Mark Lanegan – Bubblegum XX // Album Review

It’s been twenty years since the release of Mark Lanegan’s Bubblegum, and this was celebrated last Friday with a reissue called Bubblegum XX. It is an expanded release that combines a remastered version of the album with a collection of released demos and covers called Here Comes That Weird Chill, and even more demos and sessions that were recorded by Troy Van Leeuwen during an Australian leg of a tour with Queens of the Stone Age.

The limited-edition 4LP version of the reissue also contains a 64-page hardcover book featuring essays from Troy Van Leeuwen, Josh Homme, Chris Goss, Alain Johannes, David Catching, Greg Dulli, Duff McKagan and Brett Netson, as well as studio notes and unseen studio photographs by Steve Gullick. It is genuinely one of the most detailed and impressive reissues to date, and a real coup for fans of Mark.

For those hearing the album for the first time, it’s a brilliant listen. It bridges together the heavier, Grungier sounds of Mark’s upbringing and influences with the softer, sombre material that really put his voice at the forefront. A lot of his best work is on this album. I remember loving the guitar-focused tracks like “Sideways in Reverse”, “Driving Death Valley Blues” and especially “Hit the City”, which saw Mark team up with PJ Harvey. But as I’ve grown older, I’ve learned to appreciate the rawness behind songs such as “Wedding Dress” and “Strange Religion”. Songs that gave the space for Mark’s songwriting and the pain and shadows it bore to be heard the most.

It’s a fantastic album, and definitely up there as one of Mark’s best in his entire discography. The reissue is a brilliant way to commemorate how much of a force he was. His songwriting was second to none, and he took his love of music and discovering artists and used it to forge a legacy that spanned decades. Influencing so many artists and genres to this day.

My first experience of Mark Lanegan was via his stint in Queens of the Stone Age. I hadn’t discovered the band until 2007, years after Mark left, but it didn’t take long for the obsession of Era Vulgaris to expand into their full discography, which lead me to the Songs For The Deaf era. An album and lineup that to this day is argued as QOTSA’s peak.

Trawling through endless articles and live performances, I stumbled onto their set at Australia’s Big Day Out festival in 2003. The performance was wild – I was especially enthralled by the version of “Song For The Dead”, which had Joey Castillo destroy the drums as Nick Oliveri matching his pace and intensity, while Josh and Troy brought wave after wave of proper gritty guitars, and Mark in the middle. Acting as the central figure that all this chaos and noise revolved around. He barely moved from the mic, only doing so to walk off stage when his part was done. It was a level of give-no-fuck that made him so interesting, and still makes me laugh to this day.

His voice was unlike anything I ever heard, and looking into his life and work, as well as being associated with so many of the biggest names in Grunge, he stood out as a unique individual, and definitely a badass. His last autobiography, Sing Backwards and Weep, is one of the most honest, greatest autobiographies to exist. The way he talks so openly about his flaws and struggles with addiction and drug use, with no care about how he might come across in these stories, on top of the increasingly frequent deaths of friends throughout it, is so brutal, but paints a vivid picture of the reckless, hardcore lifestyle he lived.

To see that he managed to crawl his way out from rock bottom and went on to create one of the most diverse discographies around, is incredible. But that pales in comparison to the turnaround he had in life. Finally reaching a point where he could live in peace. Bubblegum XX is an excellent reminder of what a masterpiece it is, but also a fantastic display of friends and artists coming together to pay tribute to one of the best too.