BEST OF 2012 - #3 - MARK LANEGAN BAND "BLUES FUNERAL"

In March, I predicted that the Mark Lanegan Band's Blues Funeral would be one of my top 10 albums of 2012.  I was right.

It's interesting that Chris Cornell tried to combine his sound with electronic music by working with Timbaland on his Scream album, and it didn't really work.  But Lanegan worked with Alain Johannes on this album, and made a hybrid of Lanegan's dusty blues and electronic music that works really well.

Johannes (a former member of Eleven) has worked with Cornell before, it's too bad that they didn't go in this direction.

Lanegan isn't thought of as a "blues" artist per se, and he doesn't roll in Clapton circles.  But when I hear him sing, it just brings to mind scenes of dusty, lonely, scary places.  I hear the blues in his voice.  And this album makes the blues sound fresh, current and even futuristic.  I don't know many other records you could say that about.  If I were a film director (or musical director of a film), I'd be mining this album big time, and asking Lanegan and Johannes for more.

It's interesting that Lanegan chose to call this a "Mark Lanegan Band" album.  The "Band" is completed by drummer Jack Irons. A newly minted Rock and Roll Hall of Famer (as a member of The Red Hot Chili Peppers) and a newly minted member of The Wallflowers, he didn't really get to promote the album with Lanegan.  But hopefully this particular group of musicians will work together again.

MARK LANEGAN BAND "BLUES FUNERAL"

I was surprised when I realized that Mark Lanegan's Blues Funeral is his first solo album since 2004's Bubblegum (a really underrated record).  Of course, he's kept busy over the past decade: he joined (and then left) Queens Of The Stone Age, he's done records as a duo with former Belle & Sebastian member Isobell Campbell and he had The Gutter Twins band with Greg Dulli. He's also collaborated with Soulsavers on two LPs, and I think that the latter experience influenced the sound of this album.

Soulsavers is a British dance music/remix team with a big rock, gospel and country influence.  Lanegan went in some new directions with them; he sang on two albums and also performed with them. The Soulsavers don't appear on the LP, but Lanegan kept a contemporary (but not pandering) sound here, thanks to his "Band," namely multi-instrumentalist Alain Johannes and drummer Jack Irons.  In other words, 2/3 of Eleven.  Johannes produced the record as well, and I'd love to get a copy of this to The Edge: U2 should sign this guy up immediately. I feel like this is the album they were trying to make last time.  It is definitely the kind of album Chris Cornell was trying to make on his last solo joint (and since Johannes has worked with Cornell on his solo albums, it's a shame that they didn't come up with anything this incredible).

"Bleeding Muddy Water" is a classic blues or soul song: I'd love to hear Gary Clark Jr. covering this one.  "St. Louis Elegy" sees Lanegan and Dulli singing together again: it's a potent blend, and I'd recommend that Greg consider working with Johannes on the next Twilight Singers LP. "Riot In My House" is as close to metal as Lanegan's gotten on his own records; unsurprisingly, Queen Josh Homme is wailing away on the track. "Ode To Sad Disco" is definitely a song U2 would wish they wrote if they heard this, and ditto for "Quiver Syndrome." (by the way, I realize how off-putting my U2 references are to Lanegan fans. Apologies).

I can't think of many examples of an album that sounds so cutting edge, while maintaining a kind of warmth.  It rocks, it swings.  A couple of years ago, if you told me that Lanegan would do a fresh sounding, electronic-tinged record that would blow my mind, I may not have believed it. But it's kind of like Johnny Cash singing on U2's "The Wanderer" (them again).  It shouldn't work, but it works.

The year isn't 25% over, but I have to think that this will make my top 10 of the year.  If it doesn't, it will have been an amazing year for music.

THEM CROOKED VULTURES AT ROSELAND

OK, the above performance isn't from Them Crooked Vultures' Roseland show, it was two nights before on Saturday Night Live. But like on SNL, they were big, bad, riffy and had mad swagger (in the parlance of the times). They were a heaving juggernaut of awesome heavy blues-based (but not blues reverent) rock. TCV is on the cover of the new Guitar World, and in the feature, frontman Josh Homme says that he would have had a real problem if he felt like he was filling in for Robert Plant, Jimmy Page or Kurt Cobain. It's actually the perfect attitude to have. It allows the group to be their own group and not a "supergroup." Also in the article, it looked like Dave Grohl kept Josh from making the band too riff-y and not song-y enough... there are some killer riffs and great songs on the album, but I wish they worked on the songs a bit more. That said, they were righteous live, especially on "Scumbag Blues." It was great to see Dave Grohl playing drums (I never saw Nirvana; I've seen Dave play drums a bit with the Foo Fighters and I saw a Mike Watt gig when he played drums for most of the show). This was the first time I ever saw John Paul Jones perform: I have seen both of his surviving Led Zeppelin ex-bandmates, but never John. He was just as cool as you would expect. He's 64 and playing super heavy rock with guys decades younger than him. He looks great, sounds great and his fingers move super fast. I've heard that Them Crooked Vultures are thinking about the next album already. Here's hoping they knock it out quickly, I can't wait to hear where they go from here (with apologies to Dave's bandmates in the Foo Fighters).

Honorable mention to guitarist/keyboardist Alain Johannes, who plays with the band at their live shows. A former member of Eleven (I saw them open for both Pearl Jam and Soundgarden), he also plays with Homme in Queens of the Stone Age and on Josh's Desert Sessions albums, he really added to the band's live sound.  They should have him join as a full member, even though he isn't famous.