Scraps at Midnight
| Untitled | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [1] |
| Rolling Stone |  [2] |
| Pitchfork Media | (7.9/10)[3] |
Scraps at Midnight is the third solo album by former Screaming Trees vocalist Mark Lanegan. It was produced by Mark Lanegan and longtime collaborator Mike Johnson.
The album opens with "Hospital Roll Call," which many interpret as a sly reference to a hospital room number that the singer occupied during one of his stints in rehab. The Cohenesque "Hotel" expands on this theme ("Hear the roars and the hush and the cold chill of time, and I'm happy murdering my mind"), while the gentle "Bell Black Ocean" and "Stay" deal with themes of love and perseverance ("Livin's not hard, it's just not easy, always keepin' the dogs off"). "Last One in the World" is rumored to be a dedication to friend and collaborator Kurt Cobain, who committed suicide in 1994.
Scraps at Midnight could arguably be considered the final installment of a trilogy of albums (preceded by The Winding Sheet and Whiskey for the Holy Ghost) which feature the songwriters's interpretation of American roots music set to troubling lyrics that explore themes of loss, sin, and redemption. In a 2004 interview (currently available on YouTube), Lanegan stated "That's always been my goal since I started...It's sort of been my obsession to make records that had the feeling of the blues, the spirit of them, I think, but without being what we'd consider to be traditional blues, or twelve bar "bar band" blues, which is a boring, outdated mode and I'm not interested in it. But I am interested in the real feelings behind it."
Track listing
- "Hospital Roll Call" (Mark Lanegan) - 2:58
- "Hotel" (Lanegan) - 3:10
- "Stay" (Lanegan, Mike Johnson) - 3:29
- "Bell Black Ocean" (Lanegan, Johnson, Keni Richards) - 2:43
- "Last One in the World" (Lanegan, Johnson) - 4:24
- "Wheels" (Lanegan) - 4:35
- "Waiting on a Train" (Lanegan, Johnson) - 4:32
- "Day and Night" (Lanegan) - 3:16
- "Praying Ground" (Lanegan, Johnson) - 3:07
- "Because of This" (Lanegan, Johnson, Richards, Paul Solger Dana) - 8:19
Personnel[4]
- Mark Lanegan - vocals, guitar, producer
- Mike Johnson - guitar, producer
- Dave Catching
- Fred Drake
- Keni Richards
- Paul Solger Dana
Additional personnel
- Liz Burns - voice (on 7)
- Tad Doyle - drums (on 6)
- J Mascis - piano (on 6)
- Phil Sparks - upright bass (on 6, 8)
- Mike Stinette - saxophone (on 6)
- Terry Yohn - harmonica (on 8)
Technical personnel
- John Agnello - mixing; engineer (on 8,9)
- John Burton - engineer (on 9)
- Greg Calbi - mastering
- Terry Date - engineer (on 6, 8)
- Jack Endino - engineer (on 6)
- Charles Peterson - photography
- Judith Schaechter - artwork
- Kenneth Sherwood - design
Notes
- Bell Black Ocean appears in the first episode of the second season of HBO's Eastbound & Down.
References
- ^ "Scraps at Midnight - Mark Lanegan". Allmusic.
- ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20071002004123/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/marklanegan/albums/album/105657/review/5944252/scraps_at_midnight. Archived from the original on October 2, 2007. Retrieved September 4, 2007.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help); Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20070702175118/http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/19287-scraps-at-midnight. Archived from the original on July 2, 2007. Retrieved September 11, 2007.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help); Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ "Mark Lanegan - Scraps At Midnight". Discogs. Retrieved 2018-07-21.