they were about the CD when they really weren't.

One more tidbit of info . . . I've found the review written by Charles Brady since posting my previous blog entry. You can read it here. They quote him fairly accurately in the ad (compared the the averyfineline quote), though several words are changed and/or rearranged. At least it all came from the same article, and his article actually was a CD review.

UPDATE: I located the original Scot Evans quotes. Those are accurately represented in the ad as well. You can read Scot's article here for the moment. (I don't think it's a static link, so look at it quick.) :o)