The Mark Lanegan variety show

Mark Lanegan is one highly productive rock (and roll) fella, that can not be denied. Since 1985 (when he and Screaming Trees released their debut eepee Other Worlds), not many years have gone by (if any) where Lanegan didn’t lend his considerably distinct and ominous pipes to some musical project. He’s not a household name, dear reader, but the odds are extremely high you’ve heard him before, even if you haven’t heard of him.

The Mark Lanegan Band’s new elpee Blues Funeral won’t make him the household name he surely deserves to be (and probably is in some parallel world with a greater karmic force than ours) but it’s not for lack of effort. Stylistically, Lanegan has compiled a wildly diverse song set firmly planted in the dark, rich soil that is American Blues (the darkly brooding “Bleeding Muddy Water,” “St. Louis Elegy,” “Phantasmagoria Blues”) but flies fancily off into WaxTrax! Industrial territory (“The Gravedigger’s Song,” the strong opening track) then saunter-struts back in time and out onto the dance floor (“Ode To Sad Disco” could’ve just as easily been named “Ode To New Order,” and that’s not me being snarky) to put some hair on new wave. If the kaleidoscope of style doesn’t impress you, maybe the songwriting will. Doomy lines like “Please don’t turn off my radio/Not with the rope still swinging/While eternity’s mouth is singing” don’t come around every week, and certainly not through such fantastically grizzled vocal chords.

Maybe the most impressive tracks on this fine record are “Riot In My House” and “Quiver Syndrome.” Both of these tracks could (should) be played in heavy rotation at Eff Emm Rock Radio. Both have naturally massive unit-shifting power and mass appeal AND (most importantly) THEY DON’T SUCK. “Riot In My House” is the house party rocker and “Quiver Syndrome” is the anthem waiting to soar up through the airwaves. Seriously, somebody get on these. They are money in the bank.

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