Kategorie: CD-Reviews | Genre: Alternative/Indie | Heft: Jahrgang 2012, eclipsed Nr. 137 / 2-2012 | VÖ-Jahr: 2012 | Wertung: 8/10 | Label: 4AD | Autor: WK
In the last eight years Mark Lanegan has made countless requests to speak in other bands, only under his own aegis he has done nothing more. Supposedly because he didn't have time. His new album "Blues Funeral" now shows that the reason was completely different. The former singer of the Screaming Trees simply needed a long run to implement a revolutionary concept. With Blues and Krautrock he combines two basic musical attitudes that were previously considered incompatible. He does not need more than these two components, because he uses the complete spectrum of their combination possibilities. The songs range from the whole herb with a homeopathic blues touch like "St. Louis Elegy" to the completely opposite balance of power in "Bleeding Muddy Water". In "Harborview Hospital" the singer even bowed before Giorgio Moroder. In each track Lanegan repositions his scratchy bass between antiquated synthesizers and electric guitars. Although he is always looking for the optimal sound environment for his organ, it is still one hundred percent a fair for his singing qualities. Never before has Lanegan concentrated so confidently on the essentials as on this album, on which he collects the best experiences with the Soul Savers, Screaming Trees, Queens Of The Stone Age, Desert Sessions, Twilight Singers, Gutter Twins and Isobel Campbell. The album title may be a little misleading, because this is not about any reminiscence of New Orleans, but about a variable centre between past and future. The time for lamentation is over. After long aberrations and intoxicating views, a tidy and positive Mark Lanegan has released his most convincing panorama album since the end of the Screaming Trees.
Top track: St. Louis Elegy
