Mark Lanegan – Has God Seen My Shadow? An Anthology 1989 – 2011

Mark Lanegan is by now indisputably a legend of the alternative rock realm. Even so, the wider public may still know the 49-year old vocalist best from his many collaborations. From early work as the frontman of Washington State’s grunge-era could-have-beens the Screaming Trees (1985 – 2000) to regular appearances with Queens of the Stone Age, with assorted projects with the Soulsavers, scruff-blues guitarist Duke Garwood and, most famously, a few modern day Nancy-and-Lee platters with Isobel Campbell sprinkled along the way, Lanegan’s steadily built a reputation as the go-to guy for bible-black rock survivalist gravitas.

Has God Seen My Shadow? seeks to rectify this situation by turning the spotlight on Lanegan’s songwriting. Lanegan’s three most recent solo albums (2004′s Bubblegum, 2012′s Blues Funeral and this year’s covers collection Imitations) have gained richly deserved renown, but the earlier albums remain a cult concern. This excellent 20-track trek through Lanegan’s solo works in reverse (nearly) chronological order, with an extra disc of freshly unearthed unreleased material, proves just how subtle and nuanced (not to mention underrated) Lanegan’s back catalogue is. Far from being the kind of hard-living ‘voice of doom’ caricature Lanegan’s, er, colourful past (he’s certainly no stranger to the occupational hazards of a touring musician) might lean towards, these almost uniformly compelling cuts testify that Lanegan’s always had far more in common with the great American folk-blues tradition exemplified by, say, Fred Neil, Karen Dalton and Jackson C. Frank (a fine live take on Frank’s evergreen “Blues Run The Game” pops on the bonus disc) than the hard rock-loving Seattle/Washington State scene of the late 80′s and early 90′s where Lanegan first cut his teeth as a performer.

At first, the tracklist might make some long-term Lanegan followers scratch their heads in puzzlement. For starters, there’s a grand total of zero tracks from Imitations or the thoroughly excellent Blues Funeral – maybe they were simply too fresh for this anthology that has been in the works for years. Then you spot the omissions. For example, the blunt force of Bubblegum‘s two granite-hard centrepieces – the minor hit “Hit The City” and “Methamphetamine Blues” – are nowhere to be seen, whereas ominously churning “Mirrored”, the skeletally hypnotic (a few barely bothered instruments, with Lanegan’s subterranean rumble, seemingly transmitted from the bottom of a toxin-saturated well, hanging over the sparse decorum like a particularly foreboding fog) C-side of the “Hit The City” single has made the cut, providing one of the anthology’s many moments of revelation.

At which point a plot emerges: taken as a whole, the strutting rock beast act constitutes a small minority of Lanegan’s solo works. All those high-profile QOTSA guest spots and the psychedelia-tinged hard rock of the Screaming Trees have been somewhat misleading. As hinted by the styles that dominate his two covers album (vintage crooners and more contemporary takes of the same languid and blue stuff for Imitations; downtrodden country, folk and blues for 1999′s I’ll Take Care of You), Lanegan is first and foremost a bruised balladeer, a chronicler of the travails and troubles of the kind of accident-prone lives that only really kick off once daylight is a distant memory. Then there’s that voice, a ravaged instrument tuned to baritone that has seemingly been subjected to the generous tar coating that only million cigarettes can provide, aided and abetted by the larynx-ripping by-products of an ocean of whiskey and more unsettling forms of self-medication, yet also versatile and expressive enough to sustain unflinching interest during this invariably mid-tempo or slower, sparsely accompanied listen. Think of a Leonard Cohen with a vampire-like aversion to sunshine or a Tom Waits who is less likely to wonder what someone is building in their barn than to march straight in and kick the door down – albeit with a similarly wide romantic streak and a taste for dark humour – and you’re not far from the general, twilit timbre of Has God Seen My Shadow?.

It’s remarkable just how well-formed Lanegan’s style has been from the start. Recorded as the Screaming Trees were first gaining attention, selections from The Winding Sheet (1990) suggests Lanegan was still seeking his own distinctive voice. By 1994′s Whiskey for the Holy Ghost, all hesitation was gone, somewhat ironically considering the record’s painfully slow gestation, which reportedly culminated in doubt-ridden Lanegan threatening to chuck the master tapes in a river. With his ‘day job’ band now signed to a major label with the grander production values that entailed, Lanegan stripped his second solo offering down to the bare minimum, resulting in a doom-laden yet strangely beautiful take on Americana: the four tracks featured here – including the simply sublime “Sunrise” and the unsettling “Carnival” – should have many skip towards the nearest record store in search of more of these desolate diamonds. After 1998′s Scraps at Midnight, home to one of this anthology’s highlights, the heartbroken late-night confessional “Last One In The World”, and the superb covers collection I’ll Take Care Of You (unfortunately no room for Lanegan’s bruising take on O.V. Wright’s gospel-soul classic “On Jesus” Program’ here, but at least simultaneously jaunty and mournful jig around Tim Hardin’s “Shiloh Town” is invited), the downbeat folk-rock of 2000′s Field Songs hit a new creative peak.

With the Screaming Trees now disbanded, Lanegan could focus solely on his solo stuff, and it shows: the five cuts here – the gradually intensifying “One Way Street” may well be Lanegan’s finest solo track, whilst Jeffrey Lee Pierce co-write “Kimiko’s Dream House” excels in melodically endowed, hazy psych-rock and “Resurrection Song” showcases Lanegan’s increasing grip on his vast expressive potential as a vocalist – remind you just what a strong, criminally overlooked album this was – and remains. By 2004′s Bubblegum, Lanegan had beefed up his sound into a full band mode, starring folks from the QOTSA camp, P.J. Harvey and ex-Guns ‘n’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan. Tellingly, Has God Seen My Shadow? chooses to ignore the noisier cuts – the nearest Lanegan’s solo canon gets to proper rock action – in favour of the brooding soul-croon of the unforgettable “One Hundred Days”, the shimmering P.J. Harvey duet “Come to Me” (another vocal highpoint), the lullaby-with-class-As “Bombed” and the dramatic piano recital “Lexington Slow Down” (from the EP Here Comes The Weird Chill): surprisingly, the stunning “Wedding Dress” has been overlooked.

The unreleased stuff is interesting but rarely essential, although it does shed light of Lanegan’s creative process. The sketchy “Grey Goes Black” from early 2000′s has nothing but the title in common with the fully-formed power-pop gem with the same name on Blues Funeral, whilst it’s hard to understand why the stunning vocal version of “Blues for D” was shelved in favour of the instrumental take familiar from Field Songs. The beautiful, infectious ‘Halcyon Daze’ from 2002 suggests an alternative direction to the more rock-orientated Bubblegum: surely only an accident or oversight could have landed this gem on the shelf for over a decade, especially as it sounds like the kind of an accessible cut that might have made people pay attention to Lanegan’s accomplishments as a solo artist. Has God Seen My Shadow? seems similarly poised to wipe out Lanegan’s reputation as a perennial sideman: on this showing, he must count amongst the most compelling voices currently in circulation.