Mark Lanegan Field Songs CD

As leader of the Screaming Trees, Mark Lanegan helped introduce the mainstream to the Seattle sound known somewhat dubiously as grunge. His rough vocal stylings fit perfectly with his band's swirling hard rock attack. As a solo artist, however, Lanegan took a much different approach, playing the part of the modern-day blues wanderer. FIELD SONGS, released in 2001, is an intense collection of blues and folk-flecked guitar numbers augmented by touches of atmospheric noise and occasionally more elaborate production and arrangements. Lanegan's tales of desperation, loneliness, and loss feel both intimate and vast, and show the singer-songwriter to be much more than what the 1990s hype machine might lead one to believe.

Mark Lanegan is best known for his years as the vocalist for the Screaming Trees. On this release he has enlisted the help of longtime collaborator Mike Johnson (Dinosaur Jr.) and Ben Shepherd (Soundgarden). Without question, this is one of the most fulfilled albums of his career. 12 tracks. 2001 release.

Recorded at Jupiter Studios and Robert Lang Studios, Seattle, Washington, and Pim Studios and Sound City, Los Angeles, California.

Personnel: Mark Lanegan (vocals, guitar); Ben Shepherd (vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, lap steel guitar, piano); John Agnello, Martin Feveyear (vocals, recorder); Chris Goss (vocals, synthesizer); Mark Hoyt (vocals); Mike Johnson (guitar, background vocals); Allen Davis, Brett Netson (acoustic guitar); Keni Richards (piano, Mellotron, drums); Marek (piano); Duff McKagan (Fender Rhodes piano, drums); Bill Rieflin (drums).

Audio Mixers: John Agnello; Martin Feveyear.

Recording information: Jupiter Studios, Seattle, WA; Pimp, Los Angeles, CA; Robert Lang Studios, Seattle, WA; Sound City, Los Angeles, CA.

Photographer: Chris Strother.

Personnel includes: Mark Lanegan (vocals); Ben Shepherd (vocals, acoustic & electric guitar, lap steel, piano, bass); Martin Feveyear (vocals, Hammond organ); Chris Goss (vocals, synthesizer); John Agnello, Wendy Rae Fowler, Mark Hoyt (vocals); Mike Johnson (acoustic & electric guitar, piano, Wurlitzer piano); Alan Davis (acoustic guitar, bass); Brett Netson (acoustic guitar); Keni Richards (piano, Mellotron, drums); Duff McKagan (Fender Rhodes, drums); Bill Rieflin, Mark Boquist (drums).

Q (8/01, p.135) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...Much like Steve Earle or Leonard Cohen, he has the talent to transform life's dissappointments and regrets into a work of real wonder and beauty."
Uncut (8/01, p.94) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...FIELD SONGS is profound in wisdom and emotion..."o
Alternative Press (7/01, p.74) - 7 out of 10 - "...Vocally, Lanegan is in top form....his best work yet..."
Magnet (6-7/01, p.99) - "...His most fully realized work to date..."
No Depression (7-8/01, p.126) - "...An album full of doomed gothic romance, pharmaceutical and drunken reverie, and blurry, sepia snapshots....you'll be hard pressed to find anything more tempting than FIELD SONGS all year..."
Mojo (Publisher) (7/01, p.112) - "...Brutal, bleak, and Lanegan's finest hour yet."
NME (Magazine) (12/29/01, p.59) - Ranked #27 in NME's 50 "Albums Of the Year 2001".
NME (Magazine) (6/9/01, p.41) - 8 out of 10 - "...This is soul music. Not necessarily by genre...but by the virtue of the songs that lay their author's soul bare....pitched somewhere between the last moments of clarity drifting off on junk-filled dreams and the ganzwing desperation between fixes..."