Ballad of the Broken Seas

Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan, Isobel Campbell, Mark Lanegan

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 7, 2006)
• Original Release Date: March 7, 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: V2 North America
• ASIN: B000E6GBVW
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #21,723 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

While duets have been often turned into pairings that dilute both participants into toothless blobs, that's not the case here. Scottish singer Isobel Campbell, formerly of Belle & Sebastian here teams up with Mark Lanegan, formerly of Screaming Trees and collaborator with Queens of the Stone Age. It's a classic beauty and the beast alignment, with Lanegan's gruff baritone sounding like the protector of a beautiful little bird. This is a combination that's been done with success previously by the likes of Lee Hazelwood & Nancy Sinatra, and Serge Gainsbourg with Jane Birkin. The instrumental settings further underscore the gorgeously weathered timelessness of these dozen songs. This is music that straddles several centuries, updating traditions with confidence and subtle invention. --David Greenberger

Product Description

There's a certain "beauty & the beast" quality to the greatest male/female, singer/songwriter duos. Consider Jane Birken hooking up with Serge Gainsburg, or Nancy Sintra and Lee Hazelwood. And so it is with "Ballad of the Broken Seas", an album length collaboration between Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan.There's a similar contrast between Isobel's aching, pristine chill of a voice and Lanegan's wounded, regret-stewed burr.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A lovely mess of styles and sounds, March 20, 2006

By	Eric Franklin (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

This album has been rolling on my ipod all morning long and it is really getting its claws into me. The songs are all over the place stylistically, which leaves me to wonder what album some of the other reviewers were listening to. All I can say is that this album captures some really fun music-making between two artists I never thought I'd have the chance to hear together. Gravelly Lanegan with soft Isobel make a compelling auditory delight. The only thing that keeps me from giving the album 5 stars is that it occasionally lapses, especially lyrically, to "punching up" something that would have been left better alone. There are beautiful passages ruined with a misplaced line. Byt hey, that's my opinion.

Track one, "Deus Ilbi Est", starts thumpin' with a simple beat, like feet stomping in an Irish bar, while Mark Lanegan does whiskey-fueled spoken word. Isobel sings backup. A promising album starter.

From here, the album moves into a softer passage with "Black Mountain." Isobel leads this one softly while a repetitive arpeggiated guitar plays in the background. Occasional strings punctuate the moving passages.

"The False Husband" starts out sounding like a "Lanegan spaghetti-western special" but when Isobel breathily intones the chorus, the background music changes to orchestral accompaniment. The song mashes their two styles together in an inventive and fun way. It's as if both singers brought their own song, played them together with their own bands, and just saw what would happen. You can almost hear the singers's surprised happiness at how good they sound together.

I'm not going to step through each song individually, but they're lovely. If you're a fan of the off-beat Tom Waits (just listen for the influence on "Ramblin' Man"), the messier (read true) old school country standards, and just plain incongruous music making, this is your bag.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A highly unusual collaboration results in a stellar album, November 4, 2006

By	Robert Moore (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Although I have loved a great deal of the previous work of both Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan, they are two people I never would have imagined pairing for an album. Not only that, when first learning of this album, I imagined that Lanegan was the principal songwriter for the project. In fact, she wrote nearly all of the songs on the disc, though to his credit Lanegan embraces the ones upon which he sings so marvelously that he does indeed make them sound like his own. As I said, I've loved both of these performers in other projects. Campbell, of course, is the lovely, airy female voice adorning all those incredible Belle and Sebastian songs, though she also has a slightly earlier and very find solo album, AMORINO. What that album revealed was what perhaps few suspected: though taking a backseat to the outrageously gifted Stuart Murdoch (who just might have been the finest writer in all of rock the past decade) in Belle and Sebastian, she is a significant talent in her own right). Lanegan has also produced some great solo work, especially WHISKY FOR THE HOLY GHOST, but is even better known for fronting The Screaming Trees and for his work with Queens of the Stone Age. If I were to compare what these two sound like together I might compare them to Tom Waits and Crystal Gayle on the album they did together or, ever better, the duet that Nick Cave and Kylie Minogue did on his MURDER BALLADES.

The pairing of these two talents is magical. While it would be hard to hate Isobel Campbell's singing, her voice is so soft, delicate, and ethereal that it can almost feel otherworldly after a bit. Frequently she seems to be not so much singing as whispering. Lanegan's rough, coarse, raspy baritone, on the other hand, contrasts magnificently with Campbell's. The singing duties are not quite evenly divided, with Campbell seemingly content to Lanegan take lead duties, often contenting herself with singing backup on her own songs. His singing gives an edge to the songs; her singing gives them a spiritual dimension. My one complaint with the disc is that they don't sing more duets. One of my favorite songs on the disc is "(Do You Wanna) Come Walk With Me?" on which Lanegan sings to an acoustic guitar, with Campbell almost nonchalantly providing a counterpoint.

Despite Lanegan's presence and strong singing, this is very much an Isobel Campbell album. If you listen to WHISKEY FOR THE HOLY GHOST and then this one, you can't help but be struck by the enormous differences in the songwriting. The songs on both albums are equally good, but they are quite different, the ones here more easily melodious and a bit folksier. This is also just a great set of songs. It starts off strongly with "Deus Ibi Est" and then gets even stronger with "Black Mountain," with Campbell at her very finest. The best song on the disc for my money is the last cut, "The Circus is Leaving Town." Lanegan's lone writing contribution to the album is a good one, "Revolver." One of the highlights of the album, however, is one of the best covers ever of the Hank Williams's classic "Ramblin' Man." They don't cover it so much as reinterpret it, and a very good revisioning it is.

I can't imagine many Isobel Campbell fans being disappointed in this album. Some hardcore Screaming Trees or Queens of the Stone Age fans, however, might not find it to their liking (though I sincerely hope I am wrong about this). But if you just love great music in whatever form it arrives, this could well be your cup of tea.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars ride the waves, April 8, 2006

By	Michael Khoury "lucaspascal" (Berkeley, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

When I first heard that Isobel Campbell was doing an album with Mark Lanegan, I wasn't all that excited. I have always enjoyed Lanegan's music but I was unsure of how that would mix in with Isobel's voice. Granted I had only heard her singing with Belle & Sebastian and am unfamiliar with her solo work. But based on what I've heard on this cd, I am very interested in hearing more. The two of them belong together - especially on the infectiously groovy "Honey Child What Can I Do?" Isobel seems to be evoking more and more of a Dusty Springfield sound, which blends gorgeously with Lanegan's baritone. The interplay between their voices catches the listener instantly, and stand-outs like "Honey Child" and "Ramblinman" are also perfect rock singles. But the album refuses to simply be a collection of catchy confection and plays to the strengths of the two leads. Both know how to channel their shadows, and the dark loveliness of "Black Mountain" into "The False Husband" is one example of how the beauty in the Broken Seas is the protean interplay of dark and light.