Screaming Trees 'Ocean Of Confusion'

[Smallstone]

Picked this new Screaming Trees compilation up last week. 'Ocean Of Confusion: Songs of Screaming Trees 990-1996'. So basically the Sony/Epic' years. It kinda does what it says on the tin really. 19 track comp, here is what those arbiters of taste at Sony deemed to be representative:

1. Who Lies In Darkness
2. Alice Said
3. Disappearing
4. Ocean Of Confusion
5. Shadows Of The Season
6. Nearly Lost You
7. Dollar Bill
8. More Or Less
9. For Celebrations Past
10. Julie Paradise
11. Butterfly
12. E.S.K.
13. Watchpocket Blues (previously unreleased track)
14. Paperback Bible (previously unreleased track)
15. Make My Mind
16. Dying Days
17. Sworn And Broken
18. Witness
19. Traveler

So basically the only reason to shell out £8.99 aside from being 'completist' are the two unreleased tracks. They're ok. I've played them once, I'm sure I will play them again.... What irks me though is that this could have been SO MUCH BETTER. I had read, I'm sure, that Lanegan was working on a Trees boxset. This clearly isn't it. The 'project manager' at Sony Legacy (someone called Brian Klein), alongside the Product Manager (a certain Linda Buckler) in conjunction with the (and I love this title the best!!) Legacy A&R (stand up Darren Salmein!) seem to have kinda screwed this 'project' up in my opinion. They've gone so far to kinda make it look half way decent, a nice photo shop collage of various Trees emphemera and they have to their credit wheeled out Michael Azerrad to do the sleeve notes, but still I feel that this is a job half done. Why not include the videos? There were promo clips done for Nearly Lost You and tracks off of the Dust album. They also recorded and scrapped a whole albums worth of material between Sweet Oblivion and Dust but only 2 tracks find their way onto this comp. I don't know maybe I'm being really harsh but I'd like this to have been a tad more comprehensive.
I love the Screaming Trees and find myself listening to them a whole lot more than Nirvana these days and also if I was to be totally truthfull more than the Mudhoney albums released at the same time: Piece Of Cake/My Brother The Cow. Whilst I like parts of both of those records the're not my favourite Mudhoney albums by a long way.
Lanegans solo stuff too is amazing. I'm waffling I know....
But has anyone else picked up this CD and kinda felt that it didn't do the band justice? What I want to know is this! Who has the rights to the SST stuff now? Is Lanegan working on a more comprehensive retrospective? What are the chances of a Screaming Trees reformation tour?
I'm gonna go lay down now.

[MarchToFuzz]

thanks for the heads up.as soon as i have some cash i'll consider buying it for those unreleased tracks. i´ve always hate comps with no whole caceer. why labels couldn't work together ?? these should be honor for band. most of comps smells like cash.... Trees boxset would be cool. but how about this: Mark Lanegan boxset, you know one disc for solo, other for trees and other for videos and so. like Nirvana boxset kind of thing, that's awesome release, and sure honor for band !!! not sure is it ever possible for labels but that would be awesome.. just a dream, but that would be hardon, wink wink rec label guys

[RaunchHands]

i'm not sure i like the idea of a split lanegan/trees box set. i think both deserve their own one, and a mixed affair wouldn't please anyone.

there's no way i'm gonna buy this ST comp. i LOVE that band. i think all of their records are fantastic (except for dust which i never really got i guess), and yes that's one band with a lot of top quality b-sides, rarities, and unreleased stuff. if this was a double set with the first disc being that SST years comp it'd make a lot of sense, and a good starting point for newcomers. but ten bucks for two unreleased songs which will probably end up on a better made comp one day or another? no thanks.

what those guys really need to re release is their first album (clairvoyance), there's some damn good stuff on that thing, and a quite impressive work overall, if you consider how young they were. and yes, the unreleased album between oblivion and dust. i remember an interview from the dust era where they said they'd picked up the songs for the album from a pool of over ninety originals.

smallstone... i think you really need to rediscover MBTC. that's in my opinion mudhoney's most underrated album. waaay better than piece of cake anyway.

[MarchToFuzz]

yeah Screaming Trees really deserve own boxset, but there's alot of Mark Lanegan fans who do not even know that he played on Trees. QOTSA QOTSA QOTSA fuck, it's great band too but for god shake, Screaming Trees was better. (don't start with me, no names, that's my opinion). and i thought that if they release Mark Lanegan boxset someday, these guys could find Trees in that way.... and you are right, they really need to re release Screaming Trees first album.

[Thurston_Whore]

2 unrelease songs i think any trees fan would love to hear 2 unrealesed songs but hmmm...couldnt they do better than this?Im a rather BIG trees/lanegan fan myself but i wouldnt buy a comp for 2 unreleased songs im sorry just not worth it in my opinion.And im all for a trees/lanegan box set in fact i'd LOVE to see that happen.

[Smallstone]

The first un-released track Watchpocket Blues is ok - on the CD it sounds a bit like a demo. Kinda like a halfway house between Sweet Oblivion and Dust. Equally Paperbackl Bible the 2nd track is ok too. More psychedelic.....
I must admit I REALLY love Dust. Thought it was a classic 'rock' record.....Reminds me of a time when I first moved to London and got my first 'proper' job.... Saw them live at the Astoria on the Dust tour and I thought they were amazing!! I saw them at Reading in 1992 - the Nirvana Sunday, in the mud, but I can't remember much about that show. Just Lee Connor doing fron rolls across the stage whilst doing a solo. He used to wear knee pads on stage didn't he?
Did they just scrap the sessions with Don Fleming in 1994? I'd love someone to write a really comprehensive Screaming Trees biography/book.....

I hope Lanegan IS working on a Screaming Trees box set. It would be amazing. I think he should keep his solo stuff separate. There were loads of extra tracks around Dust like Wasted Time/Silver Tongue, live stiff. All the Sweet Oblivion era CD promos and sngles I have are jam packed with extra tunes like Tomorrows Dream/Songs Of A Baker, E.S.K etc etc
It doesn't HAVE to be as extensive as the Nirvana box set, but they could have done a best of disc, and extras /demos/b sides disc and mixed it up with live stuff. Put the Change Has Come Sub Pop EP on it - let alone all SST stuff- and as as you say the Clairvoyance album... And the Beat Happenigng split EP. Then a really good DVD of promo clips and live stuff/TV. Their appearance on Later With Jools Hollans was brilliant.
Actually these un-released songs are GOOD!
Damn........ this could have been better:(

[RaunchHands]

the entire ST/BH 12" has been reissued on beat happening's own singles & rarities collection "music to climb the apple tree by". not that they wouldn't allow whoever would be in charge of a similar ST project to use those same songs...

i agree that prior to his collaboration with qotsa mark lanegan was only remembered by a handful of loyal fans. to be more exact, i think he moved into the spotlight with josh and the other guys when dave played on SFTD. i mean, mark was on rated R too, and at that time, especially in europe, they were still a kinda big underground band. once grohl jumped in, all hell broke loose and now everybody has been a ST fan since forever, has all the records (i.e. they downloaded them) etc. but i'm glad for his success of course and i already knew that the person next to me at the arena show is probably a moron so whatever.

[Smallstone]

Raunch - you are of course correct re: the Beat Happening box set - I checked my copy out last night. I really need to spend more time with my BH box.... I have a battered old vinyl copy of it on 12" which I am loathe to play!

I met Mark Lanegan sort of - half way backstage at a QOTSA show in er....2001 I think it was. On the Rated R tour at Brixton Academy. Me and a friend who works for Beggars Banquet, Marks label, where ushered back to 'press the flesh'. Mark was great! Didn't say much, especially as my friend was so in awe all she could say was 'We love you! We saw you at the Astoria in 1996!!'.
Mr Lanegan just smiled:)
He's very tall.
My friend, who does press for some of the biggest names 'in rock', doesn't normally get star struck, but this is Lanegan.......
Yup to me it's kinda funny to see his ascent to supposed greatness over the past year. Personally I think Field Songs is a better all round record than his last offering. I like Bubblegum and it has some classic tunes, but it kinda tails off towards the end.........
Some of his QOTSA tracks ARE great. In The Fade, Hanging Tree etc. Can't help but thinik also that he did his best stuff with them on Rated R though. They were an underground band true, but a pretty BIG underground band. Saw them at the Forum and Brixton on that tour.
Still a bit upset that QOTSA have gone off the boil a bit...

[thorn]

agree with that especially about qotsa, however im set to see them on the 12th of june well see how that turns out minus nick!!!1

[Thurston_Whore]

Yeah im seeing them at reading in 3 months,and even though i think their new album is pretty neat they do seem to have lost something due to nick's departure.But i've heard well read somewhere that nick and josh having been talking to each other and nick said something like he wanted to make another mondo generator album and he would like to play with qootsa again or something along those lines.So who knows? mabye he will play with them again sometime? but fair play nick gives off so much fucking energy live,i saw mondo last year at reading (lanegan came on stage with him also & visa versa when lanegan played) and that guys just seems to get even the old bastards moving at a show,he's electric in a way and also a kick ass bass/guitar player not to mentsion his blood freezing screams.Iwould like to hear him do another mondo album myself to i think they are a real kool band.But i guess we'll see how queens are in a few months...i'll let ya know what i thought when i get back and im sure thorn will let us know what he thought to.