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Mark Craney - Reflections by Ian Anderson - the "Indian
of the Group" Mark had been ill for many years fighting with an ongoing kidney ailment, transplant rejections, stroke paralysis and associated medical problems. In spite of periods of increased mobility, hope and even some returns to drumming, his conditioned worsened dramatically last August and resulted in a critical condition keeping him on life-support in hospital. Mark never gave in, fighting to the end and even giving rise to some optimism in the last weeks before finally passing away quietly in his sleep. During all the times of Mark’s illness, Tull drummer Doane Perry kept in constant touch, visiting Mark at home and in hospital regularly, especially during the worst periods. We saw Mark at our LA shows where he was a visitor whenever his health permitted. Mark came to us courtesy of Eddie Jobson (ex-UK, Zappa, Roxy Music), when Eddie became keyboard player for Tull during the recording of the “A” album and the tours in 1981. Mark had been working with Eddie on some solo projects and so joined the Tull family too for the duration of Eddie’s working relationship with us. Mark played in many bands and with many notable musicians during his career and was a much respected player, able to play many styles and keep up with even the most adventurous of musicians. Some of Mark’s buddies and fellow musicians got together for a benefit in aid of Mark during his illnesses and later offered up tracks for the CD as shown below. Something With A Pulse – the Mark Craney tribute record, previously released 1997. Available from The Artist Shop. http://www.artist-shop.com/order.htm Mark said at the time, “This compilation CD started with a suggestion
from Ian Anderson. He couldn’t be here for the benefit so
he said why don’t I just donate a track and we’ll put
together a C.D. It’s called "Something With A Pulse",
and has 14 tracks. I’m on six of them which are all live.
There’s a never before released, live Gino Vannelli cut,
another live one with Tower of Power, there’s a live trio
gig I did with Terry in our home town in Sioux Falls. Two new tracks
we cut last April with Mike Miller on guitar, Jimmy Haslip on bass,
Mike Fisher on percussion, Bill Champlin on keyboards and guitar,
and from Santana, Alex Ligertwood on vocals and Richard Baker on
keyboards. There's a new Eric Burdon track and another Ian Anderson
track that he did specifically for the C.D. There's a cut by "Thread",
a group Doane Perry is in with singer Ellis Hall who’s also
on the Tower of Power track. It shows you how diverse his vocal
stuff is because you’d never know it was the same guy. Terry
Bozzio did a track, solo drumming. There’s a track from David
Garibaldi and two percussionist friends of his. There’s a
Fairport Convention track. There’s a track with Mike Keneally,
a friend of mine who played with Zappa, and a track by James Taylor
is the closing track. Everyone donated their publishing royalties
on my behalf so it’s kind of an unusual CD. It’s also
the first CD I’ve been involved in from start to finish which
can really be a pain in the ass, getting the cover art right and
all that. Now its off and running, on Laughing Gull Records which
is Doane Perry's personal label. It could also come out on a major
label with a distribution deal that we're looking at. 1. Jethro Tull Black Sunday (live) 7:05 You all know how I feel Cheers, Mark IA
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It
is with great sadness that we learned of the passing on Saturday,
of Mark Craney, ex-Tull drummer and long-time friend.