Mark Lanegan Band - Bubblegum (2004)

Fortunately, all this attention doesn't seem to have fazed the sandpaper-voiced singer; despite the guest list, BUBBLEGUM is as dirty, gritty, and raw as anything in his catalog.

Tracks
01 When Your Number Isn't Up Lanegan 3:01
02 Hit the City Lanegan 2:48
03 Wedding Dress Lanegan 3:07
04 Methamphetamine Blues Lanegan 3:16
05 One Hundred Days Lanegan 4:36
06 Bombed Lanegan 1:08
07 Strange Religion Lanegan 4:07
08 Sideways in Reverse Lanegan 2:46
09 Come to Me Lanegan 3:45
10 Like Little Willie John Lanegan 3:53
11 Can't Come Down Lanegan 3:37
12 Morning Glory Wine Lanegan 4:27
13 Head Lanegan 3:04
14 Driving Death Valley Blues Lanegan 2:48
15 Out of Nowhere Lanegan 2:43

Review @ cduniverse
While much of Lanegan's previous solo work is a mix of languid folk-rock, gutter blues, and the kind of grunge-mutated 1960s-psych influences that powered the Screaming Trees, BUBBLEGUM is lean, angular, and occasionally almost avant-garde. Simple, driving, Stooges-like riffs and rhythms abet minimalistic organ lines, heavily treated vocals, and a somewhat industrial tonal aesthetic. Notorious substance-abuser Lanegan's post-rehab lyrics are no less ominous or emotionally harrowing for their expanded perspective, and he remains a challenging singer/songwriter eager to explore new sonic avenues.

In between the release of FIELD SONGS and its follow-up, BUBBLEGUM, former Screaming Trees singer Mark Lanegan sang for hard-rock heroes both old (a reunited MC5) and new (Queens of the Stone Age), gaining both fans and famous friends in the process. Thus, all eyes were on Lanegan for BUBBLEGUM, which features guest shots by everyone from PJ Harvey and Queens leader Josh Homme to Izzy Stradlin and Duff McKagan of Guns N' Roses. Fortunately, all this attention doesn't seem to have fazed the sandpaper-voiced singer; despite the guest list, BUBBLEGUM is as dirty, gritty, and raw as anything in his catalog.

Screaming Trees Lead Singer

Personnel
Mark Lanegan
Chris Goss - guitar
David Catching - organ
Aldo Struyf
Molly Mcquire - bass guitar
Tracy Chisholm - tapes
Wendy Rae Fowler - piano

Also:
p.j. harvey, Izzy Stradlin, Duff McKagan

Spin (p.120) - "[G]ruff stuff….[With] a genuine, slow-burning Leadbelly brutalism." - Grade: B+
Entertainment Weekly (p.66) - "It seems as if it were rising from a deeply dug well, especially Lanegan's glowering pirate-in-recovery voice….He hasn't sounded this focused in years." - Grade: A
Q (p.121) - 4 stars out of 5 - "[He's] more alive and more vital than ever."
Uncut (p.96) - 4 stars out of 5 - "[T]his is an entirely consistent record from a man who's yet to make a bad one, and whose rasping gravitas has made him one of the great voices of our time."
Uncut (p.75) - Ranked #6 in Uncut's "Best New Albums of 2004" - "[A] bleakly corrosive, yet strangely uplifting album that spits, snarls and nurses…"
Magnet (p.115) - "He expands his palette on BUBBLEGUM…A full-blown creative revival…"
Magnet (p.66) - Ranked #8 in Magnet's "The 20 Best Albums Of 2004" - "Lanegan does a few gypsy box-steps and a couple Seattle stomps, always dancing with his favorite partners: love and drugs…"
CMJ (p.6) - "His finest work yet swoons between nail-biting highs and strung-out lows…"
Mojo (Publisher) (p.84) - 4 stars out of 5 - "BUBBLEGUM is, in many respects, classic Americana, at its simplest level, wide-screen loneliness, the sound of rattling boxcars and rattling lung, of dusty roads and endless journeys."

Review by Mark Deming
With the Screaming Trees an increasingly distant memory and his brief tenure with Queens of the Stone Age seemingly over and done, Mark Lanegan appears to have well and truly become a solo artist, and while the dark and blues-shot introspections of Whiskey for the Holy Ghost and The Winding Sheet felt like a respite from Lanegan's usual musical diet of the time, Bubblegum sounds like an effort to fuse the nocturnal atmospherics of his solo work with the impressive brain/brawn ratio of his better-known bands. Credited to the Mark Lanegan Band (though there's no consistent set of musicians from track to track), Bubblegum is hardly short on the moody stuff, with Lanegan's nicotine-buffered pipes leading these songs though any number of empty streets and unhappy events, as on the jonesed-out road trip of "Strange Religion," the pained drift of "One Hundred Days," and the wasted longing of "Morning Glory Wine" – notice a common theme yet? (Oh, and in case you were wondering, the album's title refers not to teen-centric pop music, but a line from his song "Bombed": "When I'm bombed, I stretch like bubblegum/And look too long straight at the morning sun.") But Lanegan was also of a mind to rock out a bit while making this album (or figured that his newer fans were expecting it of him), and with his QOTSA pals Josh Homme and Nick Oliveri helping out on a few cuts, he does indeed deliver the rock, most notably the clanking menace of "Methamphetamine Blues," the straightforward bash of "Sideways in Reverse," and the organ-driven ooze of "Hit the City" (the latter featuring Polly Jean Harvey in an inspired duet appearance). But while most guys making a solo album after a stint with a successful band create music that speaks of freedom and release, Bubblegum finds Lanegan digging ever deeper into the obsessions and appetites that drag him into the same corner every time. It sure doesn't sound like a life most of us would wish to lead, but it makes for damned compelling art, and the dank emotional caverns of Bubblegum offer some territory well worth exploring for the strong-willed.