Sweet Oblivion

Screaming Trees | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 8, 1992)
• Original Release Date: September 8, 1992
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B000002897
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #123,608 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The Screaming Trees should've had it all, and Sweet Oblivion is the album that should've given it to them. The Ellensburg, Washington, band's second major-label disc is as expert a set of pounding grunge and shifting moods as anything this side of Nirvana. But despite a set of brilliant hooks, intriguing lyrics ("Shadow of the Season," "Julie Paradise"), and Mark Lanegan's attention-getting vocals, it stopped short of going gold. Still, along with its belated follow-up, Dust, this is a masterwork of '90s hard rock. --Rickey Wright

Product Description

Limited 180gm vinyl LP pressing. 1992 album from the Alt-Rock band considered to be one of the Godfathers of Grunge. Although they were one of the best Seattle bands of the early '90s, they never achieved the commercial success of bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains. Lead singer Mark Lanegan started a very successful solo career after the Screaming Trees, working with the likes of Queens of the Stone Age, Greg Dulli (Afghan Wigs), Isobel Campbell (Belle & Sebastian) and UNKLE. --This text refers to the Vinyl edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nearly Missed Out ..., September 25, 2001

By 

Geoff Wolinetz (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sweet Oblivion (Audio CD)

I hadn't heard of the Screaming Trees in the Summer of 1993, after I'd just gotten my driver's license. My sister told me she'd buy the ticket for me, if I drove her up to the Orange County Fairgrounds to the Screaming Trees, Spin Doctors and Soul Asylum concert. I balked for a couple of reasons, but mostly because I hadn't heard of the Trees and the Spin Doctors made me nauseous. The Spin Doctors did little to turn me around that night. The Screaming Trees, however, did good work. Very good work. I picked up Sweet Oblivion the next day.

Mark Lanegan's hoarse voice, which at times is barely audible, gives this essetially Seattle grunge band a full force push in the right direction. "Nearly Lost You," (off of the Singles soundtrack) is the obvious standout here. However, I was just as impressed with several of the other songs on the album, including "Dollar Bill," "Winter Song," and "Shadow of the Season." They are an extremely talented band, with the Connor boys backing up Lanegan on guitar and bass.

The Trees never reached the height of popularity they should have, based mostly on poor timing. Sweet Oblivion was released prior to the Singles soundtrack, rather than the other way around, which didn't allow the band to build anticipation for a new release. Add that to a 4 year break before releasing a new album. Mix liberally and you have a band that was musically capable but unfortunately didn't become as successful as they should have.

What you do have here is a great album with a great sound, solid guitar work and a bonafide would-be hit. Buy this album.

25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Grunge Album Lost in the Crowd, October 1, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Sweet Oblivion (Audio CD)

This album was released in early September 1992, just several weeks prior to "Dirt" by Alice in Chains and "Core" by the Stone Temple Pilots. Unfortunately, "Sweet Oblivion" was overshadowed by both "Dirt" and "Core" and never really made it or the Screaming Trees the commercial success they deserved. Arguably, this album from the first song to the last is a better album than either of the above mentioned by STP and AiC. The powerful and intense vocals by Mark Lanegan exceed those by Weiland of STP and Staley of AiC... really only the vocals of Chris Cornell from Soundgarden top Lanegan's. "Sweet Oblivion", to me, is an essential recording for any early to mid-90's grunge rock collection. It is a credible following to 1991's releases: "Nevermind" by Nirvana, "Ten" by Pearl Jam, and the self-titled album by the Temple of the Dog. Until Soundgarden released "Superunknown" in 1994 (which was the last great grunge album ever released), I probably listened to "Sweet Oblivion" more often than any other grunge rock CD. I would enthusiatically reccommend this album to anyone who likes the bands I mentioned previously and is interested in adding something new to their music collection.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great album, September 14, 2005

By 

Barnes and Noble Junkie (Barnes And Noble, Midlothian, Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sweet Oblivion (Audio CD)

Yeah they're from Seattle, but this AIN'T GRUNGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is soooooooooooooooo much better...

I bought this album right after it was released, a few years later they came to N'Awlins with Sponge, The Ramones, Soundgarden, RATM, Metallica and a few others. It may have been Lollapalloza, I can't remember.. Anyway these guys were absolutely amazing.. We all went to see the 'headliners' but we left talking about 'The Trees'..

This is one of those groups that you forget about. The CD gets put on the botton of the pile and you forget about it.. Then one day you'll hear Nearly Lost You or All I Know on the radio and you think "$h!t, I haven't listen to the Trees in a while" So you dig it out, and it sits in your CD player for the next month because you just can't stop listening to it...

I have probably listened to this CD more then all of my Nirvana, Soundgarden and Alice In Chain cd's combined.. This one is THAT Good...

From the beginning of Shadow of the Season, to the end of Julie Paradise (possibly the best song on the album) this album just never lets up.. And Talk about diverse.... Nearly Lost You demonstrates the great song writing ability that these guys possessed, and is an instant classic. The Secret Kind kicks @$$, and then to go from that right into The Winter Song, which is a slower, yet 'hard' 'ballad'..

It really is a shame that these guys didn't garner more of a following, they really were an awesome group...