When the pop world first caught wind of The Marshmellows it wasn't always love at first site. The Marshmellows said "hey pop world, here we are" and the pop world was all like "yeah, well am I supposed to be impressed or something" and the Marshmellows said "no, all we're saying is here we come, ya know, walking down the street" and the pop world gets agressive and the Marshmellows get the pop world in a headlock and then the pop world throws a left hook and the Marshmellows counter with a right jab, then a flurry of punches, and there's blood coming out of the pop world's nose and then...when the dust cleared, here's what the press had to say;

The Good

(The Marshmellows were featured in the magazine "Popsided" in a column they call "poppin fresh", this is from the Fall'97 issue;)

"Every now and then you stumble across a CD that comes out of nowhere and grabs a hold of you in such a way that you can't wait to introduce "your new friend" to other pop fans. Once such treasure is Mad Sense Of Alice (MayDay Records '97) by the cleverly named Marshmellows. Don't let the dizzying cover art of pixel generated swirls send you running for the hills. Once you're past it, have pried out the disc and started it spinning... the birds are singing, the sun is shining and all of God's creatures are humping like there's no tomorrow.
Although Mad Sense is in fact a band effort, the creator and soul of The Marshmellows is one Ian Marsh, and his talent looms as large as the lumbering Stay-Puft Man that terrorized Bill Murray at the end of the first Ghostbusters flick. An Englishman in his mid-twenties, Ian had been splitting his time between London and Los Angeles until finally settling on the latter as the place to record his debut album. With a flourishing pop scene and a horde of talented musicians in L.A., it was a logical choice. Surrounding himself with a most capable group of players, chords and words took root and blossomed into eleven dazzling pop tracks all dusted with psychedelia, great choruses and hooks big enough to hang the Mad Hatters' headwear on. Armed with this debut, Marsh then headed back to England and is currently assembling a band to help him take the Marshmellows sound out on the road.
Clearly Marsh knows his music and elements of '70s FM radio, even some classical motifs, crawl in and out of the songs. From the first few notes of the disc's opener, "Mad Sense of Alice" you know something special is going on here. Comparisons have been made to The Wondermints, and that's not too far of a stretch. While the Mints may enjoy better production values, The Marshmellows seem to have a slight edge when it comes to melodies. The harmonies, playing and Marsh's voice (which sounds like Michael Quercio, with a real English accent) are first-rate, and as such defy most of the limitations of an indie budget. Fans of carefully crafted pop will smile as track after track of keyboard based songs spin by. "Change the World" sounds like George Harrison jamming with the Lightning Seeds, while "Rainy Day" and "Goodbye" both see the Lightning Seeds comparison intact, only this time John and Paul are nodded to respectfully. An outstanding debut effort and one of the best pop surprises of the year. Get this Marshmellow now, roast it over your lazer until crispy, add a little chocolate, a cookie crust and soon you and all your friends will be yelling for s'more."
Eno, Popsided

"The Marshmellows-Mad Sense Of Alice-Reminding me of so many bands strewn out all over the pop musical landscape of the last 30 years....but primarily influenced by one very recent one. The Wondermints. So that means lush, keyboard driven Beatles/Beach Boys/10CC inspired power pop(I (would throw in the first Toy Matinee album, too!). While not having quite the production values of the 'Mints, this CD is well conceived and produced given it's DIY nature....all the melodies, vocals and arrangements are not thin, by any means! Sinewy, curvy hooks are the identifying mark here......This band is capable of great things and this is a striking first step!! "
Bruce Brodeen, NotLame

...from a post on audities e-mail list...
"Okay, here's mine. A couple of weeks ago, Bruce emphatically recommended that I buy from him an album called "Mad Sense Of Alice", by a band called The Marshmellows. I did, and I'm really glad. Any of you who have the CDs by The Smile Zone or Poppynosh take note that The Marshmellows are in a similar vein, but about twice as good; Beatle/Klaatu esque pop with expressive vocals and lively instrumentation. After about 3 listens I was hooked, especially after I heard it with headphones. I'm pretty sure I paid about $10 or $11 for this one, and it was well worth it!"

Bruce Rules!!!!!
Take Care, David Bash

...Claudio Sossi has a nice review on his "Shake it Up" website...

...this was another post on audities list from a fan...
..."On the other hand, it's such a pleasure of the late 80's and most of the 90's , to go through something like the first Loud Family album, or any recent Guided By Voices, or even something ultra pop, bordering the commercial, like the Marshmellows album - which I love! - and notice all the influences and references from past decades all thrown together, but somehow creating a new sound."


There are others who had good things to say about the record and some writers who liked it but have not put anything in print. In any case, we feel the above reviews offer a good cross-section of what the print media (and fans) have to say.
The Bad
We're not claiming that there was no bad press about The Marshmellows but the vast majority was positive or at least tempered with positive elements. Mr. Terry Hermon (from the fine publication "Bucketfull of Brains") thought the band sounded like Supertramp and since he is not a fan of Supertramp, this was a negative for him. Since many people do like Supertramp(including us), this comparison is actually something of a compliment.
The Ugly

As is always the case, there are reviews that are simply wrong - either they blatently misrepresent the facts or are based on one person's hard-core attitude. This type of erroneous and / or mean-spirited critique does not deserve a place in our forum. Examples of this type of thing can be found in reviews of the album in Amplifier and Yeah Yeah Yeah, respectively. Both of these 'zines are usually very good but the reviewers chosen in this case missed the boat entirely.
The review from Yeah Yeah Yeah, issue # 10 (which was absent of any authors name)starts out "You know how you can sense when someone is trying to hard to impress you? Well, that's the way I feel when I hear all the erzatz psychedelia on this Marshmellows album..."
In answer to his question/comment; The Marshmellows were not trying to "impress" anyone and it is obvious that this reviewer just got up on the wrong side of the bed that day, plus the guy can't even spell "too" for cry'in out loud!!!No wonder he didn't put his name on it. This is simply a common syndrome that anyone in the position of being a critic or reviewer falls into - they have to apply some of their own cocky "attitude" to the piece or feel superior by putting something down... which is what I just did to that guy ,and hey, I feel alot better...
Ian Marsh