Monday Long Song

I've had a copy of Mark Lanegan's autobiography 'Sing Backwards and Weep' sitting next to me untouched for a number of months now, waiting for the right moment to enter what will undoubtedly be a long dark ride. It was only recently joined in the to-be-read pile by 'Devil in a Coma', the hastily published account of his 2021 battle with Covid. In the days following the dreadful news of Lanegan's death three weeks ago, I read all of the obituaries and listened to little else but his music around the house. I also picked up 'Devil in a Coma'. It's an easy, but extremely harrowing read, detailing not only his months of physical suffering, but also the prolonged mental torment of being trapped in a sick and broken body.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    This little corner of the internet did Mark Lanegan proud, with a series of well written tributes around the blogs and a terrific array of music drawn from his sprawling catalogue. Here, belatedly, is my contribution. From the 2009 Soulsavers LP 'Broken', an inspired reading of Gene Clark's masterpiece, 'Some Misunderstanding'. 

                                                                                                      

Soulsavers - Some Misunderstanding 

The Texture and the Flavour

My Dad did it for years. The former Mrs S did it for a while. A number of my friends are doing it on a regular basis. Our mutual blogging chum John Medd is a past master at it. My social media platform of choice is full of photos showing the results of complete strangers doing it. I'm referring of course to the baking of bread. And now, at the ripe old age of 60, I can report that I too am belatedly getting in on the act, after giving further consideration to a comment I left over at Alyson's place last month....

'While on a birthday Skype call with a couple of friends last week, they each impressed me with tales of their respective sourdough bread making exploits. I absolutely love sourdough, but haven’t got the first clue how to make it – nor the patience to try I suspect. Also, if I did somehow manage to make an edible loaf, I doubt that it wouldn’t last more than five minutes before I demolished it! I try not to eat too much bread in general, but have little willpower where a fresh, warm loaf is concerned. 

Towards the end of his life my Dad got into baking his own bread, baking two loaves at a time – one for he and Mum to use straight away and one to put in the freezer for later in the week. It took him a very long time and lots of tweaking to perfect his own particular tasting recipe, but it was well worth the effort. The highlight of any visit home was a big toasted slab of Dad’s bread. When he died suddenly in 2007, his last loaf was left in the freezer. A couple of weeks later, Mum and I defrosted and shared the loaf, knowing that we’d never taste his bread again – it was quite a moment.'

So last week I had a go at baking my first ever loaf of bread. Fully expecting to have to chuck away my first half a dozen failures (as I recall my Dad doing all those years ago), I attempted the most simple, straight forward, plain white loaf....... and was frankly astonished to produce a surprisingly edible debut effort.

This week, still flushed with success, I, perhaps over-ambitiously, attempted a boule and added a selection of seeds into the mix. The result was visually a little lacklustre, but the seeds improved the taste considerably. The long term aim is to move on to sourdough, but patience is a virtue, I have to learn to walk before I can run.

In the old world, I was scheduled to catch up with Mark Lanegan in concert again this week, but it was not to be. Here he is with Screaming Trees back in 1992 covering The Small Faces.

Screaming Trees - Song of a Baker

Free to Walk

Over the past few weeks of lockdown, a number of blogging chums have shared glimpses of their daily walks, bike rides or runs. Most recently it was Swiss Adam who detailed his walking routes through the nearby Ees (a word I'd never come across before) and posted a gorgeous sunset photo (along with a fantastic old Dub Syndicate tune). His summation struck a chord - '...this is now life in 2020...taking the time under these restrictions to appreciate what's on your doorstep...'

If the pandemic hadn't happened, I would've hoped that by now I'd be well on my way to selling this house and shipping out, leaving the ghosts and painful memories behind me, but, in these extraordinary circumstances, I count my blessings that I have a roof over my head and a job a mile down the road which allows me to legitimately get out and interact for a few hours on most days of the week - I'm all too aware that many are not so fortunate. And, returning to Swiss Adam's theme, I also truly appreciate what's on my doorstep. Attached are a few snaps, captured on my phone, from recent wanderings.

Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan - Free to Walk

Version City #67 - Mark Lanegan sings Joy Division

The last time I saw Mark Lanegan treading the boards was 21 years ago, as front man of The Screaming Trees. His output over the intervening years has been prodigious and of a consistently high quality, whether recording under his own name or as a guest vocalist on someone else's project. On Tuesday evening he treated the Norwich Waterfront to a powerful 19 song set, which stuck principally to the more recent entries in that vast back catalogue. Half an hour in we got a fantastic double whammy of 'Nocturne' and 'Beehive', both from this year's 'Gargoyle', quickly followed by a simply staggering rendition of 'Bleeding Muddy Water' from 2012's 'Blues Funeral'. Lanegan's voice seemed in ragged tatters after this epic and for a moment I honestly wondered how he could continue, yet within moments he was crooning effortlessly through a sublime 'Harborview Hospital'.

I was delighted to hear 'One Way Street' delivered as the first encore, 2001's 'Field Songs' is probably my favourite of all his albums. At most other shows on this tour, the encore has concluded with one, sometimes two, Joy Division covers. Not tonight though. The curfew had been reached and there was just time for a brief 'thank you' before he was gone. Here's a version of one of those Joy Division covers, recorded live in 2015.

Mark Lanegan - Atmosphere 

(Previous Mark Lanegan entries in this series here and here)

Version City #52 - Mark Lanegan sings Pink Floyd

Mark Lanegan has excellent taste and knows his way around a cover version. If you don't believe me, check out his masterful reading of Gene Clark's 'Some Misunderstanding', which appeared in this very series a couple of years ago (here). Today's tune is a 2010 field recording of a haunting interpretation of Pink Floyd's 'Julia Dream', written by Roger Waters and originally tucked away on the b-side of their first post-Syd single, 'It Would Be So Nice', in 1968. 'Julia Dream' was the first Floyd song to feature a young David Gilmour on lead vocals.

Version City #11 - Mark Lanegan sings Gene Clark

A tweet from the venerable Sid Griffin, reminds me that May 24th 2013 was not only the 72nd birthday of Bob Dylan, but also the 22nd anniversary of Gene Clark's death. In his tweet, Sid also mentions 'Some Misunderstanding', a sublime song from Gene's masterpiece, 1974's 'No Other', which in turn got me thinking about a terrific interpretation of that song by Soulsavers, fronted by Mark Lanegan. Soulsavers have released four long-players to date, two of which feature Lanegan extensively - 2007's 'It's Not How Far You Fall, It's the Way You Land' and 2009's 'Broken', from where this version is taken.