Red Mosquito

I wasn't at all excited about this album after finding Gargoyle a bit forgettable, but damn - this is possibly the most solid (and fun!) collection of songs since Bubblegum.

Early faves are Kabul, Letter Never Sent, Name and Number, and Radio Silence.

I still haven't finished the album, but so far it has been a really positive surprise. One of the bands that keeps coming to my mind while listening to this is Joy Division. Am I completely off? I mean I keep hearing a strong late 70's early 80's British post-punk/new wave influence on this.

contamination wrote:I still haven't finished the album, but so far it has been a really positive surprise. One of the bands that keeps coming to my mind while listening to this is Joy Division. Am I completely off? I mean I keep hearing a strong late 70's early 80's British post-punk/new wave influence on this.

I'm yet to hear the new album but I thought parts of Gargoyle were Joy Division inspired.

Yeah, the new one might be my favorite since Blues Funeral.

Thats so fucking awesome

What a wonderful career my god.

Somebody's knocking was a bit hit or miss for me. No clunkers, but only 4 songs that I've put into rotation. Roughly on par with the last two albums for me, but still a pretty big step away from Blues Funeral, which was his last masterpiece


I love Disbelief Suspension. The rasp on his voice during the 'you wanna ride' parts is amazing. This one may end up being an all timer. Also a big fan of Stitch It Up, Radio Silence, and Name and Number (love the hollow sound of that one)

Since I've been away from the board and haven't ranked anything in forever here is Mark's non-screaming trees output

1. Bubblegum - Crown jewel of an amazing and prolific solo career. Wedding Dress and Methamphetamine Blues are maybe my two favorites but there is a lot of gold here.

2. Whisky For the Holy Ghost - His most consistently awesome album from start to finish - just not quite as many highs as Bubblegum and some of it didn't age quite as well. Judas Touch, River Rise, and Carnival are my three favorites.

3. Broken - This is a ridiculously good album. Another flat out masterpiece. Death Bells, You Will Miss Me When I Burn, and All the Way Down are so fucking good, but strong songs top to bottom.

4. Blues Funeral - Third best of the Lanegan solo albums - not quite as consistent as Holy Ghost and not quite as many high spots as Bubblegum, but the best stuff on here is as good as his best stuff anywhere. Gravediggers Song is my favorite on this one, but so many great songs. Really everything is excellent but Tiny Grain of Truth (which has its moments), Riot in my House, and Gray Goes Black. The later two are totally forgettable.

5. Here Comes That Weird Chill - it says something about how incredible the Bubblegum sessiosn are that on top of everything on that record you can add Message to Mine, Lexington Slow Down, Sleep With Me, and Wish You Well (the best song from the sessions)

6. Field Songs - The borderline masterpiece. Every song is good - there just aren't quite enough great ones. One Way Street, No Easy Action, and Don't Forget Me are my three favorites

7. Scraps at Midnight - maybe his most atmospheric record. Hotel is amazing. I find his albums work well if you just want to cherrypick songs - this is one of the only cases where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts

8. Phantom Radio -part of a string of albums with a few great songs and a bunch that just go nowhere for me. Death Trip to Tulsa quietly became one of my all time favorite Lanegan songs. Floor of the Ocean, Killing Season, and Seventh Day also really good. Edges out Gargoyle and Somebody's Knocking on the strength of Death Trip

9. It's Not How far You Fall - Revival, Paper Money, and Ghosts of You and Me are incredible, but after that amazing beginging the rest of the album is just pretty good.

10. Somebody's Knocking - this might move up past phantom radio in time. 4 songs I really like (Disbelief Suspension, Stitch it Up, Radio Silence, and Name and Number) but no duds. This is cribbing from influences I don't care about so I can see how some people might really adore this one

11. Gargoyle - . Love Beehive, and Death's Head Tattoo, Nocturne, Blue Blue Sea, and Black Swan are all quite good,. Could take or leave the rest.

12. Has God Seen My Shadow B-sides: This was full of gems - songs that should have been b-sides but I'm so glad were recorded. Big White Cloud and Halcyon Daze were my two favorites

13. Ballad of Broken Seas - The first Isobel Campbell collaberation was the best. Deus Ibi est is super cool, Revolver is great, and almost all of this is pretty solid

14. Houston Publishing Demos - lots of good songs, just not enough great ones. I get why he scrapped this and went in the Bubblegum direction, and thank god he did. I do love the earlier incarnation of Methamphetamine Blues

15. I'll Take Care of You - the better of the two cover albums. I love Shiloh Town so much

16. Hawk -You Won't Let Me Down is great, and I really did Time of the Season and Snake Song

17. No Bells On Sunday - Love Sad Lover. Dry iced and No Bells on Sunday also pretty good, but maybe overlong. Not a fan of the

18. Saturnalia - Don't like the Greg? Dulli stuff, but Idle Hands is an all timer and really dig who will lead us/seven stories underground

19. With Animals - I do dig the title track. One Way Glass is great too. The way he sings 'something lonelier than death' Only he can get away with that shit.

20. The Winding Sheet - feels like a template album for what's to come. Some stuff on here I quite like, but it all feels rough compared to what is to come. Really makes clear the influence Lanegan had on Cobain that never seems to get talked about.

21. Black Pudding - not a huge fan of this one - generally found most of it forgettable but god damn Mescalito is awesome

22. Sunday At Devil Dirt - This is more consistent than Hawk, but there aren't many songs on here I really care much about. Who Built the Road is pretty cool

23. Keep Me In Mind Sweetheart - Fight Fire with Fire is a fun Song. So is Rambling Rose, Clinging Vine

24. Imitations - the only full fledged record that I found almost totally disappointing. Flatlands is beautiful and I do love Mack The Knife

25. A Thousand Miles to Midnight - the remxies all generally suck, except for the Death Trip mix.

26. Downdwelling - persimmon tree was fine

27. Dark Mark Does Christmas - This is a great concept but none of these songs land.

28. Adorata - I can barely remember what's on this so I guess it goes to the bottom

Revelator wrote:

stip wrote:

verb_to_trust wrote:

stip wrote:

verb_to_trust wrote:

stip wrote:that was pretty good

You see the Lanegan memoir is coming out in April?

no. didnt realize he was writing one!

Yeah man. It's called Sing Backwards and Weep: A Memoir. A while back he was on Joseph Arthur's podcast and had a really cool talk about the book coming out and a ton of other stuff that might interest you.

ill try to check it out. there were a few really good songs on his last one

Yeah, there will also be a new album released with the memoir called Straight Songs of Sorrow. I've had the memoir pre-ordered for months, can't wait

I just want to put this here as a place-holder, he's had a book in the hopper for ages and I do not want to sleep on it once it is released.

stip wrote:Somebody's knocking was a bit hit or miss for me. No clunkers, but only 4 songs that I've put into rotation. Roughly on par with the last two albums for me, but still a pretty big step away from Blues Funeral, which was his last masterpiece


I love Disbelief Suspension. The rasp on his voice during the 'you wanna ride' parts is amazing. This one may end up being an all timer. Also a big fan of Stitch It Up, Radio Silence, and Name and Number (love the hollow sound of that one)

It started like that for me, my initial feeling was ¨fuck, another of these¨....then something happened, and i began to love the album. I love most of the songs.

Stip, what are your thoughts on the downdwelling album?

oasisfan35 wrote:

Revelator wrote:

stip wrote:

verb_to_trust wrote:

stip wrote:

verb_to_trust wrote:

stip wrote:that was pretty good

You see the Lanegan memoir is coming out in April?

no. didnt realize he was writing one!

Yeah man. It's called Sing Backwards and Weep: A Memoir. A while back he was on Joseph Arthur's podcast and had a really cool talk about the book coming out and a ton of other stuff that might interest you.

ill try to check it out. there were a few really good songs on his last one

Yeah, there will also be a new album released with the memoir called Straight Songs of Sorrow. I've had the memoir pre-ordered for months, can't wait

I just want to put this here as a place-holder, he's had a book in the hopper for ages and I do not want to sleep on it once it is released.

Good thinking

kreng wrote:Stip, what are your thoughts on the downdwelling album?

I didn’t know this happened until just now. If this is on Spotify I’ll listen tomorrow during my walk

VinylGuy wrote:

stip wrote:Somebody's knocking was a bit hit or miss for me. No clunkers, but only 4 songs that I've put into rotation. Roughly on par with the last two albums for me, but still a pretty big step away from Blues Funeral, which was his last masterpiece


I love Disbelief Suspension. The rasp on his voice during the 'you wanna ride' parts is amazing. This one may end up being an all timer. Also a big fan of Stitch It Up, Radio Silence, and Name and Number (love the hollow sound of that one)

It started like that for me, my initial feeling was ¨fuck, another of these¨....then something happened, and i began to love the album. I love most of the songs.

I haven’t given the full album a listen in a while - I should.

stip wrote:

VinylGuy wrote:

stip wrote:Somebody's knocking was a bit hit or miss for me. No clunkers, but only 4 songs that I've put into rotation. Roughly on par with the last two albums for me, but still a pretty big step away from Blues Funeral, which was his last masterpiece


I love Disbelief Suspension. The rasp on his voice during the 'you wanna ride' parts is amazing. This one may end up being an all timer. Also a big fan of Stitch It Up, Radio Silence, and Name and Number (love the hollow sound of that one)

It started like that for me, my initial feeling was ¨fuck, another of these¨....then something happened, and i began to love the album. I love most of the songs.

I haven’t given the full album a listen in a while - I should.

It took me a while...but i think its his strongest since Blues Funeral.

downdwelling did very little for me on first listen without many threads i even wanted to try and unravel

i liked persimmon tree although i wish it lost the meandering last 90 seconds or so. burned out babylon was ok

parts of this felt a little tom waits in its inspiration, but the music generally wasnt that interesting or dynamic to me, and since mark was playing his vocals pretty straight and simple most of this felt a bit flat so those moments where the music starts to generate a little atmosphere and tension (like murder in fugue) mark doesn’t give the song the lift and elevation it needs. Like he is grounding something in no real danger of flying away

something like broken man might work as a (shorter) cooldown to a more intense run of songs. I could see a more atmospheric but still stripped down version of this closing out a soulsavers record, for instance. but i dont think the songs preceeding this set this up - especially for 8 minutes. Broken man doesnt do the work (musically or vocally) to create this character and he isnt inheriting anything from the earlier songs

this is the least of his collaborations in my opinion. mark can do these moody stripped down atmospheric pieces really well. this is in his wheelhouse. its just boring (or maybe more charitably not for me). it aims for world weary understatement but crosses over into boring for me.

what did you all think?

while you can kind of tell they weren't in the same room while it was recorded, i enjoyed downdwelling quite a bit. Some lyrics are a bit clunky but i liked the overall mood of it. I liked it even more after seeing some live performances where they are actually in the same room together and it works better.

listened to somebody’s knocking today. i think this is probably his most consistent album since blue’s funeral, although it is still
a big step below that one