Scraps at Midnight

Mark Lanegan

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 21, 1998)
• Original Release Date: July 21, 1998
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sub Pop
• ASIN: B000007SRM
• Also Available in: Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #87,175 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
With his third solo album, Scraps at Midnight, Mark Lanegan continues a storytelling vision that began in 1990 with The Winding Sheet and, more recently, the serene Whiskey for the Holy Ghost. In a swirling and peaceful follow-up, Lanegan proffers the fruit of another rich collaboration with Mike Johnson. Like the stark and dry land of Lanegan's roots in eastern Washington, the songwriting on Scraps at Midnight is lonely and sparse. The shadowy "Bell Black Ocean" and "Hotel" capture a harmony of lyrics and music rare among contemporary musicians. "Stay" and "Wheels" reveal Lanegan's counterpoint--his ability to craft warm and optimistic classics for our wanderings. Thoreau wrote, "The true harvest of my life is intangible... a little star-dust caught, a segment of the rainbow which I have clutched." Scraps at Midnight is a bit of Lanegan's star-dust harvest. His restless spirit, with huérfanos, vagabonds, spruce forests, and bourbon glasses, hovers in the space between the notes. --Brad Doll

New Musical Express
[T]here is great beauty here: in the skeletal piano and guitar of "Bell Black Ocean" and the breathtaking melancholy of "Last One In The World". What's more, as [Mark] Lanegan's lyrics unfold (all written, as usual, with the chill clarity of the Old Testament), it becomes obvious that despite the funereal tone of his voice his spirit remains unbowed.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars NO TEENY-BOPPERS ALLOWED..., January 4, 2005

A Kid's Review

Fans of Mark Lanegan had to wait five long years for his third solo LP, SCRAPS AT MIDNIGHT. Was it worth the wait? You bet your brooding ass it was! After a few years spent taking just about any drink or drug handed to him, Lanegan surfaces with an album that sketches a world with its own everlasting sense of regret and loss. It also features Lanegan's wry wit, excellent lyrics, and elegantly raw voice. In other words, poison to teeny-boppers.

The album opens with "Hospital Roll Call," a Sergio Leone type western dirge with Mark growling "sixteen" over and over again ("16" was Lanegan's room number in a rehab clinic). An effective overture, the song gives way to "Hotel," one of the most darkly affecting songs in Lanegan canon. Lanegan has often downplayed this side of his musical character but when he sings "I remember your face/But it's been a long, long day/And what I did along the way/I wouldn't care to say" it is delivered with the sort of world-weariness that you would associate with Lightnin' Hopkins or Hank Williams. It is, simply put, a gripping voice.

Mike Johnson is back, co-producing the album with Mark and helping him paint musical landcapes that give a perfect backdrop to Lanegan's often mesmerizing songs. Lanegan, like Seattle contemporary Chris Cornell, remains one of the most versatile singers of his generation, and the ex-Screaming Trees frontman proves it here with songs ranging from the delicate "Bell Black Ocean" and "The Last One In The World" to the intense anxiety of "Waiting On A Train" and the epic "Because Of This." As with his previous masterpiece, WHISKEY FOR THE HOLY GHOST, Lanegan handles all of it with apparent ease, although many of the songs on this album will leave you feeling at times that there is somebody watching you outside your window. SCRAPS AT MIDNIGHT features Mark Lanegan carving out a style that he can distinctly call his own, simply because nobody else is doing this kind of music with such authenticity. Some might find it "morbid." Again, no teeny-boppers allowed...

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Delicious Scraps!, August 29, 2004

By	"luvsmuzik" (Toronto, ON Canada) - See all my reviews

This is one of my favorite Mark Lanegan albums along with Whiskey For the Holy Ghost and Field Songs. If you're considering Scraps At Midnight, then you probably already know that Mark has an incredible, yet chilling voice. The songs on Scraps are beautifully done... This isn't a rocking-out kind of album, no. It's more intense, acoustic and atmospheric in style. I listen to Scraps often and consider it to be one of those indispensable CDs I'd take with me, if ever on a deserted island ;-)

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Mood Music, August 18, 1998

By	Barbara A. Arnett (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

From the mantra chant of "Sixteen" on "Hospital Roll Call" to the banshee wail of "And it hurts" on "Because Of This," Mark Lanegan explores a wide sonic landscape on his third solo release, Scraps At Midnight. Echoing from the velvety black recesses of the midnight hour, the Screaming Trees frontman delves deep into the void with scarred lyrics resonating of pain, loss, regret, salvation and hope. "Waiting On A Train" and "Praying Ground" offer chilling insight into Lanegan's personal hell and the demons that haunt his psyche. The beautiful "Bell Black Ocean" and "Stay" feature his magical baritone that is at once powerful and menacing and yet, vulnerable and world weary. The languid, sultry "Wheels" hints of a tentative optimism that permeates throughout this album. His long-time associate, Mike Johnson (ex-Dinosaur Jr.) plays, arranges, and co-produces the album with Lanegan. Paul Dana Solger adds an edgy element on electric guitar; Keni Richards, Fred Drake and Dave Catching provide texture on the superbly arranged album. Recorded in the desert at the Ranch de la Luna studio in Joshua Tree, California, every instrument-each guitar-lick, piano chord, bass line and especially Lanegan's vocals, reverberate with a pristine clarity that can only be found in the wide open spaces of endless sand and infinite skies. The enigmatic Lanegan proves once again that he has one of the best voices in the business. In the dark, late at night, with only your thoughts for company, Scraps At Midnight lingers with a beautiful, ethereal sustenance that calms the soul.