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Album Review
by SashaS
2-8-2004
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| Mark Lanegan: 'Bubblegum', it ain't! |
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Mark Lanegan: 'Bubblegum'
(Beggars Banquet)
Mark Lanegan analyses highs and ravaging lows of [his] life
Mark Lanegan’s sixth solo album ‘Bubblegum’ features a host of alt-names one could only dream of having on one disc, augmenting his enormous songwriting to a disc that feels like a rainfall after a long drought. [Part of it was cut in Joshua Tree, the US desert National Park that provided U2 with the album title].
Some of this material was previewed on last year’s ‘Here Comes That Weird Chill (Metamphethamine Blues, Extras & Oddities)’ extended play. This man, for more than 20 years, has drawn inspiration from the darker side of human nature, whether fronting the psychedelic rockers Screaming Trees, crafting bleak, soulful solo albums or singing with Queens of the Stone Age’s on their last two records. Now, no surprise here, Lanegan has hit a creative peak with his new record…
‘Bubblegum’ was in the making 18 months in California, North Carolina and Texas with PJ Harvey, dudes from Queens of the Stone Age, The Twilight Singers/former Afghan Whigs‘ frontman Greg Dulli, Dean (of Ween], ex-Guns N'Roses members Duff McKagan and Izzy Stradlin… One suspects this is a LP Nick Cave and Tindersticks strive to make but probably never have as they ain’t American or sing with suchlike pathos.
The ironically titled ‘Bubblegum’ - with long-time collaborator Mike Johnson (former Dinosaur Jr.) bringing the understated magic one has come to expect of him over the years and Ben Shepherd (ex-Soundgarden) - is a little lighter than Lanegan's previous solo outings, but it's far from sunny, mindless or care-free as song titles like ‘When Your Number Is Up’, ‘Methamphetamine Blues’ - kicked around for a better part of a decade before finding its ‘recording’ self - and ‘Morning Glory Wine’ indicate.
The 39-year-old Lanegan continues to deliver his own brand of tonal paradigm and there is nothing to divert him from his songsmiths-manship. The man, by all accounts, could have been a megastar if he only made the follow-up to The Trees’ ‘Dust’ (1996) but he valiantly decided that his creative liberty and artistic integrity are worth more than any fame, fat bank account and dividing his life between splendid isolation in a Hollywood mansion and hanging out with fellow ‘stars’.
There was a time when Lanegan sought comfort in his despair: he was moody and depressed, fell into drug abuse and was arrested several times. Now, however, he saves his volatility and self-destructive expression for his recordings. Musically, the disc is a blend of laments, gloomy slow-rockers that border country-folk - “I got tired of reading stuff about my records like ‘folky and alt-country’, he commented in an interview - keyboard ballads, staggering blues romps and rocktastic moments.
“I think of this as a rock record,” he concludes in a voice as coarse as the roughest sandpaper. Pardon, a diamond of as many carats as Tom Waits's.
It is oft-cited that artists should write what they know the best and Mark Lanegan embraces it here with total solitude of a creatively dedicated spirit.
8.6/10
SashaS
2-8-2004
Mark Lanegan’s ‘Bubblegum’ is released 02 August 2004 by Beggars Banquet
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