Track Listing

1. Methamphetamine Blues
2. On The Steps Of The Cathedral
3. Clear Spot
4. Message To Mine
5. Lexington Slow Down
6. Skeletal History
7. Wish You Well
8. Sleep With Me/Version

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #36485 in Music
• Released on: 2003-11-24
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Single, EP
• Dimensions: .11 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
Here Comes That Weird Chill could be the album that finally brings Mark Lanegan to the fore. After 17 years' diligent toil at the grunge yoke fronting Seattle rockers the Screaming Trees, Mark Lanegan chose to jump ship, drifting free from the band he'd steered since he was a teenager and letting the tides carry him. Mere months later, he'd washed up as a key touring member of one of rock's most notorious companies, Queens of the Stone Age. It's this band that makes up the key players of this monolithic sixth solo album from Lanegan. With a revolving team of musicians that includes QOTSA's Josh Homme and Nick Oliveri, Masters of Reality's Chris Goss, Ween's Dean Ween, and Greg Dulli (ex-Afghan Whigs, now fronting the Twilight Singers), this is something of an all-star cast. But Lanegan is nothing if not a commanding presence, his grizzled vocal chords, rough as sandpaper and deep as a grave, musing long and hard on love, mortality, narcotic bliss and the inevitable hangover that follows. Grim opener "Methamphetamine Blues" is a hefty slab of deathly psychedelia, marching forth on a violent metallic drum-loop, while a cover of Captain Beefheart's "Clear Spot" is roughshod lo-fi to its super-dense core. But it's the majestic piano lament of "Lexington Slow Down" that suggests Lanegan may still have a seat next to Nick Cave and Tom Waits in the canon of rock's doomed romantics. --Louis Pattison

Customer Reviews

New Sound! Same Brilliance!
I am of the opinion that everything this man touches turns to gold. Once a member of the now no-more Screaming Trees who were one of the most underrated Seattle bands around (certainly the most soulful), Mark then advanced his career via his solo records and made music on a scale that the Trees always tried to reach (my opinion of course). After the Bluesy/Folky mainly acoustic solo outings Mark became a member of Queens of the Stone Age and added that extra dimension to an already good rock band.

So, here....now....in 2003....Mark finds himself releasing an EP length collection of songs as a taster for the upcoming 'Bubblegum' record. The first thing that is apparent is the instrumentation on the record, the opening track breaks out with a clanky industrial vibe followed by a slightly distorted voice (and what a voice) closely followed by a second track that could almost be spoken word if not for the fact that a separate recording of Marks voice lulls in the background going along to the old hymn 'He's Got The Whole World In His Hand' and a nice guitar rhythm.

The rest of the record offers a selection of tracks with either industrial beats and/or sleazy guitar rhythms. The songs are not instantly accessible, but if you want 'pop' then you wouldn't be reading this review in the first place. Nevertheless, the songs were implanted in my mind after the second play of the disc and i keep coming back to it.

Like all good artist's Mark has realised he needs to change direction in order to keep afloat and like all good artist's he has done it with style. At the price it is selling for I recommend you pick up a copy and experience well written, well played, diverse and challenging music and if you like it you might want to try the pick of his solo material: I'll Take Care Of You and Scraps At Midnight (again, my opinion).

A Victory For Music!

Also, the track "Lexington Slowdown"....................a beautiful 'haunted piano' gem of a song!

I may be biased...
Having loved every single one of his recordings (from Screaming Trees and QotSA, to Mad Season and solo offerings), I may not be the best person to give a subjective review of this EP.
But I'm going to, because I just have to say how superb it is. He's dropped his country/grunge sound (almost sad to hear it go, but I guess we got 5 albums of it out of the man) for something a bit different - almost a cross of Tom Waits, early Springsteen (something about Lexington Slowdown reminds me of very early Boss) and, well, I think I have to go with the now made obvious link and say Beefheart.
Lanegan's voice is as seminal as any fo the above mentioned artists, as in my opinion (and remembering I'm a big Waits and Beefheart fan) is his discography so far.
Well worth at least checking out, if you don't end up buying a copy for yourself and everyone you know.

Change of direction for Lanegan...
This e.p. certainly points to a fresh approach in Lanegan's solo career, the blend of blues, folk, alt-country common from The Winding Sheet (1990) to Field Songs (2001) looks set to change. Whether this is due to Screaming Trees having officially split-up (in 2000), Lanegan's extra-curricular work (with QOTSA, Masters of Reality, Martina Topley Bird, Twilight Singers, Mondo Generator), or the discovery of pro-tools (common to recent albums by Mark Eitzel & David Sylvian) I don't know. A noticeable change is the absence of longtime collaborator Mike Johnson and the adoption of the moniker 'Mark Lanegan Band'. A wealth of musicians guest- notably Josh Homme (does he ever have a day off?) alongside Natasha Schneider (Eleven- as is Alain Johannes; both played on Chris Cornell's neglected solo album Euphoria Morning), Greg Dulli (Twilight Singers/Afghan Whigs), Chris Goss (producer of Rated R and Blues for the Red Sun and mainman behind Masters of Reality), Dean Ween (Ween, of course!), Nick Oliveri (Kyuss, QOTSA, Dwarves, Mondo Generator, Desert Sessions etc)& Wendy Rae Fowler (who appeared on Field Songs) Nice to see another example of an e.p., a format that is becoming common and is good value (unlike the single)- this one ranking up there with 5 Tracks, Love is Hell & Slow Riot for New Zero Kanada.

Essentially a taster for 2004's new album Bubblegum, this release probably would have been a two-part cd single a few years ago. Methamphtetamine Blues is the lead track, most of the music is played by Homme, a wonderful industrial clatter recalling Tom Waits occurs (I thought of Swordfishtrombones' 16 Shells from a 30.6). This is a very internalised sound and not as rocky as QOTSA or as traditional as prior Lanegan solo material (it does sound wild on headphones). On the Steps to the Cathedral is just a Juarez-style interlude, prior to a cover of Captain Beefheart's Clear Spot- which is good, but not a patch on the original.

Message to Mine is another strong track, building from a lone synth sound to an electronic-inflected rock- Lanegan solo has rarely rocked out and this is about as close as that gets. Lexington Slow Down is my favourite song here, Lanegan has used the piano before (notably on Scraps at Midnight and the introduction to 2001's Don't Forget About Me)- this is much more enjoyable than similar work by Nick Cave and worthy of the Tom Waits comparison given above. It highlights Lanegan's brilliant voice, as a chamber choir of Fowler & Goss sing in the background. This didn't make it to the album?- shocking, hopefully this means Bubblegum will be a classic; Lexington Slow Down is one of Lanegan's greatest songs already...

Skeletal History is the closest to the robo-rock of QOTSA, co-written with Homme and Oliveri, the drums are close to drum'n'bass at times and there's a lovely interlude into Morricone-inspired guitar. Wish You Well is more conventional doom rock, though the pro-tools production makes me wonder if this is what Electric Warrior would have sounded like in the 21st Century? This is what The Jesus & Mary Chain should have sounded like from Automatic onwards, I feel! The final tracks are Sleep With Me and a dub-inflected 'version'- the latter an interesting approach/experiment, showing Lanegan's solo sound opening up. Sleep With Me itself is an excellent song, who knew that Josh Homme was such a great drummer too? If anyone has liked the songs on Lanegan's prior solo albums, this is probably as close to that as he gets here- great stuff.

Here Comes That Weird Chill offers a hint of where Lanegan goes next, hopefully it'll snag some QOTSA fans in, who'll discover the joys of Lanegan- whose solo career and prior work with Screaming Trees remains hugely undervalued. A wonderful collection, almost as long as his 1999 covers album I'll Take Care of You incidentally! Hope he tours Bubblegum next year, as I missed the short UK tour that tied in with this release!