Wow, this album has really been growing on me the last few weeks. Great lyrics throughout and fantastic music. Gets by with a little help from his friends including the always loveable Polly Jean Harvey who pops up on two of the most majestic tracks ("Hit the City" and "Come to Me"), plus Izzy and Duff from GNR on backing vocals ("Strange Religion"). And of course his old QOTSA buddies, Josh Homme and Nick Oliveri, popping out here and there. And Afghan Whigs/Twilight Singers leader Greg Dulli puts in some time in the mix as well. It rocks and seethes with lots of bluesy energy throughout. I really liked a lot of the last one but it was a little too laidback overall. Most of the things he has done in the last decade have been high quality, but this latest one seems to gather the best from all his work into one place and adds in the more unified or consistent sound he's getting nowadays. He really lets loose sometimes on this one. What a voice. Just gets better all the time. The ravages of whiskey and cigarettes. One of my favorite singers right now. You can almost see the words come out of his mouth. And fellow grunge and stoner rock survivor Chris Goss (anyone else love those first couple Masters of Reality albums?) does the production, which won't be mistaken for an audiophile disc, but the grungy sound does seem right for the music. Kind of a Tom Waits junkyard percussion sound on much of it. Right at the top of my best of the year list right now. You know, the one that is completely different from the one I already turned in to shmoo

i was pleasantly surprised to hear such a great cd from someone whose only previous material i was exposed to was "nearly lost you" and his contributions to to the last qotsa cd. number two of the year for me.

I deleted it from my computer after one listen.

We all make mistakes

this is one that I would like to check out before I turn in my Shmoo poll, but that's probably not gonna happen

Speaking of getting help from PJ -- did you see who was on the latest Marianne Faithful disk? None other. Her and Nick Cave, of all people.

Before the Poison.

Yes, my wishlist is ever-expanding. I'm going to start calling it the Never Ending Wishlist.

She's the next indie-rockers' reclamation project. On the heels of Cash, Loretta Lynn, and Weezer (who were never indie 'til '99, when they reached outre status enough to be embrace (ironically, at first) by the emo subset of indie-nation), comes Marianne Faithfull. That Metallica cameo, on Load II? Long since forgotten. She's now -- like Evander -- the real deal.

yeah, like making Arcade Fire the collective record of the year.

We don't need no water, let the Arcade Fire burn... Burn, motherfucker, burn!

Not sure what that has to do with Mark Lanegan, but whatever. Bubblegun is a damn fine record. Obviously not your style, but it's the farthest thing from indie hipsterville. Just good, heartfelt music made by a bunch of people who like to make music and don't really care what the latest buzz is about. And besides, I obviously didn't make the mistake of calling Arcade Fire record of the year......my mistake is Mark Lanegan. Didn't you read my post!

Yeah, there was an article in Uncut recently about it. She apparently really got on well with PJ and I think Polly wrote the songs just for her. Don't rememeber what she said about Nick but guess it worked out really well with him too. And of course, ol Nick and Polly used to be a happy dysfunctional couple as well. I think. Anyway, I thought her last album was kind of goofy so I'm reluctant to get this one. I do have the one before that but never listen to it. I'm a much much bigger fan of PJ and Nick than MF.

She's been the real deal since Broken English. That's 26 years now.

Course a less cynical person would just say Cash and Lynn made albums that were moves away from the hokum they embraced in the mid 70's to late 80's and that music fans of all sorts knew that when they heard it. But you just go on with your cute thesis there.

is this on your shmoo list?

i feel a need to bro down with anyone who's not in love with this album.

why hello there!

on-topic: haven't heard the ML record, but keep meaning to check it out. expectations are high!

KPH

My thought exactly...

...also, Dolly Parton's the next oldster to be hipster reconstructed, not Marianne Faithfull...

Will possibly be #1 on shmoo's shmoo-poll.

I'll do it, daddy.

about Dolly - i've been hearing her on mixtapes from PEOPLE IN NYC for the past 2 years. indeed, a resurrection must be in the works.

and honestly, her voice really is pretty stellar. sure puts modern pop country singers to shame.

KPH

I've been spinning the shit out of that Lanegan record lately. Some of the slow songs sound downright Tom Waitsian and the faster ones are indicative of the QOTSA desert meth-rock. Overall I think it's a fine balance of the two.

Hey, I'm listening to this right now.

...and it's OK. It's only my second time hearing it, but I'm fairly sure I don't like the faster songs. I think some of the slower ones are nice, but I probably won't bother listening to this anymore until after I've finished making my 2004 list. This def. isn't Top 20 stuff for me.

one of those would-have-made-the-shmoo-poll-if-I-gave-it-more-listening-time.

You hit the nail.
The rockers keep me listening, and the slow songs have been growing on me.

Lanegan is in my Top 20. Arcade Fire isn't.