Customer Reviews

Uncle Anesthesia

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'm guessing that this album sold a lot of copies in the mid 90s, after the movie Singles came out, and waves of people jumped on grunge-wagon, looking for more of the "Nearly Lost You" pop bonanza and anything flannel. 12 years later, you can find it in used cd bins for pretty cheap, which indicates to me that a lot of people jumped off that wagon rather hastily in the face of newer, slicker, more cleverly marketed trends. Their loss is your gain. Go buy this cd immediately.

Hours after buying this album, the song "lay your head down" had become one of my all time favorites, and etched itself a slot on the big mix-tape of my soul. The Trees blend full-on metal with punk rock, beatlesque pop, new wave and psychedelia. Mark Lanegan sings within himself, never stretching and straining to hit high notes, but getting wonderful nuances out of every breath. There are even traces of the JL Pierce influence to be heard beneath it all. This might have been one of the best albums of the grunge era, and unless you are a big dope like Max Kellerman, you owe it to yourself to seek out music like this and find a place for it in your cd collection. File it in between Royal Trux's "Thank You", and the Psyclone Rangers "Devil May Care" as one of the all time bargain bin finds for 90s music.

I figure if you are here you came here for a reason. It's either because you stumbled upon this CD by fate or you have heard of the Trees. Either way, get this CD. If you enjoy music that isn't just about some inane, simplistic vision of love, or rock n roll that does more than just rock(which this does). Pick this up. It's the musical equivelent of magic realism. Forget the 'psychadellic' crap. It's full of imagary and imagination, and a sense that there is more, not just out there but in us. It rocks and it makes you feel. Mark Lanegan's voice thick, smooth and full. It's a man's voice, not some whiny kid's voice. The music is fierce while remaining melodic. "Beyond This Horizon"'s ending drum fills swirl and phase shift around your head. "Before We Arise" will haunt you. "Closer" ends in a bluesy fury. As a whole it's just really, really cool. Just buy the disc. It's ten bucks. Buy it. Ten bucks. Buy. Disc. Ten. Disc. Buy. ;)

It has always been one of my all time favorites. Not just from this band, but by any band. Excellent.

Unlike Mudhoney, (which I love) The Trees have a low sound and Mark has a deep voice but it's not growling. Finally someone who can sing.

I dunno about everyone else but honestly I think that the Trees are very cool and have a sound one can only copy.

Mark Lanegan's powerful vocals and the bands great melodicism take you on an intense ride. From beginning to end this album is awesome. One of the best of the nineties.

This is one of my favorite albums, not just by the Screeming Trees, but in general. I bought this album nearly at random - the cover art was very cool - and boy did it work out.

Baritone vocals, melodic indie-grunge guitar distortion, an extremely subtle spanish vibe in places (just a couple times), and some real catchy riffs.

The vocals are deep, like The Crash Test Dummies, but ventures into the higher ranges a bit more. When he does, it remeniscent of Kurt Cobain in "Dive" off Incesticide.

It can take a couple listens to really catch on to this one. But if you are like me and really appreciate "off-enough-to-miss-the-mainstream" rock music, then you'll probably love this pick.

Also check out 'Phaseshifter" by Redd Kross

This cd is almost as good as their best- Sweet Oblivion. While Sweet Oblivion is a darker record, this just seems to be more accessible- you actually feel uplifted after listening to it. Mark Pickerel's drums are a bit more imaginative than Barret Martin's- but both are good drummers for this genre. This record showcases what grunge stood for- good songwriting, originality, a bit of punk mixed in with the classic rock approach as well. For anyone who was too young to appreciate the grunge scene when it happened, and who wants to get into it a bit, I would recommend this highly. Then get Sweet Oblivion. Fantastic couple of records- it's really splitting hairs trying to decide which is superior. One is more light, one is more dark. And to the guy that has a Soundgarden fixation- remember what Plant said in The Song Remains the Same- "Does anyone remember laughter?" Get over it. Get over to the checkout lane and pick this up. It's great.

With all the undue attention on Sweet Oblivion and Dust, this album gets rather unfairly overlooked. Those are okay albums, but they document the Screaming Trees during what amounts to (and you'll agree after hearing the rest of the back catalog) their slowdown. They are comfortable records by a band that finally achieved their little bit of spotlight.

Uncle Anesthesia, on the other hand, came out just prior to the Seattle grunge strip-mining boom. It is sequenced with listening in mind -- moods shift and instruments attack and decay in just the right spots. As their first major-label release, Lanegan's voice and the Connor brothers instruments get the right amount of weight and space. Chris Cornell does a fine job of producing. Mark Pickerel makes his final appearance on drums, to be replaced by the more overstated playing of Barrett Martin on Oblivion and Dust. Yet here Pickerel makes some fine contributions to the proceedings, as songs like "Alice Said" and "Time For Light" attest.

Uncle Anesthesia is steeped in American garage rock, a love for the 13th Floor Elevators/Nuggets box sets, vintage sounding effects pedals, and dusty lysergic poetry. Coupled with all that is a deft understanding of melody and energy that ebbs and flows in the service of each song, unafraid to introduce new elements (like the swirling horns of "Disappearing" or the recorder played by Cornell on "Lay Your Head Down"), but not owned by production flourishes (as the eastern-tinged conceits of Dust occasionally were).

There are no real "hits" here, although "Bed Of Roses" should have been. But there is an album-worth of solid, memorable songs tastefully and muscularly rendered, garage-psychedelia at an early high water mark. Unsung as it (mostly) was, this album is one of the best encapsulations of the early grunge sound that does not have a baby in a swimming pool on its cover.

This is easily one of the finest American rock albums of the 90s. Work your way backward from here.

I think the screaming trees are one of the best grunge bands. I think the best part of it is Lanegan's voice. I would call him the Tom Yorke (Radiohead)of grunge. All the songs are good, but tracks 3,7 and 10 are the best. These guys woud have been as famous as pearl jam and alice in chains, but from what i've heard, the would get in drunken fights and break up, then start back again.
I also recommend tad, meat puppets, nirvana, alice in chains,system of a down, radiohead and slayer(DON'T ASK).