I realise that the Trees brand of (cough cough) Seattle grunge may not go down a treat with the more goth oriented crowd here, but I recently ‘rediscovered’ my Screaming Trees back catalogue and was pleasantly surprised to hear that not only does it not sound in the least bit dated or tired (unlike some of the releases put out by their contemporaries) but it blitzes most of the shite that passes for ‘indie’ these days (ie Snow Patrol, Kaiser Chiefs etc etc).
There’s some amazing stuff there to check out - incidently I have an old Australian tv interview with Al and Paul around the time of the '95 Big Day Out where both of them admit to being HUGE fans of The Screaming Trees…just for a little extra information!!!
I have every Screaming Trees album. I bought one of the early SST albums on cassette way back, been hooked since. I mentioned them in the ‘what are u listening 2’ thread the other day…
Was a big enough fan of Screaming Trees a number of years ago. But to be honest they only have 2 quality albums: ‘Sweet Oblivion’ and ‘Dust’ (which is still class I think). They have another album called ‘Uncle Anasthesia’ and it was the most boring, disappointing thing I heard (at the time when I was big into their other stuff). Also Screaming Trees had a bit of stigma of being that ‘cool lesser known Seattle band’ when I was in school. You get all these “hipsters” (I don’t know what else to call them) who say they like Screaming Trees but they didn’t know shit about them. But that can’t take from the quality they put out. Mark Lanegan is a great vocalist and I’d usually always check out what he releases. Must upgrade my Screaming Trees collection as all their stuff I have is on dingy old tapes.
And your right, bands like Sleep Patrol are murderously irritating. A complete shambles of an act. They have a new song out now and all it says is something like “I love this city” (or this town, or this night… whatever) and it stinks of just writing a song so all these “suit” people have their little weekend song. That was a bit cynical but it is the truth.
mick - have you ever checked out their pre-Uncle lps? they did an EP + 3 LPs for SST, an LP before that even, and a pre-Uncle EP for Sub Pop that I think was brilliant. I think Uncle was sorta a drop the ball sorta record myself, as the band nearly bought it right there.
Have the anthology of the pre Uncle material and ‘Invisible Lantern’. I thought that they didn’t achieve a consumate sound till Sweet Oblivion. Im a bit fussy with studio albums I guess. Might give the earlier stuff a run through again and if inspired il check for the other EPs on ebay or something.
Still it doesn’t compare with ‘Whiskey for the Holy Ghost’. Quality.
if you’re a ‘Greatest Hits’ Package kinda guy - there’s Oceans of Confusion - Songs of the Screaming Trees 1989-1996, which covers their major label years and the SST Years Anthology which covers the SST stuff. You only miss out on a pre-SST album (which was partly re-recorded) and a brilliant Sub Pop EP which was exactly between SST + their first major label works.
As for Mark Lanegan himself - Whiskey for the Holy Ghost is quite good, along with his first solo lp. Also, I think he’s great in ‘The Gutter Twins’ (Lanegan & Greg Dulli [ex-Afghan Whigs]).
They have another album called ‘Uncle Anasthesia’ and it was the most boring, disappointing thing I heard (at the time when I was big into their other stuff).
I agree, it does sag somewhat in the middle - but I’ll be damned if the beginning and ending of that album isn’t some of the most quality stuff to come out of that whole freakin’ scene. Even their ordinary stuff shines through.
Also Screaming Trees had a bit of stigma of being that ‘cool lesser known Seattle band’ when I was in school. You get all these “hipsters” (I don’t know what else to call them) who say they like Screaming Trees but they didn’t know shit about them.
Dunno about ‘hipsters’ - nobody in Australia seems to know who they are/were. Even my friends who were indie/alternative nutcases (I was always the ‘weirdo music’ guy in our group) were only vaguely familiar with them. Except for one guy I know, the guy who turned me onto them in the first place. He is the biggest Screaming Trees fan on the planet. And he’s into everything, from Hendrix/Zeppelin classic rock to Merzbow/Wolf Eyes experimental noise and has an enormous wealth of music knowledge at his disposal.
So I doubt he’d toss around statements like “one of the greatest rock bands ever” without REALLY meaning it…
After working on a harvest one August a few years back, we kicked back with a few beers at my cousin’s place and listened to ‘Whiskey for the Holy Ghost’. It was one of the most memorable music experiences Ive had and the album is the ultimate “chill after hard work” music. Also I think ‘More or Less’ from Sweet Oblivion is one of the finest rock songs around.
That’s weird - I was going to buy a Screaming Trees cd the other day. Had it in my hand walking towards the counter but saw a cheap Joy Division compilation and got that instead.
Don’t really like the Trees but it makes for decent background music (when doing the vacuuming etc). However I’d take them over Pearl Jam or Nirvana or Alice In Chains any day of the week. ‘Dollar Bill’ is a great song of theirs.