Mark Lanegan - 'Bubblegum' (Beggars Banquet) Released 02/08/04

OK, if you’re expecting an album in a Queens Of The Stone Age vein look away now. Mark Lanegan changes tack on his solo effort 'Bubblegum' moving away from the rock vibe to offer a somewhat more chilled collection.

When you glance over the glittering array of names that have helped out on this album, such as fellow Queens band members Josh Homme and Nick Oliveri as well as Guns & Roses’ Izzy Stradlin and Duff McKagan, you could be forgiven for expecting great things. Thankfully you won’t be disappointed.

The opening track 'When Your Number Isn’t Up' gives a great taste of what is to come within the rest of the album. You're greeted with Lanegan’s rough and unpolished vocals sounding like he has a bag of gravel lodged in his throat.  On the second track 'Hit The City', his roughness is contrasted well with the smoothness of PJ Harvey who adds backing vocals, and is developed later in the album on track  9, 'Come To Me'. This duet gives Harvey and Lanegan the opportunity to melt their two distinctive sounds to produce a beautifully haunting song. 

Featuring on the album is 'Methamphetamine Blues' which appeared on Lanegan’s earlier EP 'Here Comes That Weird Chill', offering a tune with a kick and buckets of attitude. The feeling continues with 'One Hundred Days' and one of the gems of the album is 'Like Little Wille John', a country inspired track in a “I’m sitting on my porch, it’s raining, my wife’s left me and my dogs died” kind of way. More king of the porch than queen of the stone age then.