Actually "Rivers of Deceipt" was a play on Lithium driving up to the lake Friday. Came on right near where I-90 goes back to 65 after that seemingly endless 55 stretch. But it's also where all the 'energy' of Erie fades and as you pull on to 86 and there are no cars...few exits...no highway lighting...and just rolling hills and highway. It's quiet. And desolate. And beautiful in it's own lifeless way. And perfect for "Rivers of Deceipt". The kids were in their iDevices and the wife and I already had a hour and a half to catch up. Just me and western PA/NY and that haunting song.
I actually didn't pay attention to this album when in came out. I think the first time i heard it all together was watching that concert with you at the lake. This album came out at a time in my life where I was just going to college and exposed to a lot of new stuff I hadn't been. Some great - Rage! Some not - 311! I also never got the next PJ record after Vitology. I had checked out for a bit on 'grunge'.
The timing is probably off but I recall the 'heroin chic' vibe of the 90's. Either in our supermodels or our rock stars. NiN Hurt. Even Tom Petty went to rehab for it. In that era I could imagine that there could be some critical fatigue to it all. We weren't that far from the vapid rise of boy bands and fake everything and peak MTV RocknJock. And I can imagine the critics looked at this as 'me too' that now rich and famous rock stars cashing in or trying to one-up themselves on street cred when every new act accused of being a fake. Like you said...they just didn't know. It wasn't a group of rock stars trying to cash in it was a group of rock stars writing their eulogy.
My family is going to be thrilled when we listen to this whole album in-tact driving back tonight.
From the Pearl Jam perspective, there's a certain irony to the guy who has written the least amount of Pearl Jam songs making by FAR the best side project of any Pearl Jam member, including solo albums. Mike McCready was on FIRE on this album. He somehow doesn't get enough widespread respect for his status as legendary guitar player.
From the AIC perspective, you sort of hinted to this, but the unique thing about this Mad Season record is you just hear Layne. There's no Jerry Cantrell harmonizing. It's just Layne alone and all you have is the dichotomy of the frailty and the power of his voice.
From the Screaming Trees perspective, a massively overlooked song on this album is Long Gone Day. The interplay between Mark Lanegan and Layne is so cool and unique, the way their voices almost reverberate off each other in passing. It's so surreal watching the Moore Theater performance and realizing that 3/5s of the people on stage are dead. I hate so much how much that scene chewed up almost everyone.
Anyway, I'm so thankful for this Mad Season record. It's beautiful, it's raw, it's emotional, it's powerful. I still go back to this album quite frequently. It tends to make me a little sad. I remember in 1995 thinking how great this was. That is was so good there's no way they wouldn't make more albums. That obviously wouldn't happen, but I'm so glad for what they gave us and I hope this album is passed down through time.
Beautiful Craig.
Actually "Rivers of Deceipt" was a play on Lithium driving up to the lake Friday. Came on right near where I-90 goes back to 65 after that seemingly endless 55 stretch. But it's also where all the 'energy' of Erie fades and as you pull on to 86 and there are no cars...few exits...no highway lighting...and just rolling hills and highway. It's quiet. And desolate. And beautiful in it's own lifeless way. And perfect for "Rivers of Deceipt". The kids were in their iDevices and the wife and I already had a hour and a half to catch up. Just me and western PA/NY and that haunting song.
I actually didn't pay attention to this album when in came out. I think the first time i heard it all together was watching that concert with you at the lake. This album came out at a time in my life where I was just going to college and exposed to a lot of new stuff I hadn't been. Some great - Rage! Some not - 311! I also never got the next PJ record after Vitology. I had checked out for a bit on 'grunge'.
The timing is probably off but I recall the 'heroin chic' vibe of the 90's. Either in our supermodels or our rock stars. NiN Hurt. Even Tom Petty went to rehab for it. In that era I could imagine that there could be some critical fatigue to it all. We weren't that far from the vapid rise of boy bands and fake everything and peak MTV RocknJock. And I can imagine the critics looked at this as 'me too' that now rich and famous rock stars cashing in or trying to one-up themselves on street cred when every new act accused of being a fake. Like you said...they just didn't know. It wasn't a group of rock stars trying to cash in it was a group of rock stars writing their eulogy.
My family is going to be thrilled when we listen to this whole album in-tact driving back tonight.
From the Pearl Jam perspective, there's a certain irony to the guy who has written the least amount of Pearl Jam songs making by FAR the best side project of any Pearl Jam member, including solo albums. Mike McCready was on FIRE on this album. He somehow doesn't get enough widespread respect for his status as legendary guitar player.
From the AIC perspective, you sort of hinted to this, but the unique thing about this Mad Season record is you just hear Layne. There's no Jerry Cantrell harmonizing. It's just Layne alone and all you have is the dichotomy of the frailty and the power of his voice.
From the Screaming Trees perspective, a massively overlooked song on this album is Long Gone Day. The interplay between Mark Lanegan and Layne is so cool and unique, the way their voices almost reverberate off each other in passing. It's so surreal watching the Moore Theater performance and realizing that 3/5s of the people on stage are dead. I hate so much how much that scene chewed up almost everyone.
Anyway, I'm so thankful for this Mad Season record. It's beautiful, it's raw, it's emotional, it's powerful. I still go back to this album quite frequently. It tends to make me a little sad. I remember in 1995 thinking how great this was. That is was so good there's no way they wouldn't make more albums. That obviously wouldn't happen, but I'm so glad for what they gave us and I hope this album is passed down through time.