605 Screaming Trees - Dust (1996)

 605 Screaming Trees - Dust (1996)

Studio Album - Rock



About the Act:

Screaming Trees, what a great name for a band. I can just see those trees, screaming away, in Ellensburg, Washington USA, where the band was formed. They started screaming in 1984, but got it out of their system by 2000, after screaming out 8 studio albums. These trees were, of course, rooted to the spot, so consequently there has been little in the way of changing trees. I mean their membership was pretty stable.

They are known as one of the pioneers of Grunge.

About the Album:

This was their last album, and represented a softening of their sound to incorporate folk and blues.

My History with this Album:

None whatsoever.

Review:

A common pattern for me when reviewing an album is to listen once, read up on the act and the album and listen again. That's what happened with this album. I have it on again now as I write. When I read up, I was mildly surprised that this band are considered to be a Grunge band. This does not sound like Grunge to me. Admittedly, it is acknowledged that this album has a bit of a stylistic shift from their previous albums.

So, if you are reading this, as a prelude to deciding if you will listen to the album, and know they are known as a Grunge band (I had no idea - no preconception of the band whatsoever), and if my concept of what constitutes Grunge is reasonably accurate (not necessarily a safe assumption) then know that in my opinion, this is not Grunge. 

I have billed it as Rock. That's quite a broad term. I would categorise it as being of medium heaviness, at a kind of Lenny Kravitz level. It's quit varied, and has a lot of different instruments and textures used. At times it is reminiscent of the Beatles, of Oasis, of Alternative Rock, of Modern Psychedelia, of Paul Weller, but it does borrow from blues, folk, world music, and many others. The default mode is a big guitar-backed rock sound that is very common from Alt Rock, but they throw in lots of other things.

The singer, let's look him up - Mark Lanegan, has quite a low pitched voice that reminds me a little of David Bowie, but more of Edwyn Collins, with maybe a touch of Lou Reed. It lacks the bite and presence of any of those, but instead brings a laconic laid-back approach that works quite well. 

The songs are a mixture of content, this doesn't seem to be hugely the focus, and I've not picked up in detail what they are about. I suspect some are a bit cryptic. There is some pseudo-religious stuff that I registered, especially in Dying Days and Gospel Plow (which is quite an unusual song musically and production-wise also.

For something that is completely new to me, it is going down well. I like the musical variety and inventiveness. I like the vocal delivery and the production. I could imagine listening to this again by choice.

8/10


Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/0YW9Qke0AfzNVISsPQ7KoF

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKX9Zml-wQe8IcuWmeFdZ-BKfZssRP9MB

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dust_(Screaming_Trees_album)



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