R.I.P : Mark Lanegan

If I say the name Mark Lanegan you mind might go to the Screaming Trees The band vaulted him into his iconic status. But He left his mark as a musician with greater depth on his worked that continued on after the Screaming Trees. The world lost a greater talent than just a rock singer now that Mark Lanegan is dead at the age of 57. He was like the Oscar Wilde of grunge, now he is the voice of wisdom crawling from the shadows, almost a bard of Tom Waits magnitude.  

Mark died his home in Ireland. We should all be surprised Mark Lanegan made it to 57. He lived a life wrestling with addiction and mental illness. Early reports suggest it was covid related, but the singer had already penned a book called 'Devil in a Coma" regarding his experiences with co-vid.   It is likely that he had worn his internal organs out from abuse so he never fully recovered, or the media are like ghouls when it comes to death so we might never know. Early speculation was suicide, which lines up with his grunge peers he survived. This pretty much leave Eddie Vedder as the last of the grunge singers. 

After Screaming Trees he went on to work with Queens of the Stoneage. His smoky baritone known for slithering around grooves provide a change in mood from the other vocal approaches of that band.  Rather than try to carry a torch for the music of an era which was a cultural shift more than just a music genre. I think this more reflective nature he possessed kept him alive as long as it did a rip 30 years longer than his friend Kurt who joined the 27 club. What I appreciate about Mark and the music he left behind for us is he died leaving a body of work that is free form venturing forward into lost years of confusion aging rock stars sometimes never come back from. His memory is intact and honored, we celebration what he left behind as he is passing on into the sweet oblivion.   

Mark Lanegan : " Straight Songs of Sorrow"

Going into this you have to  know this is not going to be the Screaming Trees. What you might expect is something more akin to Nick Cave or Leonard Cohen given the nature of his voice. I was not expecting something so electronic and experimental. The first song sounds like he recorded the vocals and then put the music haphazardly atop it. His vocals sound pretty optimistic and not at all sorrowful. If Jim Morrison had lived I could see him putting out something similar. He has a impressive array of musicians that guest on this album they are from every genre from metal to trip hop.  Mark Morton from Lamb of Gob provides the fingerpicked acoustic guitar on "Apples From a Tree" . This comes much closer to what my expectations were. Folk music that is country inflected, you are hear traces of the grunge roots without directly acknowledging them . Morton also adds guitar to "Whiskey For the Holy Ghost". You can hear how he influenced the National on "the Game of Love" a duet with his wife Shelley.

"Ketamine" takes folk and marries it with a narcotic throb, making it the best song so far. Lanegan's voice might not be as resonate as even his guest spots with Queens of the Stoneage, but his lower registers is hinted at more here. His song writing is what makes the other oddly upbeat sounds on "Bleed All Over". Jack Bates the song of Joy Division bassist Peter Hook, plays bass on drunken gospel musing of "Church Bells, Ghosts". Then things get weird again with " Internal Hourglass Discussion". The album begins to remind me of the last one by Iggy Pop. At 55 his voice has held up better than Pop's voice did not have much range to begin with. Then we are back to a more the  organic flavor on "Stockholm City Blues". The arrangement is layered but simple.  His voice does find his more classic sound on "Skeleton Key" . This song also have a drugged out drone to it that is counterbalanced by Lanegan's vocals. Adrian Utley from Portishead provides the atmosphere on " Daylight in the Nocturnal House". John Paul Jones shows up to play mellotron on "Ballad of a Dying Rover" .  This song is cool, it might not be the album's best, but you can hear traces of late period Zeppelin in it's mood.

I  think the parts that do not sit right with me are the places where his free form vocal lines clash with the music and sound improvised. The lyrics are more like poetry being recited than sitting neatly on melodies. He does deliver the melodies I want from him on some songs so it's a mixed bag in that regard. "Burying Ground" has more of a blues soaked Americana feel to it which I think works better with his rustic voice. Greg Dulli from the Afghan Wigs and Warren Ellis join Mark on "At Zero Below" .  This one comes across darker than most of the songs on this album so it works for me. The album closes with the bleakly soulful "Eden Lost and Found" . This might not find Lanegan aging as gracefully as he could, but it does serve as a powerful testament to the mark he continues to leave on music. It is powerful enough for me to give this album a 9.

Earth:"Primitive and Deadly"

This Seattle band's founder Dylan Carlson reportedly bought the gun that Kurt Cobain used to kill himself. This marks their 7th full length and my first foray into their world.   Earth's appeal really depends on how slow you like your drone rock. They capture the sounds well and have some cool riffs, but often never develop past , well here's a cool riff into an actual song. To the point that Mark Laneggan's vocals on "There is a Serpent Coming" sounds like he is just improvising in the studio rather than trying to create a song. The vocals of Rose Widow's Rabia Qazi do tend to work better on the more drifting "From the Zodiacal Light".

By the third song I do get that this is there thing to just pick a riff and ride it out, so I can stop waiting for any sort of dynamic variance So that leaves me going into the rest of the album fully aware this is not going to be my thing. I like slow and I like drone to an extinct as i love funeral doom, but that is much more layered and dynamic than what goes on here. They do wander into more of a blues based thing on "Even Hell Has it's Heroes". They drench it in elements of psychedelia and have a really go guitar tone through out the album, in fact compared to the bit's a pieces I have heard of this band previously this is a much more metal album , at least in terms of guitar tone. The phrasing in the some times very David Gilmore like solos is pretty remarkable.

"Rooks Across the Gate" floats long similar Obscured by Couds like wave, this time Lanegan's vocals fall between the cracks with more assurance.The album ends on the longest song , the twelve plus minute"Badger's Bane". This song is slightly more doomy , but doesn't really go anywhere new. At the five minute mark it starts to fade out into drums and noise, it does build back up in the first display of dynamics I have heard on this album.

I know these guys are cult favorites and maybe this is the band taking a turn in a different direction and I should check out the first album, But guitars aside I don't think some of the other elements like the minimal drums are ever really going to catch on with me.Sure they are backed by guys from Sunn o and Built to Spill on this one , but it still doesn't grab me. I will give it a 6 because it sounds great and they succeeded in what they set out to do it just isn't my thing.