Mark Craney - the "Indian of the Group"
August 26th, 1952 - November 26th, 2005

by Ian Anderson

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.

I wrote the lyrics to Listen to Your Heart. I wanted to write some kind of a song we could record for the C.D. and my friend Richard Baker had the music, but no lyrics. I brought the lyrics in and Alex the singer and I made them fit the music and that was our song. The reason I’m learning piano is so that I can write my own music, but I’m real pleased with this, it’s called Listen to Your Heart and it’s all about giving or receiving and sharing ids, why we are in this and Make the Connection is part of the chorus. So it was written about the event and everyone coming in to record. “

July 17, 1997
Mark Craney

1. Jethro Tull Black Sunday (live) 7:05
2. Eric Burdon I'm Your Man 4:05
3. Tower of Power What is Hip? (live) 5:19
4. Mark's Brother's Listen to your Heart 4:27
5. Gino Vannelli Brother to Brother (live) 8:06
6. Talking Drums Guaramina (excerpt) 3:27
7. Fairport Convention Slipjigs and Reels 4:52
8. Mike Keneally Craney 2:35
9. Miller/Craney/Miller Blockhead (live) 5:08
10. Terry Bozzio Klangfarben Melodie 4:37
11. Mark's Brothers They don't make 'em like they used to 4:36
12. Thread Hands of Kindness (excerpt) 4:55
13. Ian Anderson Song for Jeffrey 3:50
14. James Taylor New Hymn (live) 2:52

You all know how I feel
I'm very blessed
Life is a celebration
Thank you all
Expect good things
Make the Connection

Cheers, Mark

God Bless, Mark. Drum-on, big man from South Dakota.

IA