(no subject)
I've been listening to a lot of Mark Lanegan lately. I remember a conversation I had with my friend Sky once where I said that I thought Mark Lanegan was the best vocalist to come out of the early 90's Seattle music scene, but that it seemed he had done very little with his talent. This conversation was a while ago, probably at least 10 years ago, and even then what I was saying wasn't true, but at the time it seemed that other Seattle musicians (particularly Chris Cornell) had worked very hard and produced a lot of music, and Mark Lanegan had maybe smoked a lot of weed and done virtually nothing.
In fact, Mark has been doing an awful lot, particularly since 2000 when the Screaming Trees broke up. Aside from five solo cds since 1998 (he did two early ones in 1990 and 1994, I own Scraps at Midnight (1998) and I swear I used to own Whiskey for the Holy Ghost (1994), but I can't find it so maybe it's lost), he's appeared on five Queens of the Stone Age cds (including the about-to-be-released ...Like Clockwork), He's done three collaboration cds with Isobel Campbell, formerly of Belle & Sebastian, he did a collaboration with Greg Dulli, formerly of the Afghan Wigs and currently in Twilight Singers (which Mark has also collaborated with), and he's done many other collaborations, such as Soulsavers, UNKLE, Martina Topley-Bird, and Christine Owman. His collaborative release with Duke Garwood called Black Pudding. He has completed three unfinished tracks for a rerelease of the cd Above by Mad Season -- Mark had sung on the original release, and had even been recruited as full-time vocalist for a second cd under a new band name in the late 1990's when Layne Staley declined to participate in a second Mad Season cd.
Even if he's never been a big star like Kurt Cobain, Layne Staley, Eddie Vedder or Chris Cornell, Mark Lanegan's been everywhere. And it's not just his voice I love, it's his whole blues/roots music aesthetic. He writes songs that sound like 100-year-old blues anthems. In fact, way back in 1989 he worked with Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic, and other Seattle artists on a Leadbelly tribute, some of which wound up on his first solo cd, and which undoubtedly also lead to the wonderful Nirvana unplugged cover of Where Did You Sleep Last Night several years later. Most of Mark Lanegan's music is steeped in the blues, and his voice -- a deep, rich, scratchy baritone that compares well to singers like Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen and probably even Johnny Cash. I've loved his voice since I first heard the Screaming Trees -- Sweet Oblivion is one of my favorite cds from the 1990's. Even though I knew Mark was doing more stuff -- Sky had told me sometime last year that he was really getting into Mark's solo work -- I didn't start digging into it until recently. I bought his new cd, Blues Funeral, and downloaded some songs from his other cds and collaborations. I really need to visit several Half Price Books stores and buy up anything I can find from his back catalog.
In fact, Mark has been doing an awful lot, particularly since 2000 when the Screaming Trees broke up. Aside from five solo cds since 1998 (he did two early ones in 1990 and 1994, I own Scraps at Midnight (1998) and I swear I used to own Whiskey for the Holy Ghost (1994), but I can't find it so maybe it's lost), he's appeared on five Queens of the Stone Age cds (including the about-to-be-released ...Like Clockwork), He's done three collaboration cds with Isobel Campbell, formerly of Belle & Sebastian, he did a collaboration with Greg Dulli, formerly of the Afghan Wigs and currently in Twilight Singers (which Mark has also collaborated with), and he's done many other collaborations, such as Soulsavers, UNKLE, Martina Topley-Bird, and Christine Owman. His collaborative release with Duke Garwood called Black Pudding. He has completed three unfinished tracks for a rerelease of the cd Above by Mad Season -- Mark had sung on the original release, and had even been recruited as full-time vocalist for a second cd under a new band name in the late 1990's when Layne Staley declined to participate in a second Mad Season cd.
Even if he's never been a big star like Kurt Cobain, Layne Staley, Eddie Vedder or Chris Cornell, Mark Lanegan's been everywhere. And it's not just his voice I love, it's his whole blues/roots music aesthetic. He writes songs that sound like 100-year-old blues anthems. In fact, way back in 1989 he worked with Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic, and other Seattle artists on a Leadbelly tribute, some of which wound up on his first solo cd, and which undoubtedly also lead to the wonderful Nirvana unplugged cover of Where Did You Sleep Last Night several years later. Most of Mark Lanegan's music is steeped in the blues, and his voice -- a deep, rich, scratchy baritone that compares well to singers like Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen and probably even Johnny Cash. I've loved his voice since I first heard the Screaming Trees -- Sweet Oblivion is one of my favorite cds from the 1990's. Even though I knew Mark was doing more stuff -- Sky had told me sometime last year that he was really getting into Mark's solo work -- I didn't start digging into it until recently. I bought his new cd, Blues Funeral, and downloaded some songs from his other cds and collaborations. I really need to visit several Half Price Books stores and buy up anything I can find from his back catalog.