Product Description

Fifth solo album from the former Screaming Trees frontman. Much less aggressive than his former band, with country and folk influences to the fore. Lanegan's band features former Dinosaur Jr guitarist Mike Johnson and ex-Soundgarden bass player Ben Shepherd.

Track Listing

1. One Way Street
2. No Easy Action
3. Miracle
4. Pill Hill Serenade
5. Don't Forget About Me
6. Kimiko's Dream House
7. Resurrection Song
8. Field Song
9. Low
10. Blues For D
11. She Done Too Much
12. Fix

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11012 in Music
• Released on: 2001-06-11
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
Field Songs truly signals Mark Lanegan's return to form. The work of the ex-Screaming Trees vocalist stagnated somewhat following his first solo release; 1994's wistfully sad and musically assured Whiskey For The Holy Ghost. Scraps At Midnight and the cover song collection I'll Take Care Of You were both excellent efforts but lacked the punch of Whiskey, just when it sounded like a new voice was emerging from the ashes of an overlooked band's lamentable demise. Field Songs, however, Lanegan's fifth solo record, shows flashes of another growth spurt. Lanegan has never written anything as gentle and compositionally mature as "Kimiko's Dream House", for instance, nor have any of his records ever had this level of consistency, from bourbon-soaked blues to haunted, late night roots rock. Furthermore, his band, featuring ex-Dinosaur Jr member Mike Johnson on guitar and Ben Shepherd from the late, great Soundgarden on bass, has solidified, effortlessly veering between eerie soundscapes and sombre evocations that form perfect backdrops for Lanegan's familiar smoky growl. Next time you feel like having a late-night chat with a friend named Jack Daniels, let this play in the background as a conversation starter, then draw your own conclusions about how affecting and perceptive Lanegan's work has become. --Matthew Cooke

Customer Reviews

Intense & Brooding Singer/Songwriter
Those familiar with Mark Lanegan's previous outings into brooding folk/blues music will have no surprises with "Field Songs". Combine his sublime whiskey-drenched delivery (which immediately recalls the gravely tones of Tom Waits), a refined understanding of traditional folk and blues and then throw in the rock sensibility of 90s band Screaming Trees and "Field Songs" is the result. Perhaps Lanegan's best album to date with improved and more diverse writing, it still tragically remains an overlooked gem in the realms of singer/songwriter music.

"Field Songs" boasts some of Lanegan's best song writing. "No Easy Action" is a sumptuous flourishing rock song - fashioning very unique vocal harmonies thanks to middle-Eastern styled female vocals sustaining held notes over the top of Lanegan's delivery. This flows effortlessly into an archetypal Lanegan slow-burner in "Miracle", a shift in mood and atmosphere that is both bold and highly successful. "Don't Forget Me" and "Fix" are two of Lanegan's best blues romps, combining strong writing and menacing, gritty vocal performances. "Kimiko's Dream House" is a surprising soft and subtle highlight, and shows Lanegan's diversity as a writer. My personal favourite of the album, and quite possibly my favourite Lanegan song to date, is the stunning "Resurrection Song". The song instantly draws parallels to "Riding The Nightingale" from the album "Whiskey For The Holy Ghost" due to its stripped down atmosphere, focusing solely on guitar and voice, and forging a wonderfully engaging and raw piece.

"Field Songs" showcases a more diverse album than past releases thanks to tracks such as "No Easy Action" and "Kimiko's Dream House". It also refines the trademark Lanegan song, and combines to make a truly wonderful singer/songwriter album I highly recommend.

OLD GOLDEN TONSILS STRIKES AGAIN!
FS is Lanegans 5th solo release after splitting with the now defunctSeattle band The Screaming Trees in the late 90s, & marks anunquestioanable maturity/ coming of age. The slightly folk & countrytones heard on Whiskey.. are all here except in much better form. Thisman delivers soul & blues for real, theres no 'performance' here- nopretending in any way. His songs & voice feel lived in, & the sincerity &honesty with which he lays himself bare, makes him a singer/swriter in thetruest sense; think BW Johnson (or any old delta blues singers), Tom Waits(literally- with his deep gravely baritone), & the likes of Van M & NickDrake for their passion & tenderness. I have 3 of his albums; 89's WindingSheet & 93's Whiskey for The Holy Ghost, & its strange that my favouritesare both WS & FS, as they are the most contrasting of the three, with WS'syounger mans voice & characteristically 'grunge' sound, playing with Kurt& Chris from Nirvana, in what I feel is an albeit lesser known but seminalpiece of work. Whiskey.. was a great step forward in evoloving - youimmediately sensed his heart was in the blues, folk & country music, butthe album (although it seems his most popular & did have a few 5*tracks), to me- lacked the consistency that Fsongs deliverd. FS is theperfect fullfilment of all that was beautifull about Whiskey with itshaunting atmospherics.
It opens with the spookily mysterious but utterly mezmerising One WayStreet; "..The stars & the moon arn't where theyre supposed to be.. forthe strange electric light it falls so close to me.. love I come to ridehigh on that seasick rolling wave, & you know that i am just trying to getout, oh the glorious sound.. oh the one way st. but you cant get, cant getit down without crying". He manages to sound unflinchingly masculine yetutterly vulnerable, expressing what could so easily turn to cheddar inanyone elses hands. His deep rasp is weatherd & weary, yet it explodeswith both romanticism & passion. Ohh the testosterone emanating from myspeakers!
There are so many highlights on this album; NEA, DFM, Rsong, Fsong & mypers. fave Low- a heart wrenchingly beautiful tune lamenting the death oflove & a painful past. Long time collaborator Mike Johnsons (ex DinasaurJnr's) tender acoustics, are accompanied by a gorgeous hammond organ, &lends a country music vibe which is well... a bit of a tear jerker quitefrankly, but strangely uplifting & healing by the same token. Mark seemsto have a gift for wrapping up beauty & sadness in the same packagelifting them to lush heights. He touches that very human fragile part ofyou (or me at least), & quite simply- it feels good.
High on feedback drenched atmospherics, FS has you lamenting romantically,leaving you somehow glad to be alive despite lifes 'challenges'. His wellknown themes/ battles with addiction etc on previous albums are here onFix; "..gonna drive that terraplane across the frozen ocean, weve alwaysbeen together & its good..", with its haunting slide guitar and twangycountryness is an eerie murky number . Incidentally it has Duff McKagenfrom GNRoses on bass & guitar, & also Ben Shepherd (ex Soundgarden).
Fsongs is another winner! "Lets walk down to the water, theres hyacinthin bloom.. spend my days lovin you..i left these fields because I neverknew.." It opens with a dreamy echoing electric guitar alongside acousticstrumming, in some sort of psychadellic country inflected haze.
Kimikos.. is a gentle pretty acoustic song co written with the Gun ClubsJeffrey Lee Pierce before he died, & I would imagine is very special toMark, but im afraid I find it a bit 'clutterd' in parts, but that said isstill lovely.
The melancholy Blues For D is the only instrumental here, & is without aconventional 'song structure' as it drifts along, again with both acoustic& electric picking, bass, sound effects & gentle piano accompaniment.
This is a beautiful collection of songs, containing just enough ambiguity& mystery to colour in the magical images of shimmering golden light,starry nights, & wild open spaces conjured up in your head, (although I ido kinda miss the violin appearances you get on whiskey ala-'Carnival', ima sukka for that weepy folky thing!). Also check out the covers albumIll Take Care Of You, Lanegans interpretations of old Southern Soul &country influences that he makes his own, & his upcoming album Bubblegum;which sees many collaborators inc. QOTSAge fman Jhommes, & a duet with'the' lady PJ Harvey.
All in all FSONGS is an excellent buy id heartily recommend as either anintro, or addition to any of Lanegans work .

Mark Lanegan Is The Modern Day Tom Waits
'Field Songs' is a great album from Mark, i first got into Mark via the album 'Sweet Oblivion' by the Screaming Trees.
This album is a good introduction to Mark Lanegan's work, i particular enjoy his 2nd solo album as well, 'Whiskey for the Holy Ghost'.
Being critical, i don't really like Mark's first solo album and i have seen Mark play live several times over the past 10 years and believe that he should be playing better venues with better acoustics as Mark's voice is always lost in the standard rock club, living in London i think Mark should be playing at the Queen Elizabeth Hall.
Buy 'Field Songs' and lets all wish that the South Bank will have Tom Waits as their 'Meltdown Director' for 2004 and that Tom has Mark as one of his special guests ;)