In Memoriam- Mark Lanegan

In lieu of a write up about the late great Mark Lanegan, I thought I would just share a few words and then most of the words I have written about him over the years. I didn’t really like “grunge” and didn’t have much need of it outside of the Singles soundtrack. Although I liked “Nearly Lost You”, I would be able to dismiss the Screaming Trees (with that album cover and that record label) as a stereotypical flannel wearing 70s obsessed arena rock band. I next heard him on 1994’s “Whiskey for the Holy Ghost”. I was a bit caught off guard to catch this seemingly new turn to a Tom Waits like character. It took a couple of years for this sound to click for me, but it did. Lanegan was the rare artist that I was always interested to see what he was doing- and for that, he was one of the more prolific and most diverse big name artists on the planet. His presence will be missed. Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan- Ballad of the Broken Seas (V2) - Mark Lanegan's solo stuff has been impressing me more and more in recent years. I stopped being impressed by Belle & Sebastian's new stuff around the time Campbell left (coincidence or not). Given those two facts, I kind of expected this to be good, and it is. A great pairing that lives up to the hype. The Gutter Twins, Saturnalia (Sub Pop) - Combining Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan together sounds like either an excellent or an awful idea (self-parody- hello?) and calling yourself the Gutter Twins doesn't do anything to further clarify which you're going to get. Fortunately, you get more of the former than the latter. They both here doing what they do best - the reflective Lannegan you'd find on his solo albums or his work with Isobel Campbell, and the swaggering of Dulli from the Gentlemen album. This album generally works, and it works at its very best when the two voices intertwine. --- Mark Lanegan and Duke Garwood Black Pudding (ipecac/Heavenly) In the last ten years, its hard to think of any musician that has been more diverse, more prolific, and more consistent than Mark Lannegan. His collaborators have included Isobel Campbell, Greg Dulli, Queens of the Stone Age, and English electronica duo Soulsavers. His latest collaboration is with English mulch-instrumentalist Duke Garwood. Admittedly, I didn't know the name, but Garwood has contributed to work by Wire, the Orb, Seasick Steve, and Kurt Vile; to name a few. Like last year's Blues Funeral, there's some things going on that make this more than a pop-friendly crowd-accessible Lanegan record. In this case, the biggest thing is that it feels like a true collaboration. Garwood's music features as prominently as Lanegan's vocals. It conjurs up terms like 'atmospheric'. Tom Waits is the usual go-to description for Lanegan. and certainly he's the similar artist reviewers tie to this album. This has Waitsian moments, but the description isn't that appropriate. If anything, the album resembles PJ Harvey's recent work with the vocalist switch out. The other artist that stands out for me is Jim Morrrison. I am not sure why. Lannegan has always had Morrionisms and this would probably sound less Lizard king-y than say his Screaming Trees or Isobel Campbell recordings. Still, I can't shake the feeling (maybe it's Manzarek's passing or Densmore's recent media blitz surrounding his new book), but this has its moments where it feels like this just might be the kind of album Jim would be making in a post- American Recordings circa 2013 landscape. Maybe it's just me. - Mark Lanegan Imitations (Vagrant) There's not too many people in popular music right now with a more interesting career than Mark Lanegan. I won't run down all of his recent collaborations and works. Still the point I want to make is that Lanegan seems to be following his own muse. He never seems to do what fans or critics might expect, and he is more interested in exploring what he can do next as opposed to repeating what he has already done or what might sell the most albums. Thus Imitations follows the last two albums he has been involved with in the last 20 months- Blues Funeral and Black Pudding- records that weren't made for a mass audience, each in a different way. Imitations is a covers album, but what makes it different is that Lanegan plays it straight- singing Andy Williams and Sinatra (both Frank and Nancy), the classic country of Vern Gosdin, "Mack the Knife", and more contemporary artists like Nick Cave and Chelsea Wolfe. It means that most people won't get it. There's not enough rock to counter balance the ballads. There's not enough gimmick for those looking for the ironic. There's no Isobel Campbell or Moby or Massive Attack. In short, you won't find this on any one's Year-end best-of lists. That said, let's not underestimate Lanegan. even when he seemingly is making a record only he wants to make; it is performed solidly, and each song stands well on its own. Each song Lanegan brings out his best, so even "You Only Live Twice" is better than what you might expect on paper.. Mark Lanegan – Gargoyle (Heavenly)-Leonard Cohen always loomed in the background of Mark Lanegan records, so no doubt he is on my mind when reviewing Gargoyle. I guess I always figured Cohen would live to be 120 years old, but we knew the next generation had worthwhile successors, of which Lanegan is one of the most prominent ones. Also, via rock's history of tragedy, Lanegan is on of the few leading men from the Grunge era. Cobain, Staley, Weiland, and now Cornell have all gone. Improbably, it's Mark Arm and Lanegan as some of the last few. In any case, wisened old age has served Lanegan well. He fits into the shoes of an old blues singer like few others. It was around 1994 when Lanegan 's star first shone brightest on Whiskey for the Holy Ghost, an offering on Sub Pop which many would have at the time considered a 'hobby' for someone whose main job was Screaming Trees. Ten years later, six albums in, 2004's Bubblegum made us all look backwards and realized that he had built a career that would dwarf his band's, and he was just getting started. In that first decade of the new century, Lanegan was busy recording with Queens of the Stone Age, collaborating with the Soulsavers, and recording duets albums with Isobel Campbell and Greg Dulli. There's probably about ten albums in those years that range from 'very good' to 'essential'. Whether we realized it at the time or not (and I think many of us did), Lanegan had a stretch that very few others could compare to in terms of artistry. For me, personally, the current decade has been somewhat of a letdown. It almost would have to be after that. Still, it's not that Lanegan wasn't recording. he was as prolific as ever, but this time his artistry took him down some other paths- a covers album, a instrument-heavy collaboration with Duke Garwood, a collection of previously recorded demos, etc. Cohen's Achilles heel was usually his backing band. Cohen wasn't a dual guitar, bass, and drums rock n roller. He often had background vocalists, strings and heavy production. Lanegan similarly knows that his music is best rendered as soundscapes and not traditional rock band. For me, much of the let down on Phantom Radio and Blues Funeral was the music. Still, Lanegan was born from Grunge, and he's always going to have an ear for rock. Gargoyle dials that up quite a bit. The best moments are the hardest rocking like the not so imaginatively titled "Nocturne", which evokes the title in a hard-charging slightly seedy David Lynch soundtrack kind of way. the kind of music that is Barry Adamson's stock in trade. The album's best song is "The Emperor", which cuts way too close to being a cover of Iggy's "The Passenger". Given the Josh Homme connection and everything else, it's likely more of a homage than a rip-off. What helps this album out is that even the less remarkable tracks stand up. There really is nothing here that isn't good to some degree. When The Guardian gave this Five Stars out of Five, I totally get it. I stop short of that, though diehard Lanegan fans will not be disappointed. To me, many of the songs are great but don't really leave much of a lasting impression (For example, "Death Head's Tattoo" which precedes "Nocturne" isn't really much different than its successor). Lanegan (on here) doesn't really have anything that is quite on par with any of other of Cohen's heirs like Cave or Waits. Still, you can't quite expect that, either. It's a fine album and to me, one of his best in awhile.