I just got this one, so I don't know it inside out.For those not familiar, Mark Lanegan is the former singer for the Screaming Trees, and a part-time member of the Josh Homme posse.
He's got a voice that could melt butter, though. Imagine something about half way between Tom Waits and Michael Buble. Like crushed diamonds, it's very pretty but could slice you up.
This is probably his least "folksy" record. Much like the aforementioned Tom Waits, Mark likes a ramshackle sound, even on this, his most 'rock" record.
The thing is, this is a blues record. Not blues in that neutered Baby-boomer kinda way, where some watered down drek accompanies some skinny white guy who listens to more James Taylor than John Lee Hooker. No, this is a collection about when it all goes wrong, crooned by a guy who really has screwed up more times than most people get chances. Keep in mind, this is the guy who taught Kurt Cobain about both drugs and Leadbelly. This guy knows some serious hard times, and he doesn't seem particularly ashamed. Like the best in real blues, it's his talent that overcomes his own songs.
See, if I hear one more supposed "blues" record made by some little guy who looks like he'd be more comfortable at a seminar discussing the "folkways" of canadian stamp collectors, I might just see if I can't get Mark Lanegan to show up and inject them between the eyes with a syringe full of mexican black tar and lethal bacteria colonies. Like Johnny Cash, like John Lee Hooker, and like Miles Davis, this is tradition-based music that is anything but safe.
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