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SMC: Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan- Ballad of Broken Seas
thebetterman
Posts: 657
Hey guys, here's my pick for the week. Sorry for the small delay. Here's the release that was sent out about the album. Its not in stores yet, but it comes out this spring. Its a really pretty album, as one could expect.
Scottish chanteuse Isobel Campbell has inked a long term worldwide recording
deal with V2 Records. Isobel, formally of Belle & Sebastian, has spent the
initial part of this year completing work on Ballad of the Broken Seas, the
collaborative album recorded with former Screaming Trees & Queens of the Stone
Age singer, Mark Lanegan. Although much of the album was recorded with Campbell
in her native Glasgow, and Lanegan in Los Angeles, the two actually came
together in the studio in L.A. in May to cut a number of new tracks for the
release, including a new Lanegan penned song, æRevolverÆ and a version of the
traditional blues tune, St James Infirmary. Isobel initially met Mark Lanegan
in Glasgow while he was on tour with Queens Of The Stoneage. Professing to be a
big fan of her music, Lanegan made an offhand comment about how he would love
for them to make a record together. Isobel took the idea and ran with it,
writing a number of songs with Lanegan in mind, communicating with him via the
internet, and posting over tracks for him to add his vocals to.
"His voice is rough and a lot of people say mine is angelic," Campbell says of
Lanegan. "It's the two sides of the coin, really. That's how we both always
looked at it. It's very unlikely. It's a very feminine/masculine thing as well."
As for the sound of "Broken Seas," which features a "quite nasty" cover of Hank
Williams' "Ramblin' Man" that Campbell says would fit well in a Quentin
Tarantino movie, the artist offers, "I was going for an old-school kind of
approach. I'd been listening a lot to the 'American Recordings' by Johnny Cash
and I'm a huge, huge fan of Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra. It's kind of
sun-bleached and psychedelic, with a little bit of folk or country."
Scottish chanteuse Isobel Campbell has inked a long term worldwide recording
deal with V2 Records. Isobel, formally of Belle & Sebastian, has spent the
initial part of this year completing work on Ballad of the Broken Seas, the
collaborative album recorded with former Screaming Trees & Queens of the Stone
Age singer, Mark Lanegan. Although much of the album was recorded with Campbell
in her native Glasgow, and Lanegan in Los Angeles, the two actually came
together in the studio in L.A. in May to cut a number of new tracks for the
release, including a new Lanegan penned song, æRevolverÆ and a version of the
traditional blues tune, St James Infirmary. Isobel initially met Mark Lanegan
in Glasgow while he was on tour with Queens Of The Stoneage. Professing to be a
big fan of her music, Lanegan made an offhand comment about how he would love
for them to make a record together. Isobel took the idea and ran with it,
writing a number of songs with Lanegan in mind, communicating with him via the
internet, and posting over tracks for him to add his vocals to.
"His voice is rough and a lot of people say mine is angelic," Campbell says of
Lanegan. "It's the two sides of the coin, really. That's how we both always
looked at it. It's very unlikely. It's a very feminine/masculine thing as well."
As for the sound of "Broken Seas," which features a "quite nasty" cover of Hank
Williams' "Ramblin' Man" that Campbell says would fit well in a Quentin
Tarantino movie, the artist offers, "I was going for an old-school kind of
approach. I'd been listening a lot to the 'American Recordings' by Johnny Cash
and I'm a huge, huge fan of Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra. It's kind of
sun-bleached and psychedelic, with a little bit of folk or country."
-one thing to remember, always have a good time, all the time
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2003 ~ Toronto
2005 ~ London, Toronto
2006 ~ Toronto
2008 ~ Hartford, Mansfied I,
2009 ~ Toronto, Chicago I, Chicago II
2010 ~ Cleveland, Buffalo
2011 ~ Toronto I, Toronto II, Ottawa, Hamilton
2013 - London, Pittsburgh, Buffalo
to see if i still feel,
i focus all the pain,
the only thing that´s real...
very true...
i'm listening to the first track as we speak and i can already tell you that i'm going to like this...
thanks!
Some days you wake up and sit on a park bench next to an eighty year old Russian architect, and some days you don't. I think this is my new life philosophy.
http://epplehausradio.blogspot.com/
pearl jam @ the astoria, london, 20/04/06
Then I came back to this thread and read this:
Nothing like having your thoughts on the tunes be corroborated by the artists.
I'm digging this one so far.
Good to know I haven't missed anything...will download this one but can't say if I will get the time to listen to it right now. But I promise to get back to it once I get the time.
www.stopglobalaids.com www.indymedia.org www.ecologyfund.com www.thehungersite.com www.amnesty.org www.pratham.org www.icbl.org www.care2.com/click2donate
it's great to see that you posted...i'm going to get it now as well. cheers! well, i'm away for the weekend now, and didn't get a chance to listen before i left...so, i'm just gonna have to spin it monday. i'll put it down and figure it out. from what you are saying here, it seems really good.
from my window to yours
---
1. Ten
2. Vs.
3. Pearl Jam
4. Binaural
5. No Code
6. Riot Act
7. Yield
8. Vitalogy
Pearl Jam Song Rankings
---
1. Black
2. Rearviewmirror
3. Light Years
4. Given to Fly
5. Severed Hand
And I don't mean beautiful as in "pretty and nice", but beautiful in the way Greek tragedies, Faulkner novels, saying goodbye to a lover is beautiful... hauntingly beautiful. The first 2 songs work in establishing the mood that will domain the rest of the album, a certain bucolic air, a certain tension, more than a Tarantino movie it made me think of certain passages from Lord of the Rings, woods in the dark, gnomes smoking unnamed weeds, mysterious presences, a white witch, a wicked wizard looking for each other blinded by the night... Fragility, that's also something I could feel in most of the album, like this tension that is always about to break into some sort of dispair but never does. On certain tracks you can really tell both singers didn't record together, but far from being a deffect it contributes to create the dramatic effect of two lovers longing for each other, sometimes in kind of a wicked way. By track 3 I was listening echoes of Nick Cave and Tom Waits (2 of my fave songwritters) worked under a new scope, I bet both, Lanegan and Campbell are fans, I bet they really had in mind the duets Cave has done with many different female singers (Kylie Minogue, PJ Harvey, Anita Lane) across the years, and I love the evil tender that you can breathe in most of the songs.
I listened to this last night, almost at midnight, by track 5 I just felt taken to a whole other world, surrounded by the darkness of the night I swear I felt how my heart almost skipped out of my chest for the amazing feeling this music was giving me, I mean it wasn't the lyrics, it wasn't the music by itself, but just the amazing experience of listening to the songs and realizing you're in front of something sublime, something that trascends the work of the musicians, the experience of the listener... just like that feeling some of you might had when being in the mountains or in front of the sea, of being one with nature, of seeing how big everything is and, far from feeling overwhelmed by it, you just feel this strange joy of being part of the world that surrounds you... George Bataille calls it "inner experience" and links it with pain and madness... so, is strange I'm calling it a joyful thing, but is that strange way in which some of the best art works.
Ramblin Man could've been recorded by Tom Waits and Come Walk With Me kind of relaxes the mood of the record, a lovely song. From there on I think the album kind of looses certain strength, but by then the listener is so fascinated that is minor flaw. Honey Child is maybe the most different track of the album, almost with poppy hooks that are warmly welcomed after the journey through black forests that precedes it.
There's another thread discussing what some people think is the first great album of 2006... well, for me, this is the first jewel I'm able to hear this year, I think this really is timeless stuff, clever, beautiful, touching, enjoyable. I'll be looking for the original record as soon as it gets released, and lets cross fingers for it to receive the appreciation it deserves.
Thanks for the ride, betterman.
-The crazy guy with the Ramones t-shirt.
Mexico C. 12/10/05.
"There is a rose that I want to live for
although, God knows, I may not have met her"
-J. Strummer
"And you'll never know just how dark this screen could be"
I have given this disc a buttload of spins. I have no clue yet what to think. This one has me stumped more than any other pick for some reason. so more spins to come. maybe I need to get a buzz going.
Hey, I actually know that song you uploaded pretty well... Between 2004 and 2005 I really became a big fan of Nancy Sinatra's work... and curiously this is in some sort linked to the comment I did about Nick Cave in my review... early on his solo career he did a duet and worked in albums with this girl named Anita Lane, now, I don't know much about Anita but she has an awesome version of "These Boots Are Made for Walking", that by the way, has nothing to do with Jessica Simpson's version, the version I heard is a remix made by Barry Adamson and is one of the sexiest things I've ever heard... So I tracked the album Boots by N. Sinatra and actually liked it pretty much, it still sounds fresh, is good for chilling and good to start a party... I just loved that kind of "lolita" tone to her voice, and of course the quality of the album is in great part due to Lee Hazzlewood's vision. I got to bought 2 other albums from Ms. Sinatra: Novin with Nancy, taken from a TV special, that includes this trippy, tenderly wicked track -something that shares with Campbell's and Lanegan's album, let me insist- with Lee Hazzlewood and other sexy and strange baby named Drummer Man, among some other great tunes; and her newest self-titled album where she collaborates with Morrissey, Jarvis Cocker (from Pulp), Thurston Moore, Pete Yorn, Jon Spencer, and others to create a gorgeous and fine recording.
Yeah, I can see Nancy's and Lee's shadow in this work, but I insist it's been filtered through Nick Cave's and in part also Tom Wait's (check his soundtrack to the Coppola movie "One for the Road" if you have a chance) kinky work with different chanteuses over the years. Another possible influence that comes to mind is French singer Serge Gainsbourg and his duets with Brigitte Bardott and others (among them his own daughter with whom he recorded a pretty polemical song called "Lemon Incest"), but let's save this one for maybe another discussion.
-The crazy guy with the Ramones t-shirt.
Mexico C. 12/10/05.
"There is a rose that I want to live for
although, God knows, I may not have met her"
-J. Strummer
"And you'll never know just how dark this screen could be"
gasp! mark's all over songs for the deaf. sings (and co-wrote) "a song for the dead" and "a song for the deaf." sings on "hangin' tree" and "god is in the radio." also wrote co-wrote "no one knows." he was on the previous queens record, rated r, singing back-up on "auto pilot" (and took over lead vox live), and sang/wrote "in the fade" (a beautiful song, highly recommended). on lullabies to paralyze, he sings "this lullaby," back-up on "burn the witch," and with the bonus version of the record, he trades vocals with billy gibbons on queens' cover of zz top's "precious and grace." initially, josh homme wanted him to be the lead singer for queens when he was recording their first record, the self-titled one, but mark was, um... in a half-way house on court order. so he couldn't.
oh mark...
I am not sure if I have Nick Cave on the brain of late, or perhaps he has a bigger influence on the indie world than I thought.
It is no surprise to me that the folks previously have mentioned him as you all have pretty widespread musical tastes. At what point though is it so obvious an influence that it can backfire on you? Or when does it sound 'too much' like an artist that you dismiss it as such? If I was in the mood for this kind of music, would I ever play this over Boatmans Call?.
I am not a huge Lanegan fan, I have a couple Screaming Trees and I have Bubblegum. I broke out Bubblegum to see if Broken Seas is a stretch for him. I don't think it is, I can see how he fits on a record like this, by no means is this a dramatic departure.
As I mentioned earlier, I have spun this numerous times and I guess I am still struggling somewhat as to my impressions of this. It is a beautiful record in that 'dark' sense, however I can only listen to this in spurts. I don't have a problem with the dynamic between Campbell and Lanegan, I think they make it work pretty well. My complaint though is that Campbell sings as if she is trying not to wake up a 2 year old baby in the next room. Every song she sings has that same 'stepped up from a whisper' tone to it. Her voice is beautiful, I wish she broke out a little and showcased it. It on occasion brings a 'sameness' to the songs.
I wonder if they were together the whole time if it would have a different feel to it. I would have liked this more I think if it were a Lanegan solo disc featuring Campbell on a few tracks or vice-versa if Campbell varied her singing style some.
Track 4 is my favorite though the 'under my blood and my skin' line irks me. I don't know if I will purchase this when it comes out but no doubt I will play it from time to time. Lanegan is no question a talent and it is great he went this direction. I also hope this Gutter Twins happens.
thanks for the pick!
from my window to yours
barcoach wrote up such a great review so i don't know what to add... but this is such a beautiful and haunting record to listen to after a few glasses of red wine at night...
i will listen to it regularly...
Some days you wake up and sit on a park bench next to an eighty year old Russian architect, and some days you don't. I think this is my new life philosophy.
http://epplehausradio.blogspot.com/
pearl jam @ the astoria, london, 20/04/06