Album: Black Pudding
Artist: Mark Lanegan & Duke Garwood
Label: Ipecac
Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5
Anyone familiar with the Screaming Trees already knows Mark Lanegan as one of the greatest rock vocalists of his or any generation. His dusky yet oddly soothing growl is more menacing than Jim Morrison’s, and his new collaboration with multi-instrumentalist Duke Garwood is one of the best albums of 2013.
Garwood has quietly built an enviable career by releasing seven albums of moody, clangy art rock/blues and collaborating with the likes of The Orb and Savages. His contributions to Lanegan’s sublime 2012 release “Blues Funeral” was a precursor to “Black Pudding” — a textbook example of how to craft stoic epics from sparse instrumentation.
Usually, when the word “sparse” is used in an album review, it means some dude recorded himself strumming a guitar and singing at his ankles for 45 minutes. In the case of “Black Pudding,” however, it means these guys are so good they don’t need to cram 47 tracks of sequencers onto a song to keep it from flat-lining.
Imagine a slightly psychedelic version of Tom Waits’ “Mule Variations,” and you’ll get the macro view of “Black Pudding.”
The acoustic thump of “Pentecostal” is the type of tune you’d expect to hear at a jam on David Lynch’s front porch. Thanks to a healthy dose of compression, Garwood’s guitar sounds as if it’s strung with barbed wire.
Lanegan’s murky vocal conjures more colors than any one voice should be able to. By contrast, “Mescalito” and “Cold Molly” are smoother and approach what some might refer to as a groove.
Book-ended by two evocative Garwood instrumentals (“Black Pudding” and “Manchester Special”), this fine album is a slow burn. Although it feels as if Lanegan is about to burst forth with a fire and brimstone vocal lashing, everything remains intensely restrained.
Hopefully, someone out there will take the time to listen to “Black Pudding” in its entirety, as hearing it in dribs and drabs on an iPod would undercut its collective power. If you’ve been contemplating starting a vinyl collection, this would be a great place to begin.
Also recommended: “Dreamboatsafari” by Duke Gollard
Classic album: Blood, Sweat and Tears
Artist: Blood, Sweat and Tears
Label: Columbia
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
The second and self-titled album from Blood, Sweat and Tears should have been a train wreck, but ended up being the group’s greatest triumph.
Trouble started when band founder — keyboard genius Al Kooper — left, or was asked to leave. Drummer Bob Colomby and guitarist Steven Katz brought in vocalist David Clayton-Thomas, fleshed out the band with a monumental horn section and set out to make an album that focused less on jazz interplay and more on Top 40 hits.
While the horn-laden band Chicago was still focused on harder-edged music, there was plenty of room for a rock/pop group with horns on the radio in 1969. Blood, Sweat and Tears’ version of the Motown classic “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy” was a massive hit that kept the band on the radio, road and charts for most of the year.
Clayton-Thomas’ soulful, raspy voice is similar in timbre to Richie Havens, and is instantly recognizable after only a few syllables.
Other noteworthy songs on this collection include the Clayton-Thomas original “Spinning Wheel” and a spirited take on Traffic’s “Smiling Phases.” Clayton-Thomas shines throughout, and had he sung lead on the Katz original “Sometimes in Winter,” it, too, may have become a classic.
Original horn player Dick Halligan’s switch to primarily organ and piano kept the original flavor of Kooper in the mix, while the horn section of Fred Lipsius, Jerry Hyman, Jeff Soloff and Chuck Winfield gave the band its musical identity. Katz and drummer Colomby never showboat, but their tasteful playing serves the songs well.
After this album, the band pretty much imploded. Clayton-Thomas had a parallel solo career throughout the 1970s and occasionally reunited with the band from 1980 onward. Blood, Sweat and Tears had other flashes of glory, but most of it is contained in this album.
Also recommended: “Child Is Father to the Man” by Blood, Sweat and Tears
Jon Dawson’s album reviews appear every Thursday in The Free Press. Contact Jon at 252-559-1092 or jon.dawson@kinston.com. Purchase books, music and sky hooks at jondawson.com.