The Winding Sheet

Lanegan’s debut solo album is a stark contrast from his work with the Screaming Trees. This is stripped down and more personal. With guest musicians of Jack Endino (Skin Yard and famed Sub Pop producer),Mike Johnson (Dinosaur Jr.), Krist Noveselic, and Kurt Cobain (Nirvana), this is an awesome rain and whiskey soaked blues album on par with Tom Waits and Johnny Cash. If you like grunge blues Alternative this is a great start.

I have been a Mark Lanegan fan since I heard him singing with the Screaming Trees. I have nearly everything he has recorded, including some rare live performances. To fully appreciate this album, watch the video for "Ugly Sunday" - the song, his voice - it draws you right into he scenes in the video.

This album and it's successor, "Whiskey for the Holy Ghost," are absolutely indispensible albums for anybody interested in this guy, grunge, 90's alt, singer-songwriters, blues, acoustic, etc music. There have never been a more honest, peeled-back and affecting ppair of albums by any solo artist of, at least, my time. The sound is intentionally spare, Lanegan's voice and the songs are really all that's going on here. As it should be. Unlike virtually any contemporary I can think of, this is the music of a man wrestling w/ god and his angels as well as his demons. That's what lifts it out of the 90's grunge sludge- the bruising, boozey, introspective war that honest troubled men do always seem to wage. This music will grow into you- you'll never forget it. It's sort of the sonic equivalent of a DonDeLillo novel. You meet it openly and on it's own terms and it will change you.

I love his voice and the music is rad! Check out some queens of the stone age with Mark. It's magic!

I'm lazy. That means I never take the time to write these reviews. But, after being reminded today how much Mark Lanegan has changed my appreciation for music, it would be a sin for me to neglect reviewing this album any longer. The Winding Sheet, in my opinion, is the definitive Mark Lanegan album. After being a monster fan of The Screaming Trees back in the early 90's, I naturally made the progression to his solo work. It's so different than The Trees, and yet it's so much more beautiful and moving, it almost makes the Screaming Trees version of Lanegan feel like a side project, while this solo album is his passion. If my dreams had a soundtrack, it would be The Winding Sheet. It haunts me like beautiful dark memories. It's a rainy night in the soul, the kind that is so dark, yet feels so good because you're inside and warm. I hesitate to write any more because words can't capture this album. Just buy it, put on headphones, and listen start to finish...then you'll understand.

18 years after its release, this album is still magic to listen to. Lanegan's voice is a perfect match with Mike Johnson's guitar. The Cobain tracks bring in a more traditional "grunge" element, yet fit nicely with the acoustic tracks. The tracks with Lanegan playing solo (Wild Flowers, Woe, I Love You Little Girl), while not demonstrating the same level of techincal proficiency with regards to the guitar, have a tremendous depth, and are some of my favorites on the album. I would consider this and the follow-up, Whiskey For The Holy Ghost, important pieces of the 90's Seattle scene.

sorry "grunge-alternative" fans but this album is filled with the same sounding music that makes me want to sit in a dark room and think about tons of terrible things. i would never recommend this album to any person.

Let's just do away with the iTunes review. First, this is NOT an acoustic album. Yes, the guitars and drums are turned down on most of the tracks, but this is Rock-n-Roll. Second, can we just forget the whole Grunge label? What the hell is Grunge, anyway? What does a band like Mudhoney have in common with a band like Alice In Chains? If a band is from Seattle from the late 80's, early 90's, does THAT mean they are Grunge? What about the Presidents of the United States? Are they Grunge? Third, saying that this album captures the "melancholy mentality" of the Pacific Northwest is more than a bit trite. Now, let me say this... I have this album on vinyl, and I had to get a CD version so I could hear it in my car and at work. Mark stepped away from the swirling guitars of the brothers Conner for the first time, and his acheivement here is noteable. He pours his soul into these songs, and he shows an emotional depth that he had not yet revealed on any Screaming Trees albums (the most underrated band of the Seattle boom in the 90's, by the way). The songs here don't cascade down on top of your head to grab your ear, they creep in to haunt your day. Yes, there are a few stand out tracks, but the whole album is solid and deserves download to fully experience what is going on here. Listening to it today, it is amazing to me how well it holds up 18 years later. We may have lost the Screaming Trees, but thankfully, Mark used this album to begin to pave a rich solo career. A fine album this is, but his best work was due to come later.

Wonderful album. Down in the dark and where did u sleep last night are two awesome songs. If your into grunge/alternative stuff don't wait any longer to buy this album.

If you are reading this review then you are obviously a serious music fan. All I can say is that you simply have to own this record. I just want to thank you Mark. I hadn't listened to this record for a long time and just downloaded it and it's like spending the day with one of my long lost best friends. That's what music is all about. It's a Top 10 of all time for the soul....