MARK LANEGAN
''IMITATIONS''
SEPTEMBER 16 2013
41:20
1 /Flatlands
Chelsea Wolfe/3:58
2 /She's Gone
Jan Paxton / Clarence White/2:09
3 /Deepest Shade
Greg Dulli/4:03
4 /You Only Live Twice
John Barry / Leslie Bricusse/3:06
5 /Pretty Colors
Al Gorgoni / Chip Taylor/2:43
6 /Brompton Oratory
Nick Cave/4:15
7 /Solitaire
Philip Cody / Neil Sedaka/4:55
8 /Mack the Knife
Marc Blitzstein / Bertolt Brecht / Kurt Weill/3:08
9 /I'm Not the Loving Kind
John Cale/3:08
10 /Lonely Street
Carl Belew / Kenny Sowder / W.S. Stevenson/2:50
11 /Elégie Funèbre
Gérard Manset/3:33
12 /Autumn Leaves
Joseph Kosma / Johnny Mercer / Jacques Prévert/3:32
Drew Church /Bass
Jeff Fielder /Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric)
Rebecca Filice /Cello
Mark Hoyt /Guitar (Acoustic), Vocals (Background)
Alain Johannes /Guitar (Acoustic), Mellotron
Mike Johnson /Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric)
Andrew Joslyn /String Arrangements, Viola, Violin
Barrett Martin /Drums, Percussion, Tambourine, Vibraphone
Duff McKagan /Bass
Eric Padget /Trumpet
Mark Pickerel /Drums
Bill Rieflin /Drums, Mellotron, Percussion, Pump Organ
Jason Staczek /Harpischord Synclavier
Billy Stover /Piano
Tom Yoder /Trombone
REVIEW
by Thom Jurek
Beginning with Mark Lanegan's cover of Lead Belly's "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" on The Winding Sheet, his 1990 solo debut album, he's revealed himself to be a fine interpretive singer. Until now, he's only issued one previous record of covers, 1999's wonderful I'll Take Care of You. On Imitations, Lanegan offers contemporary songs, standards, and obscure numbers that, according to him, reveal the effect his parents' record collection had on him. The arrangements are unique, song to song. John Barry's "You Only Live Twice" (Nancy Sinatra) is only orchestrated by a pair of acoustic guitars; the singer's voice entering the lyric's dangerous flow becomes a hazy nocturnal dream. "Pretty Colors" (Frank Sinatra) features tremoloed electric guitars, harpsichord, vibes, percussion, and bass. They frame Lanegan's world-weary, restrained, but deftly effective emotive croon. Three songs are closely associated with Andy Williams who, as revealed in his interpretations, is a complex figure -- akin to that of Roy Orbison in David Lynch's iconography: Neil Sedaka's "Solitaire" is read through the lens of Ennio Morricone's cinematic spaghetti western scores, yet it's tempered, brought into emotional view by violin and cello framing Lanegan's declamatory voice. His delivery of Carl Belew's "Lonely Street" is taken beyond the pale of the heart's borderlands with bittersweet reverie, sorrow, and acceptance. Andrew Joslyn's multi-tracked violins add an ethereal dimension to the standard rock instrumentation. Johnny Mercer and Jacques Prevert's "Autumn Leaves" finds Billy Stover's piano leading the band, with the chart kissed by strings. Lanegan leans in and captures the otherworldliness and impossibility of the romance in the lyric -- Williams did it with so much grace that the song's tragedy was often overlooked, but Lanegan heard the soft yet crushing blow in Williams' voice, and delivers it in his own. The contemporary numbers are equally creative. "Flatlands," by Chelsea Wolfe, uses acoustic guitars, percussion, bass, and a three-piece string section. It feels earth-moving in the grain of Lanegan's instrument. Nick Cave's "Brompton Oratory," adorned with horns, gives the track a classy jazz tinge (think of a light, sophisticated Gerald Wilson chart), yet could be played by a Salvation Army band. The conviction in Lanegan's delivery is so inside the lyric, it convincingly equates the love and loss in the gospels with that of this spurned lover's grief and longing. "She's Gone" (not the Hall & Oates tune as has been reported, but a mid-'60s bluegrass waltz by Clarence White and Jan Paxton) wears its Nashville-cum-California swirl beautifully with Mark Hoyt's backing harmony vocal. On Greg Dulli's "Deepest Shade," Lanegan reveals the songwriter's Leonard Cohen worship nakedly Further, he dresses John Cale's "I'm Not the Loving Kind" in the pomp of '70s Elvis and the breezy vulnerability of Dusty Springfield simultaneously! Imitations is a fine collection that reveals the depth of the songs through the openness and considerable skill of the singer.
BIOGRAPHY
by Richie Unterberger
Mark Lanegan's solo albums are sufficiently dissimilar in tone from those of his regular group, Screaming Trees, to make listeners wonder where his true interests lie. His records often employ a much more acoustic tone, and address much more serious, personal concerns. Despite ample critical acclaim, Lanegan always kept the Screaming Trees his primary concern (that is, until their breakup). The original plan for Lanegan's first solo recording was to do an EP of blues songs with Nirvana's Kurt Cobain and Chris Novoselic, as well as Screaming Trees drummer Mark Pickerel. That didn't work out, and The Winding Sheet ended up being recorded with Pickerel, guitarist Mike Johnson (later bassist in Dinosaur Jr.), and noted producer Jack Endino on bass. Released in 1990, the album included a cover of the Leadbelly folk number "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?" from the aborted sessions with Cobain and Novoselic; it became the basis for Nirvana's version on MTV Unplugged. Despite a good reception from the underground, it took until 1994 for Lanegan's brilliantly assured follow-up, Whiskey for the Holy Ghost, to surface, which again featured Johnson in a prominent role. Afterwards, Lanegan once again returned to Screaming Trees for what proved to be the band's final album, 1996's Dust. With the Trees on hiatus, Lanegan resumed his solo career with 1998's Scraps at Midnight, which followed in the vein of its predecessors. The follow-up appeared much more quickly this time; 1999's I'll Take Care of You was a quietly stunning covers album drawing on Lanegan's interest in roots music. Two years later, Field Songs arrived.
In November of 2003, after a short stint as vocalist with Queens of the Stone Age (he sang on the album Songs for the Deaf and appeared as part of the subsequent tour), the newly formed Mark Lanegan Band released Here Comes That Weird Chill: Methamphetamine Blues, Extras, and Oddities, an EP that anticipated the Lanegan Band's first full-length album, Bubblegum. Featuring guest appearances from Polly Jane Harvey, the Afghan Whigs' Greg Dulli, Josh Homme, Nick Oliveri of QOTSA, and former Guns N' Roses members Izzy Stradlin and Duff McKagan, Bubblegum was released in August of 2004. In 2008, Lanegan, who had at this point been collaborating on and off with QOTSA and recorded albums with Belle & Sebastian's Isobel Campbell (2006's Ballad of the Broken Seas, 2008's Sunday at Devil Dirt) and the Soulsavers (2007's It's Not How Far You Fall, It's the Way You Land), released Saturnalia as part of the duo the Gutter Twins (whose other member was none other than Greg Dulli, with whom he'd been touring as part of Dulli's outfit the Twilight Singers for the past couple of years). 2012's Blues Funeral found Lanegan drawing inspiration from the past six years, and included appearances by Dulli and Josh Homme. Recorded in Hollywood by Eleven's Alain Johannes, the album was released on February 7, 2012. His next project was a collaborative album with iconoclastic multi-instrumentalist and composer Duke Garwood. Entitled Black Pudding, it was issued by Ipecac in May of 2013. Lanegan returned later that year to release a collection of cover versions. Entitled Imitations, it touchingly featured songs that he remembered from his childhood, it included versions of songs by artists such as Neil Diamond, Hall & Oates, Neil Sedaka as well as Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and the Twilight Singers
''IMITATIONS''
SEPTEMBER 16 2013
41:20
1 /Flatlands
Chelsea Wolfe/3:58
2 /She's Gone
Jan Paxton / Clarence White/2:09
3 /Deepest Shade
Greg Dulli/4:03
4 /You Only Live Twice
John Barry / Leslie Bricusse/3:06
5 /Pretty Colors
Al Gorgoni / Chip Taylor/2:43
6 /Brompton Oratory
Nick Cave/4:15
7 /Solitaire
Philip Cody / Neil Sedaka/4:55
8 /Mack the Knife
Marc Blitzstein / Bertolt Brecht / Kurt Weill/3:08
9 /I'm Not the Loving Kind
John Cale/3:08
10 /Lonely Street
Carl Belew / Kenny Sowder / W.S. Stevenson/2:50
11 /Elégie Funèbre
Gérard Manset/3:33
12 /Autumn Leaves
Joseph Kosma / Johnny Mercer / Jacques Prévert/3:32
Drew Church /Bass
Jeff Fielder /Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric)
Rebecca Filice /Cello
Mark Hoyt /Guitar (Acoustic), Vocals (Background)
Alain Johannes /Guitar (Acoustic), Mellotron
Mike Johnson /Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric)
Andrew Joslyn /String Arrangements, Viola, Violin
Barrett Martin /Drums, Percussion, Tambourine, Vibraphone
Duff McKagan /Bass
Eric Padget /Trumpet
Mark Pickerel /Drums
Bill Rieflin /Drums, Mellotron, Percussion, Pump Organ
Jason Staczek /Harpischord Synclavier
Billy Stover /Piano
Tom Yoder /Trombone
REVIEW
by Thom Jurek
Beginning with Mark Lanegan's cover of Lead Belly's "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" on The Winding Sheet, his 1990 solo debut album, he's revealed himself to be a fine interpretive singer. Until now, he's only issued one previous record of covers, 1999's wonderful I'll Take Care of You. On Imitations, Lanegan offers contemporary songs, standards, and obscure numbers that, according to him, reveal the effect his parents' record collection had on him. The arrangements are unique, song to song. John Barry's "You Only Live Twice" (Nancy Sinatra) is only orchestrated by a pair of acoustic guitars; the singer's voice entering the lyric's dangerous flow becomes a hazy nocturnal dream. "Pretty Colors" (Frank Sinatra) features tremoloed electric guitars, harpsichord, vibes, percussion, and bass. They frame Lanegan's world-weary, restrained, but deftly effective emotive croon. Three songs are closely associated with Andy Williams who, as revealed in his interpretations, is a complex figure -- akin to that of Roy Orbison in David Lynch's iconography: Neil Sedaka's "Solitaire" is read through the lens of Ennio Morricone's cinematic spaghetti western scores, yet it's tempered, brought into emotional view by violin and cello framing Lanegan's declamatory voice. His delivery of Carl Belew's "Lonely Street" is taken beyond the pale of the heart's borderlands with bittersweet reverie, sorrow, and acceptance. Andrew Joslyn's multi-tracked violins add an ethereal dimension to the standard rock instrumentation. Johnny Mercer and Jacques Prevert's "Autumn Leaves" finds Billy Stover's piano leading the band, with the chart kissed by strings. Lanegan leans in and captures the otherworldliness and impossibility of the romance in the lyric -- Williams did it with so much grace that the song's tragedy was often overlooked, but Lanegan heard the soft yet crushing blow in Williams' voice, and delivers it in his own. The contemporary numbers are equally creative. "Flatlands," by Chelsea Wolfe, uses acoustic guitars, percussion, bass, and a three-piece string section. It feels earth-moving in the grain of Lanegan's instrument. Nick Cave's "Brompton Oratory," adorned with horns, gives the track a classy jazz tinge (think of a light, sophisticated Gerald Wilson chart), yet could be played by a Salvation Army band. The conviction in Lanegan's delivery is so inside the lyric, it convincingly equates the love and loss in the gospels with that of this spurned lover's grief and longing. "She's Gone" (not the Hall & Oates tune as has been reported, but a mid-'60s bluegrass waltz by Clarence White and Jan Paxton) wears its Nashville-cum-California swirl beautifully with Mark Hoyt's backing harmony vocal. On Greg Dulli's "Deepest Shade," Lanegan reveals the songwriter's Leonard Cohen worship nakedly Further, he dresses John Cale's "I'm Not the Loving Kind" in the pomp of '70s Elvis and the breezy vulnerability of Dusty Springfield simultaneously! Imitations is a fine collection that reveals the depth of the songs through the openness and considerable skill of the singer.
BIOGRAPHY
by Richie Unterberger
Mark Lanegan's solo albums are sufficiently dissimilar in tone from those of his regular group, Screaming Trees, to make listeners wonder where his true interests lie. His records often employ a much more acoustic tone, and address much more serious, personal concerns. Despite ample critical acclaim, Lanegan always kept the Screaming Trees his primary concern (that is, until their breakup). The original plan for Lanegan's first solo recording was to do an EP of blues songs with Nirvana's Kurt Cobain and Chris Novoselic, as well as Screaming Trees drummer Mark Pickerel. That didn't work out, and The Winding Sheet ended up being recorded with Pickerel, guitarist Mike Johnson (later bassist in Dinosaur Jr.), and noted producer Jack Endino on bass. Released in 1990, the album included a cover of the Leadbelly folk number "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?" from the aborted sessions with Cobain and Novoselic; it became the basis for Nirvana's version on MTV Unplugged. Despite a good reception from the underground, it took until 1994 for Lanegan's brilliantly assured follow-up, Whiskey for the Holy Ghost, to surface, which again featured Johnson in a prominent role. Afterwards, Lanegan once again returned to Screaming Trees for what proved to be the band's final album, 1996's Dust. With the Trees on hiatus, Lanegan resumed his solo career with 1998's Scraps at Midnight, which followed in the vein of its predecessors. The follow-up appeared much more quickly this time; 1999's I'll Take Care of You was a quietly stunning covers album drawing on Lanegan's interest in roots music. Two years later, Field Songs arrived.
In November of 2003, after a short stint as vocalist with Queens of the Stone Age (he sang on the album Songs for the Deaf and appeared as part of the subsequent tour), the newly formed Mark Lanegan Band released Here Comes That Weird Chill: Methamphetamine Blues, Extras, and Oddities, an EP that anticipated the Lanegan Band's first full-length album, Bubblegum. Featuring guest appearances from Polly Jane Harvey, the Afghan Whigs' Greg Dulli, Josh Homme, Nick Oliveri of QOTSA, and former Guns N' Roses members Izzy Stradlin and Duff McKagan, Bubblegum was released in August of 2004. In 2008, Lanegan, who had at this point been collaborating on and off with QOTSA and recorded albums with Belle & Sebastian's Isobel Campbell (2006's Ballad of the Broken Seas, 2008's Sunday at Devil Dirt) and the Soulsavers (2007's It's Not How Far You Fall, It's the Way You Land), released Saturnalia as part of the duo the Gutter Twins (whose other member was none other than Greg Dulli, with whom he'd been touring as part of Dulli's outfit the Twilight Singers for the past couple of years). 2012's Blues Funeral found Lanegan drawing inspiration from the past six years, and included appearances by Dulli and Josh Homme. Recorded in Hollywood by Eleven's Alain Johannes, the album was released on February 7, 2012. His next project was a collaborative album with iconoclastic multi-instrumentalist and composer Duke Garwood. Entitled Black Pudding, it was issued by Ipecac in May of 2013. Lanegan returned later that year to release a collection of cover versions. Entitled Imitations, it touchingly featured songs that he remembered from his childhood, it included versions of songs by artists such as Neil Diamond, Hall & Oates, Neil Sedaka as well as Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and the Twilight Singers
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