Screaming Trees - Even If and Especially When (Grunge 1987)

By essentially "repeating the language of the land and the sky," the Screaming Trees accurately portray the organic spirit of the Pacific Northwest. On tracks such as "Cold Rain" and "In the Forest" their narrative landscapes are not only expressed by the seasoned voice of Mark Lanegan but also by the rich complexity of their song structures. While drummer Mark Pickerel and guitarists Gary Lee and Van Conner provide the energy of a classic garage band, producer Steve Fisk molds their groundwork and pop sensibilities into the realms of proto-grunge. Along with fellow SST labelmates Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr., the Screaming Trees served as true pioneers of the burgeoning genre. With distorted guitars and meaningful poetics becoming the norm of the late '80s, Even If and Especially When stands as a commendable album and a telling preview of what was to later come from the Seattle scene.

AMG Review by Robert Gabriel

Screaming Trees - Sweet Oblivion (Grunge 1992)

The Screaming Trees one-upped their major-label debut, Uncle Anesthesia, with this solid, vastly underrated effort. Sweet Oblivion's lead single, the jumpy hard rocker "Nearly Lost You," proved itself a highlight on the hugely successful, Seattle-themed Singles soundtrack. But even though the Screaming Trees stacked up quite well against their more famous peers in that particular showcase, the exposure didn't make them stars. Perhaps it was because Sweet Oblivion had been released several months before Singles, and the band thus couldn't build a sense of anticipation for a new album release, the way Alice in Chains and Smashing Pumpkins did for Dirt and Siamese Dream, respectively; nor could they capitalize on the extra publicity that goes along with new releases. For whatever reason, Singles didn't push sales of Sweet Oblivion, as the latter only scraped the lower reaches of the Billboard charts. And that's a shame, because the record is quite good -- the best songs here are easily among the best in their catalog, and the songwriting was their most consistent yet. "Nearly Lost You" is a standout, of course, but "Dollar Bill," "Shadow of the Season," and "Butterfly" are nearly as impressive. Mark Lanegan's raspy voice conveys a weary wistfulness that adds an unexpected dimension to the group's otherwise macho garage-psych grunge. The Trees no longer sound all that punkish, trading in some of their early, noisy fury for a more '70s-indebted hard rock sound, but it's done with a graceful power that proves they were at least the equal of their more famous fellow scenesters. Unfortunately, the four-year hiatus between Sweet Oblivion and its follow-up, Dust, ensured that the band would be forever relegated to cult status.

AMG Review by Steve Huey

Screaming Trees - Dust (Indie Rock from Seattle 1996)

In many ways, the Screaming Trees missed their opportunity. They released Sweet Oblivion just as grunge began to capture national attention and they didn't tour the album extensively, which meant nearly all of their fellow Seattle bands became superstars while they stood to the side. After four years, they returned with Dust, their third major-label album, and by that point, the band's sound was too idiosyncratic for alternative radio. Which is unfortunate, because Dust is the band's strongest album. Sure, the rough edges that fueled albums like Uncle Anesthesia are gone, but in its place is a rustic hard rock, equally informed by heavy metal and folk. The influence of Mark Lanegan's haunting solo albums is apparent in both the sound and emotional tone of the record, but this is hardly a solo project -- the rest of the band has added a gritty weight to Lanegan's spare prose. The Screaming Trees sound tighter than they ever have and their melodies and hooks are stronger, more memorable, making Dust their most consistently impressive record.

AMG Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine