Screaming Trees - Dust

The Trees' third and best major-label album wasn't an easy one to make: the band felt compelled to scrap the first recording with producer Don Fleming and re-record the songs with George Drakoulias of Black Crowes and Tom Petty fame. But the creative malaise and personal chaos that reportedly plagued the follow-up to 1992's gold-selling Sweet Oblivion are nowhere in evidence in the finished grooves. Dust is a complex, layered effort that transcends the grunge tag so often hung on the band by emphasizing deep roots in psychedelia and folk-rock that have been obscured in the past by the fuzz and fury. As always, Mark Lanegan's smooth-as-bourbon vocals and Gary Lee Conner's thunderstorm guitars are two of the most distinctive instruments Seattle has produced. But what makes this album special is the ensemble playing and the dynamics: The band seems to have listened to Lanegan's call in "Make My Mind" to "Take a minute just to breathe." Sitars, tabla, harmonium, and Mellotron adorn moving midtempo rockers such as "All I Know" and "Dying Days," adding to a world-weary but overall optimistic vibe. Dust could be considered the combination of MTV Unplugged in New York and From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah that Nirvana was never able to realize--it's a mature, melodic album that doesn't sacrifice the energy of youthful rock & roll abandon. --Jim Derogatis Amazon.com Music Reviews

Good overall album

I do enjoy the Screaming Trees. They are unheard of to many people, and most people think that im coming up with something from an LSD high... but it does have good songs on it. The first four didnt captivate me much as anything that i heard from them previous to buying this CD, the first one ive bought from them, but i do listen to it often. October 12, 2007

Fine Swansong From The Most Overlooked Band In The 90s

When I listen to "Dust" nowadays it really makes me question why the Screaming Trees never received the recognition of their contemporaries. While Alice In Chains, Nirvana, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam surged into the limelight with passionate grit and angst, The Trees forged their own loyal allegiance through low-key yet equally admirable releases. "Dust" was the last of these releases, and proved to be a glorious swansong and the band's best.

For those unaware of the band's style and sound, I would urge you to try and separate them from their grunge era tag. Do not expect raging distorted guitars and aggressive vocals. Instead Screaming Trees fuse soaring melodies and harmonies, infectious chorus hooks and 60s psychedelic rock into their sound. The result is intriguing and unique, and is given further prowess and individuality by front man Mark Lanegan. Lanegan's wonderful gravely and brooding tone is sumptuous throughout, elevating the band's music.

What makes "Dust" such a special album for me is its consistency. The band was always able to write excellent songs, but always seemed to struggle to recreate this consistently throughout an album. "Sweet Oblivion" touched on the consistency needed, but still contained the odd lacking track that I would always skip. With "Dust" I can simply press play, sit back and enjoy its entirety. There are still standout tracks however, such as the stunning "All I Know" which has the most glorious of chorus harmonies. "Make My Mind" is one of the band's classic songs; showcases great pop sensibility in the main hook. "Dying Days" is perhaps the band's most well crafted song, shifting between subtle slow-burning verses and uplifting choruses. More psychedelic tinges are introduced with the swirling ballad "Traveler" and the intense closer "Gospel Plow".

For fans of the band's earlier releases "Dust" is a must have. It contains their best and most consistent writing, and remains one of my favorite albums from the Seattle era.
September 12, 2007

woken a sleeping beast

screaming trees dust a great cover and an title to get you too think and it sure does you look at the cover and wonder what the music on the cd going to be like, is it gonna repeat what they've done before? or is there gonna be a big surprise well really you know which way screaming trees make music heartfelt lyrics blistering music with a hint of that dirty word which i don't think kurt made i think soundgarden and mark lanegan made what grunge was really about...
this album features such classics in my opipion
holo of ashes, all i know, look at you,
witness, traveller and gospel plow,
this album was released long time after the grunge icon killed himself.. and around this time we had this terrible thing called britpop bought on by them god damn awful bands oasis and blur this was a saving grace that saved the last 4 years of the nineties for me...grunge is dead but the trees still grow November 9, 2005

Actually the last reviewer was pretty "dead on"..

This is an awesome album BUT:

The first three songs on this album pretty much start off where Sweet Oblivion left off.. Start of with a rocker "Halo of Ashes", insert an absolute classic "All I know". throw in a ballad "Look at You" and you have the makings of another classic... Then...

The album just seems to bog down.. Don't get me wrong, this is an outstanding album, but it is not as diverse as Sweet Oblivion. Mark Lanegan never sounded as good as he did on Dust, and the quality of the musicianship is great, but the song writing isn't as good as Sweet Oblivion. You would think that after a four year hiatus (a hiatus that pretty much killed the band) there would be a more diverse collection of songs.

Probably the most striking song on the album is Dime Western. For anyone who has ever seen Jesus Christ Superstar, if you remember the part where Judas is running to hang himself, the guitar riff in this song sounds almost exactly like the music that is playing in the backround. Throw in an "Iron Butterly"esque melotron and it is freaky.. Then to go into a song called "Gospel Plow"...

Do I recommend this album? Heck yeah, it's just a shame that this was their swan song, they really had more to offer. September 16, 2005

The final whimper of a great band

The Screaming Trees were a great band that combined psychedlia, punk rock and roots rock. And Mark Lanegan was one of the strongest frontment of that Seattle crop. In 1996, they were no longer constrained by the expectations of the waning grunge revolution. So I think they were really in a position to try something different and release their magnum opus. Instead, Dust has 10 catchy, well written rock songs, all of which would've been perfectly at home on "Sweet Oblivion". So, basically, while Lanegan et al were wasting their time with drugs and alcohol, their fans waited four years to get forty minutes of the same old same old. The Trees received little recognition for this effort, and probably got what they deserved. Still, I like the band overall, and would recommend the Anthology from their SST years (or, for that matter, the compilation from their last three albums "Ocean of Confusion", which is a better value than buying all of these good-but-not-great albums individually).

ADDENDUM: 3 months later, this album has found its back into heavy rotation on my CD player. I must admit that the songcraft is excellent; and this album must be judged a success in relation to its ambitions--although I remain disappointed that those ambitions were not nearly as lofty as the hyperbole of many of this album's boosters would have you believe. May 20, 2005

More reviews at Amazon.com ...