Customer Reviews

Winding Sheet

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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If you strip away the distorted guitar and breathless screaming from the best of what was known as grunge or the Seattle sound you are left with a mood, a sort of aching but wise melancholy. This album is the perfect embodiment of that deep but shining sadness. Where does it come from? Something about the climate? The quality of light on a Seattle winter day when the sun bursts through just before sundown and turns the cold grey city golden for a few short minutes before the long northern night? I don't know, but whatever it is, Lanegan has an almost angelic gift for rendering it into sound. The songs on this album (and his others) are "mood" music that will surely stand the test of time. I only know that in all the years I have owned this album I have never once tired of listening to it.

Mark Lanegan has a voice that will make your eyeballs bleed and he proves it on this solo debut. Although best known at the time for his work in the Seattle band Screaming Trees, Lanegan has become known as one of the most powerful singer/songwriters of his generation and the proof is indeed in the pudding here. "Mockingbirds," "Ugly Sunday," and "Wild Flowers" dig deep into an emotional abyss of heartache and longing, while old friend Kurt Cobain pops up to help on "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" and "Down In The Dark." Make no mistake, however, it is Lanegan's songwriting and astonishing voice that makes this one of the most impressive debuts ever. Mostly acoustic, the songs would be fine listening for a grey Sunday morning after a bender when you can't remember a damn thing from the night before. Also check out the haunting "Museum" and the hilarious "Jaurez." This is ground zero from an artist who is already way ahead of the rest of the pack.

Songwriters often spend their time kicking up dust at the crossroads only to catch the attention of the devil. The bad luck of obscurity. Heaven has hired angels to sing of its victories, but the hushed divinity of sadness speaks only in whispers and murmurs. Mark Lanegan's solo efforts, "The Winding Sheet" and "Whiskey for the Holy Ghost" deserve the solemn bows of the masses. They embody a nature of sunshine solemnity that gives the contemplation of human imperfection the glowing positivity of a benediction. Am I overreacting? Yes. I am tired of impersonal pleas and generic recommendations. This is art. Once upon a time these things meant life. You can breathe this music and nothing else. Listen and overreact with me. Knock, knock.

Mark Lanegan is one of my favorite musicians of the Seattle Rock scene. I first heard his work on Mad Season's Above (an excellent album for any AiC/PJ/ST/"grunge" fan) and immediately fell in love with that cigarettes-and-whiskey gravelly voice of his.

Then I came across an mp3 labelled "where did you sleep last night mark lanegan kurt cobain screaming trees nirvana.mp3" on Limewire. I immediately downloaded it, recalling Lanegan's previous work, and that "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?" was my favorite track on Nirvana's Unplugged album. This was the clincher. I realized how Cobain's version paled in comparison to this somber, brooding masterpiece.

Upon finding out which album the song came off of, I started hunting for The Winding Sheet. (Since I was naive back then, I didn't realize I could just order it online) After a few weeks of search, I finally came across the album in a Barnes and Nobles in addition to a copy of Above (I'd only downloaded songs from it).

The Winding Sheet is a CD mainly of acoustic guitar work and somber lyrics by Lanegan, supported by guests such as Kurdt Kobain and Krist Novoselic.

Definitely check this album out if you liked Jar of Flies by Alice in Chains, any of the Screaming Trees' works, or Mad Season's Above.

Key Tracks: "Undertow," "The Winding Sheet," "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?"

Pay no attention to the fact that this is Lanegan's first solo effort. Deprive yourself of this album (much like I did) and you will live to regret it. Stop thinking about it...

Mark Lanegan with his soulful voice melts my very existance with this album. The winding sheet, referring to swadling clothes they wrap the dead in, has become my "depression" album. I listen to this album when ever the mood is less than average, I pop this in, and let the swarmy voice take over. My favourite album of all time i believe.

The Winding Sheet is Lanegans first effort to give himself to his folk influences , to become a respected songwritter and an individual musician without the other "trees" this Lanegans solo album is quite different to his previous work with his Seattle Grunge emblematic band Screaming Trees , its depressive, melancholic, intense, troubled and beautifull, this album opens with "mocking birds" and a sad but appealing at the same time environment sorrounds the space, cuts like "juarez" are kinda funny in the middle of the grey atmosphere,"loveyou little girl" is another nice short track, "where did you sleep last night" were recorded in the days were Kurt Cobain still were in this world and you can hear his voice in the backing vocals as well Novoselic bass, later Nirvana did their own version of this song a good one too, The Winding Sheet
may be the darkest album in Lanegans discography but is one of the most appealing.

HM

Soothing, disquieting, unbelievably subtle work by this amazing performer. Serpentine guitar solos, acoustic crooning, melodies that remain etched in the brain.
Contains the acoustic version of the Leadbelly classic Where did you sleep last night, and a young Kurdt Cobain is credited on guitar. Kurt will not forget this arrangement and, three years later, a megastar on the verge of suicide, will give his fans the gift of his raw, fantastic interpretation in the Unplugged show.

Something about Lanegan's weathered, beaten-down voice is so chilling. Especially such songs as Museum and Winding Sheet his hoarse, deep rasp rises to a yearnful wailing that is beautiful in a rugged way. This being his first album, production isn't top notch and some of the songs I could really do without. All of that which is good is nothing short of amazing. His voice is most often accompanied modestly by Dinosaur Jr's guitarist Mike Johnson. Though this sounds a bit sparse in comparison to Lanegan's more recent work it is just as good as it is so intimately delivered to the listener

After enjoying Lanegan's sophomore effort "Whiskey For The Holy Ghost", I decided to go back to the beginning with his menacing debut 'The Winding Sheet'. After a few listens to this album I thought it was decent, and a solid singer/songwriter effort. However, with repeated listens over the years, this album has become right up there with my favourites, and probably my favourite late-night melancholy outing.

What Lanegan did for this solo debut was take his whiskey soaked, emotionally charged voice, write some earnest lyrics about love, longing and mental frailty, and lace it all with simplistic and mellow acoustic guitars. A tried and tested formula, and it works. His later albums would add more instrumentation and more complex structures, but to me, this is his best album.

For one thing the album is extremely consistent, something necessary with its stripped down style to keep the attention of the listener. The opener "Mockingbird" is probably the most layered song on the album, with drums, acoustic and electric guitars, and piano thrown into the mix. It's a great opener, and sets up the moody style of the album, with Lanegan's husky croons of "your voice is a mockingbird, telling me where I'm going wrong". The album just continues with this style, albeit slightly stripped down. My personal highlights from the rest of it include the extremely calming "Eyes of a Child" in which Lanegan really shines, almost whispering the beautiful chorus lines of "see through the eyes of a child...". The title track creates mental toil through Lanegan's desperate voice, a really powerful song, it flows through its entirety with distant echoing guitars and Lanegan's haunting lyrics, peaked by the shimmering line "I am sick in my soul". "Wild Flowers" is another favourite of mine, essentially a very simple track evolving around the most basic of chord progressions and, to be honest, a rather simple vocal melody. But it is just a great listen, mostly due to Lanegan's calming vocals.

And that is the general theme for this album, simple yet effective...man and guitar.