Mark Lanegan - Scraps at Midnight

With his third solo album, Scraps at Midnight, Mark Lanegan continues a storytelling vision that began in 1990 with The Winding Sheet and, more recently, the serene Whiskey for the Holy Ghost. In a swirling and peaceful follow-up, Lanegan proffers the fruit of another rich collaboration with Mike Johnson. Like the stark and dry land of Lanegan's roots in eastern Washington, the songwriting on Scraps at Midnight is lonely and sparse. The shadowy "Bell Black Ocean" and "Hotel" capture a harmony of lyrics and music rare among contemporary musicians. "Stay" and "Wheels" reveal Lanegan's counterpoint--his ability to craft warm and optimistic classics for our wanderings. Thoreau wrote, "The true harvest of my life is intangible... a little star-dust caught, a segment of the rainbow which I have clutched." Scraps at Midnight is a bit of Lanegan's star-dust harvest. His restless spirit, with huérfanos, vagabonds, spruce forests, and bourbon glasses, hovers in the space between the notes. --Brad Doll Amazon.com

Sublime, a real men perspective and point of view

What does have this man that every song he creates is beautifull? in a completely men perspective Mr Lanegan creates melancholic and appealing atmospheres, so folk, southern , grey , very enjoyable, Mr Lanegan thougths are 100% male and its about time a rigth and perfect image of real men (like i consider myself)were showed by a singer/songwritter like this great performer, poetry surrounds every melody, and beautifull lyrics fill that acoustic riffs that are the main ingredient in his albums, it worths to get every Mark Lanegan recording.
HM January 10, 2005

NO TEENY-BOPPERS ALLOWED...

Fans of Mark Lanegan had to wait five long years for his third solo LP, SCRAPS AT MIDNIGHT. Was it worth the wait? You bet your brooding ass it was! After a few years spent taking just about any drink or drug handed to him, Lanegan surfaces with an album that sketches a world with its own everlasting sense of regret and loss. It also features Lanegan's wry wit, excellent lyrics, and elegantly raw voice. In other words, poison to teeny-boppers.

The album opens with "Hospital Roll Call," a Sergio Leone type western dirge with Mark growling "sixteen" over and over again ("16" was Lanegan's room number in a rehab clinic). An effective overture, the song gives way to "Hotel," one of the most darkly affecting songs in Lanegan canon. Lanegan has often downplayed this side of his musical character but when he sings "I remember your face/But it's been a long, long day/And what I did along the way/I wouldn't care to say" it is delivered with the sort of world-weariness that you would associate with Lightnin' Hopkins or Hank Williams. It is, simply put, a gripping voice.

Mike Johnson is back, co-producing the album with Mark and helping him paint musical landcapes that give a perfect backdrop to Lanegan's often mesmerizing songs. Lanegan, like Seattle contemporary Chris Cornell, remains one of the most versatile singers of his generation, and the ex-Screaming Trees frontman proves it here with songs ranging from the delicate "Bell Black Ocean" and "The Last One In The World" to the intense anxiety of "Waiting On A Train" and the epic "Because Of This." As with his previous masterpiece, WHISKEY FOR THE HOLY GHOST, Lanegan handles all of it with apparent ease, although many of the songs on this album will leave you feeling at times that there is somebody watching you outside your window. SCRAPS AT MIDNIGHT features Mark Lanegan carving out a style that he can distinctly call his own, simply because nobody else is doing this kind of music with such authenticity. Some might find it "morbid." Again, no teeny-boppers allowed... January 5, 2005

Delicious Scraps!

This is one of my favorite Mark Lanegan albums along with Whiskey For the Holy Ghost and Field Songs. If you're considering Scraps At Midnight, then you probably already know that Mark has an incredible, yet chilling voice. The songs on Scraps are beautifully done... This isn't a rocking-out kind of album, no. It's more intense, acoustic and atmospheric in style. I listen to Scraps often and consider it to be one of those indispensable CDs I'd take with me, if ever on a deserted island ;-) August 29, 2004

One Good Album

One huge reason anyone should buy this record, is for the song "Because of This." That is one of his best songs... June 12, 2003

light at the end of the tunnel?

are things looking up for lanegan? not really. but it hasn't gotten any worse either. Thats the feel of this record. The somewhat sinister feel of 'hospital roll call' is balanced by slow crooner's like 'wheels'. Then theres the closer, 'because of this' that turns the mood of the music up to then on its ear. A cool song with a great finish but it just doesn't seem to fit with the other 9 tracks. Sounds very treeish. All in all, a solid effort from one of the more realistic observers to emerge from the decayed seattle gunge scene. September 28, 2002

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