The birth of a Vinyl Junkie, and a tribute to Mark Lanegan

It all began when I went to see Mark Lanegan at Manchester Academy. As I stood in line after the show to meet and greet one of my favourite artists of all time I struggled with the quandary of what the hell to say to Mark fricking Lanegan. The dude was best mates with Kurt Cobain back in the day, he has a towering and formidable body of work that moves me like no other, and he has Josh Homme on speed dial whenever he feels like a jam. He sat there at the T-shirt stall like a ragged pillar of rock mythology; a tangible physical connection to a world that I had only ever experienced vicariously through records and magazines, but one that had thoroughly shaped my personality and sensibilities both musically and emotionally. And yet there he is; just another bloke, obviously. He is a badass though.

Other than requesting he let me come and hang out in the desert with Josh and the boys and that I appear on the next Queens of the Stone Age album, the only rational option was to grab a copy of his magnificent latest album ‘Blues Funeral’ on Vinyl and shove it in his face to sign. Despite his reputation as a misanthropic and grizzled, smack addled miserabalist, Mark came across as warm humble and gracious; he politely signed my copy and posed for a quick photo. He’s probably just shy I thought as I mumbled a few inconsequential words and shuffled off dazed and confused as though I had just made a pathetic attempt to speak to a girl that I fancied. Despite already owning the album on CD there was something about the thought of getting this mystical artefact home and giving it a proper spin in pure analogue form that appealed to me. Simply the fact that the artwork and record itself were larger imbibed the album with a more seductive quality and the promise of the musical delights within seemed to become more palpable than on that flimsy, diminutive CD.

There was one problem, and that was that I didn’t own a record player. I had amassed a small collection of Vinyl that consisted of a few Doors, Pixies and Bob Dylan records whilst I was at Uni a fair few years back. At the time I had the use of my friend Luke’s deck and went through a phase of mainly re-buying vinyl copies of albums I already owned on CD. I guess it’s a bit of a music obsessive geek thing to do, but it was almost like rediscovering the music for the first time and recapturing the fleeting initial buzz of falling in love with something or someone before it wears off and they become a reliable, trustworthy old companion. It wasn’t until later that I discovered that this was genuinely a worthy exercise and on many occasions the music on record does sound different; better, warmer, bigger and more dynamic like the band is right there in the room with you; you really are rediscovering it like a giddy wide eyed child.

I had often considered purchasing a record player just so that I could crack out those old records from my Uni days and my curiosity about this new Lanegan album was the perfect incentive to do so. As soon as I got it all rigged up and pilfered an amp and a couple of spare speakers from my brother I went about systematically re-purchasing all of my favourite albums on Vinyl. What followed was a glorious re-ignition of my passion for music; I could actually sit there and immerse myself in an album rather than feeling as though I should be pre-occupied with something else while the music played on in the background. No, this time I was engaged in the holy ritual of ‘Spinning the Black Circle’.

When I turned up the volume the music seemed to fill the room rather than simply getting louder and I could distinguish the instruments and various musical passages more clearly. In some cases it sounded as though I was listening to a completely different mix of some of these albums I had cherished for years, and they sounded even better. I’m sure an audiophile would tell me this is all obvious, but for me it was a revelation and I’m sure is the beginning of a new addiction. I think I read somewhere that Vinyl sales have gone up 40% in the last year or so, so I guess there’s something in it. Maybe people are rediscovering the delight in vinyl and realizing CDs and MP3s etc. can be a functional alternative to records but don’t have to render them obsolete. To me vinyl feels more like a luxury when I have time to listen instead of running around with my IPod on all the time, which is fine too.

Mark Lanegan played an awesome set that night and it turns out that ‘Blues Funeral’ is one of his best albums to date. So in tribute to Mark, here is my personal selection of his work. To be honest I thoroughly recommend checking out everything he’s done from about 1990 onwards…

The Winding Sheet by Mark Lanegan (1990) – Immensely atmospheric and sparse. Sounds like you’re living in a shed in Oregon, it’s pissing it down and the roof is leaking, but in a good way. Mainly just acoustic guitar and Mark’s awesome voice. Hugely influential on Nirvana’s unplugged session apparently.

      

Sweet Oblivion by the Screaming Trees (1992) – Much overlooked psychedelic blues/rock band written off as Grunge also-rans and fronted by Lanegan. His totally passionate and emotive vocals come into their own here and every track is a winner especially the triple whammy of the final three songs.           

                                        

Whiskey for the Holy Ghost by Mark Lanegan (1994) – A fuller sound and perhaps more developed and consistent than the Winding Sheet. Contains some of his best solo songs.

Dust by the Screaming Trees (1996) – Contains some of the best Trees songs including ‘Dying Days’ and ‘Halo of Ashes’

Field Songs by Mark Lanegan (2001) – Another solid album. Pretty plaintive and stripped down with his voice on top form and some more great tunes.

Blues Funeral by Mark Lanegan band (2012) – His latest offering merges a bit of electronica in with the dark blues atmosphere and a couple of up tempo rockers. He somehow manages to make it all coherent and it’s pretty astonishing that he’s still releasing some of his best material.

Honourable mentions to the first three Queens of the Stone Age albums and ‘Wheels’ and ‘Stay’ from the album ‘Scraps at Midnight’ (1998) for being two of my favourite songs.

Mark I salute you and If I ever get my own dog, it's going to be called 'Lanegan'.