Customer Reviews

I'll Take Care of You

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'll take care of you is Mark Lanegan's fourth solo offering and consists entirely of cover versions. Mellow, simple and beautiful, this is an album to be played late at night where, with a drink and a cigarette (and preferably a sleazy companion) you can wallow deep in the embrace of Lanegan's smokey vocals. Some of the songs seem strange at first - f'instance, Little Sadie appears to be a trad folk track - but Lanegan has stripped and shaped them and made each one his own. Not as deeply personal (or pain soaked) as his previous works nonetheless this album works so perfectly. His voice is outstanding - I was already a big fan of earlier albums and the Screaming Trees - however this, I believe, is the album for everyone and anyone. Buy.

Whenever I buy a CD, I always hear the first 15 secs of each track and then skip to the next.With this... I couldn't skip one single second.I've spent one entire day hearing and hearing it again.I've always loved Lanegan's work, but this... it's by far his best.Mark recently appeared in my country and I found out his genious; he's definitely THE PERFORMER, in the sense of substuntiating his hearings, as well his own remarkable chants, into a world of grace and lament, never explored before.What a pity for Amazon giving only 5 stars...

This is Mark's fourth solo record and he's as consistent as it gets, without growing tiresome or predictable. All of the songs are covers but sound like a natural extension of his own writing from the three previous records. "I'll Take Care of You" comes out roughly a year after "Scraps at Midnight." This is incredibly prolific compared to his normal pace, solo or with the Trees, but there is no sign of haste. On the title track, his voice sounds more poised than it possibly ever has. "Shiloh Town" and "Consider Me" are immediately powerful and almost every other song shows promise of eventually becoming my favorite.

Mark, please tour for this; you were incredible at Showbox last year!

While I was not familiar with the most of the artists or songs that Mark is covering here, they sound more than right at home with his amazing voice. Beautiful from beginning to end. Consider Me and Together Again are my current favorites, but like his last three solo albums, it'll be in my CD player for months so I'm sure that'll change.

Mark Lanegan has spent years honing his sound on his solo projects, and that sound has drifted further and further away from his previous band, The Screaming Trees, and is miles apart from his work with Queens of the Stone Age. With each subsequent album, Lanegan has become earthier and rootsier in his stylings. This album represents a break between albums and a chance to focus on some influences and to work on some favourite songs. The album is all cover songs but Lanegan has a way of making them sound like original compositions. The standout track on the album is the title song ''I'll Take Care Of You''. I wish I knew who did the original cause I'd love to hear it. If it's as good as this one, then I owe that singer a debt of gratitude. I've put this track on many times before and chicks just melt. It's a song filled with a weariness that comes out in every note, but it's a song of understanding. The song everyone would like sung to them. The arrangement is gorgeous, and the instruments evoke images of smoky, neon lit rooms. There's even a vibraphone and flute which take it beyond mere blues and add a touch of jazz. I am, however, familiar with Eddie Floyd's version of 'Consider Me' which Lanegan takes from a sweet soul lament and turns it into a sad, but hopeful plea. The album as a whole is a tribute to past masters long forgotten in the annals of popular music history. It spans the whole rich spectrum of Americana that's, thankfully, being noticed again these days. The album spans folk, country, blues, western, R & B; soul, rock n' roll and jazz and strips them all down to their basic root, proving that they all come from the same vein. Lanegan's voice is top notch, a deep, rich baritone with a damaged scratchiness that suggests pain, loss and weathered experience. 'Creeping Coastline Of Lights' is a spooky little track that would be perfect to listen to along a deserted Southern California highway. I like how Lanegan takes different singers and songwriters and connects them through his interpretations. An outstanding album that really should be in everyone's collection. File under 'mellow'.

Another fine album from Mark Lanegan. The material is not his own, but he invests each song with all the emotion we have come to expect from him. The album is not quite as intense as his original stuff. It does not have the feeling of grim acceptance of fate that the earlier releases had, but Lanegan's voice is still the best in music today. My particular favorites are Shiloh Town, Little Sadie and Shanty Man's Life. These songs have so much mood and atmosphere and a sense of the past. I wish all the songs were in this vein. My dream is for Mark to record an album of gunfighter ballads, like Marty Robbins and Johnny Cash did in the early '60s. I see Mark Lanegan as the Johnny Cash of the new milennium.

Lanegan's tribute to his roots follows the successful template of his solo albums: spare acoustics, tastefully brushed drums, moody flourishes of vibes and the occasional reverbed electric guitar stitched lovingly and intoxicatingly through songs by ...Buck Owens? It works, trust me, it works.

Boasting a superb song selection that covers everything from traditional folk songs to soul chestnuts to re-wired punk, Lanegan and company craft a moody, smokey, ultimately satisfying cover album that -- like the most comfortable beds -- sounds slept in.

I've been a big Mark Lanegan fan since the eighties when he was the driving force behind the Screaming Trees. He has mellowed considerably since he produced some of the best hard rock in the world and in fact all of his solo albums are been more acoustic than electric (with the occasional but glorious exception like "Hit the City" from BUBBLEGUM). A substantial part of his appeal has been his gifts as a songwriter. Mark Lanegan is a great performer, but his songwriting is an integral part of who he is as a performer. Which makes I'LL TAKE CARE OF YOU, a album of covers, all the more shocking. He literally takes these songs and makes them his own.

I'm not sure that Lanegan is paying tribute to his roots. Some artists do that, but I get the sense here that he is simply choosing some marvelous, but neglected songs. Most are unfamiliar. The ones that are more familiar are perhaps the most surprising, like the Bobby Bland classic title track or mildly shocking inclusion of the Buck Owens's (pre-HEE HAW) "Together Again." I was delighted to see him cover the late Jeffrey Lee Pierce (of The Gun Club) song "Carry Home." It is a remarkably diverse body of material, but somehow Lanegan masterfully blends it all together.

My lone complaint with the album is that it is short. It may be the shortest album Lanegan has ever released apart from EPs. Nevertheless, this is one of his crucial albums. His greatest solo album is unquestionably WHISKEY FOR THE HOLY GHOST, but several others are definitely worth getting immersed in, in particular this fine album, BUBBLEGUM (with some of his best individual songs), and SCRAPS AT MIDNIGHT, though I also very highly recommend the great Isobel Campbell album on which Lanegan provides magnificent support (Campbell writes most of the songs, but Lanegan is magnificent throughout, especially in helping her cover Hank Williams's "Ramblin' Man" and singing Campbell's great "The Circus is Leaving Town").

I had very high expectations for this CD and I was in no way disappointed. Mark Lanegan could sing the phone book and make it sound incredible, but thankfully he has chosen material that is far more compelling. If you've never bought one of his solo albums before this is a great place to start and if you have, you know what a feast for the ears you're in for.

Throughout his four albums, Mark Lanegan has proved to be the kind of singer that connects with certain people very deeply. And just about any album he turns out is recommendable to those that find his voice as enchanting as I. Aside from hearing his versions of these songs, there really is no reason to recommend this album to anyone that has problems with his first three solo records or feels he's betraying his earlier work with the Screaming Trees. But on the latter point, there is evidence to suggest that the Trees were maturing along Lanegan's current bluesy bent, though perhaps they might have painted the musical landscapes less sparely.

But in the end, Lanegan's vision was intensely personal and too deep to have to deal with the confining arrangement of a band. When the history of the Seattle scene is finally written and we can look back on it all more clearly, Mark Lanegan may be seen as its most remarkable individual talent. As he continues his relationship with the Sub Pop label, he'll no doubt begin to move in more creative directions, but this album is a challenging step for him to take. I was at times on the edge of my seat almost expecting him to screw up, but alas he has proven his greatness whether you like him or not.

As he applies his unique instrument to these sensitively chosen covers, he manages to redefine them in subtle ways here and there - but nothing too unexpected. Again, it is the choice of these songs themselves more than the thoughtful treatment he gives them that is most startling. "Consider Me," would be the last thing you'd expect him to attempt, but after hearing it you come away with a different impression. He is soulfully bluesy and at times makes one think of Sam Cooke's "Night Beat." "Little Sadie" is an old folksong that could have easily come off like an absurd anachronism in other hands, but Lanegan really eats it up with a totally convincing streaming narrative, recasting it as a timeless allegory.

Lanegan's voice may not get much smoother than this, but I can't help thinking of a latter Billie Holiday and the rawness that both wax eloquently with. I have come to consider Lanegan the best blues singer of his generation. Starting off his solo career I felt he was simply reacting against his earlier angier incarnation with mellower maturity, but obviously it was less a reaction to anything as it was existential identification on his part -- what he does now can't be traded in for anything, and history tells us that stubbornly honest artists like Lanegan have tragically littered worse highways than commercial dissaster.