Blues Funeral is the seventh studio album by American alternative rock musician Mark Lanegan, released on February 6, 2012, on 4AD. The album was recorded with producer Alain Johannes throughout early 2011 and Johannes, as well as other musicians including Greg Dulli, David Catching and Jack Irons, contributed to the recording process. Blues Funeral was announced for release on November 7, 2011, through Lanegan's official website and less than a month later, the album's lead single, "The Gravedigger's Song," was released as a digital download on iTunes.
Aside from collaborative albums with Isobel Campbell, and other collaboration projects including Soulsavers and The Gutter Twins, Blues Funeral was Mark Lanegan's first new material in eight years, since Bubblegum (2004) Upon its release, Blues Funeral received widespread critical acclaim and charted in six countries within the week of its release, including Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
Background Following extensive collaborations with Isobel Campbell, former vocalist and celloist of indie pop band Belle & Sebastian, Lanegan began working on Blues Funeral after the tour in promotion of their third collaborative studio album, Hawk (2010). The tour concluded on October 29, 2010, in Los Angeles, California and Lanegan subsequently began composing songs. In an interview with Mojo, Lanegan described his writing process for the album, saying that: "[all of the songs on the new record] were written right before or during the period when we recorded" and "generally I write on the guitar, but this one I started a few with the keyboard and a drum machine, to do something different. With Al [Johannes], I can show him something on acoustic guitar and give him a description and within a couple of hours it's done."
In his 2017 book I Am the Wolf: Lyrics & Writings, Lanegan admits he had more or less lost interest in writing and singing after a near death experience, and it was only after recording "Burning Jacob's Ladder" with producer Alain Johannes as the initial trailer tune for the video game Rage that the pair continued collaborating, with the singer commenting, "If forced to choose only one of my albums to play live, this would be it."
Composition The Quietus described the album's sound as: "Blues Funeral incorporates beats marshalled by sequencers with grand cinematic sweeps and a rock & roll sensibility that reveals an artist refusing to paint himself into a corner." Lanegan also noted that "with this new record, because I use a lot of the elements of my influences that I haven't on previous record, I've made a record that's something more like I would personally listen to than some of the records that I've made before," and listed the album's influences as The Gun Club's Miami, Joy Division's Closer and Roxy Music's Country Life among others. Lanegan reflects on the album and its compositions in I Am the Wolf:
"'The Gravedigger's Song' was something I had originally tried to use on someone else's recording, but it didn't make any sense until a drumbeat lifted from an Adam Ant song proved to be its missing component..." "'Riot in My House' was inspired, like many of my tunes through the years, by the music of Swedish band The Leather Nun." "Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn's Pusher trilogy was the stimulus behind 'Ode to Sad Disco,' and its music was taken in part from the Pusher II soundtrack." "Blues Funeral'''s title is an homage to the great T.S. McPhee's band The Groundhogs, and its overall sound is reflective of my Krautrock listening habit..."
Release Lanegan's official website posted a press release on November 7, 2011 announcing that Blues Funeral was due to be released worldwide on February 6, 2012. The album was made available for pre-order on iTunes and domestic versions of the album on CD and double LP were made available through the 4AD Store and Amazon. Physical versions of the album were released a day later than the digital release. On January 21, 2012, Amazon previewed thirty-second clips of each songs on the album and on January 31, Mojo made the album available for stream in its entirety.
Tour
A two-leg tour was planned to accompany the release of Blues Funeral throughout spring 2012. Lanegan performed two shows in the United States—at the Bowery Ballroom in New York on February 7 and at Echoplex in Los Angeles, California on February 9— prior to the European tour which would last from February 24 to April 2. The tour would include Norway, Finland, the Netherlands, Belgium, United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Denmark, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Croatia, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, and Portugal. Following the release of the album, Lanegan announced two further legs of the tour with five shows in Australia and New Zealand in April 2012 and with twelve shows in the United States, Mexico and Canada in May 2012.
Date City Country Venue North AmericaFebruary 7, 2012New York CityUnited StatesBowery BallroomFebruary 9, 2012Los AngelesEchoplex EuropeFebruary 24, 2012TromsøNorwayKulturHuset(Aurora Rock) February 25, 2012OsloRockefeller Music HallFebruary 26, 2012HelsinkiFinlandThe CircusFebruary 28, 2012GroningenNetherlandsDe OosterpoortFebruary 29, 2012AmsterdamParadisoMarch 1, 2012EindhovenEffenaarMarch 2, 2012AntwerpBelgiumMuziekcentrum TRIXMarch 3, 2012March 4, 2012BristolUnited KingdomO2 Academy BristolMarch 5, 2012ManchesterAcademy 2 March 7, 2012DublinIrelandThe AcademyMarch 8, 2012BelfastMandela Hall March 9, 2012GlasgowUnited KingdomO2 ABC GlasgowMarch 10, 2012LeedsThe CockpitMarch 12, 2012BirminghamHMV InstituteMarch 13, 2012LondonO2 Shepherd's Bush EmpireMarch 14, 2012CologneGermanyGloriaMarch 15, 2012HamburgGrünspan ClubMarch 17, 2012CopenhagenDenmarkAmager BioMarch 18, 2012BerlinGermanyC-ClubMarch 19, 2012WarsawPolandProximaMarch 20, 2012PragueCzech RepublicLucerna Music HallMarch 22, 2012ViennaAustriaArenaMarch 23, 2012ZurichSwitzerlandSchiffbau(M4Music)March 24, 2012BolognaItalyEstragonMarch 25, 2012MilanAlcatrazMarch 27, 2012BilbaoSpainKafe Antzokia March 28, 2012SantiagoSala CapitolMarch 30, 2012PortoPortugalHard ClubMarch 31, 2012LisbonTMN ao VivoApril 1, 2012MadridSpainSala KapitalApril 2, 2012BarcelonaSala Bikini OceaniaApril 18, 2012Mount EdenNew ZealandThe PowerstationApril 20, 2012SydneyAustraliaThe Hi-FiApril 21, 2012BrisbaneThe TivoliApril 24, 2012AdelaideThe GovApril 26, 2012MelbourneForum Theatre North AmericaMay 10, 2012New York CityUnited StatesWebster Hall}May 11, 2012Washington9:30 ClubMay 12, 2012PhiladelphiaThe TLAMay 13, 2012BostonParadise Rock ClubMay 15, 2012TorontoCanadaMod Club TheatreMay 16, 2012DetroitUnited StatesSmall'sMay 17, 2012ChicagoMetroMay 20, 2012DenverBluebird TheaterMay 22, 2012Los AngelesGene Autry MuseumMay 23, 2012San FranciscoGreat American Music HallMay 25, 2012GeorgeGorge Amphitheatre(Sasquatch! Music Festival)May 26, 2012PortlandWonder Ballroom EuropeNovember 3, 2012DornbirnAustriaConrad SohmNovember 4, 2012StuttgartGermanyUniversumNovember 5, 2012ErlangenE-WerkNovember 6, 2012WrocławPolandFirlejNovember 7, 2012KatowiceJazz Club HipnozaNovember 9, 2012AarhusDenmarkVoxHallNovember 10, 2012LundSwedenMejerietNovember 11, 2012StockholmGöta KällareNovember 13, 2012HanoverGermanyMusikzentrumNovember 15, 2012EnschedeNetherlandsPoppodium AtakNovember 16, 2012The HagueNationaal Toneel GebouwNovember 17, 2012WangelsGermanyWeißenhäuser StrandNovember 18, 2012BrusselsBelgiumCirque RoyalNovember 20, 2012BratislavaSlovakiaKlub za ZrkadlomNovember 21, 2012BelgradeSerbiaOmladineNovember 22, 2012BudapestHungaryA38November 24, 2012ZagrebCroatiaPAUKNovember 25, 2012LjubljanaSloveniaKSNovember 26, 2012GrazAustriaPPCNovember 27, 2012LausanneSwitzerlandLes DocksNovember 29, 2012CiampinoItalyOrionNovember 30, 2012FlorenceViperDecember 1, 2012ZurichSwitzerlandabartDecember 2, 2012HeidelbergGermanyKarlstorbahnhofDecember 4, 2012LondonEnglandHMV ForumDecember 5, 2012ParisFranceLe TrabendoDecember 7, 2012MadridSpainPrimavera ClubDecember 8, 2012BarcelonaPrimavera ClubDecember 10, 2012Tel AvivIsraelBarbyDecember 11, 2012IstanbulTurkeySalon IKSV
ReceptionBlues Funeral was released to positive critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 75, based on 32 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Mojo reviewer Keith Cameron said that "no other singer of his generation plumbs the depths so credibly, or does mournful with such grace", awarded the album a full five stars and referred to it as an "instant MOJO classic." Andy Gill of The Independent called Blues Funeral "the most accomplished of Lanegan's albums," adding that the album is "boasting a rare congruence between lyrical themes and musical evocations". BBC Music's Kevin Harley said that the album "deepens his pitch while exhibiting a range and grace beyond his death's-head profile" and "sells [the songs] with conviction and character." Tom Hughes of The Guardian described it as "bluesy, lugubrious, modernish rock, elevated by Lanegan's remarkable gravel-pit of a voice" but concluded that "running close to a full hour, this can feel like a long funeral". Drowned in Sound reviewer Robert Leedham referred to the album as "deliciously callous but cursedly familiar" and added that it was "a record for ardent fans and not casual admirers". Jason Heller of The A.V. Club referred to the album as "a blatant and lackluster attempt to keep up with the times" and criticised its production "in which no note or texture is left digitally unprocessed". Pitchfork described Blues Funeral as "a mixed bag" and the songs as "many dirges that simply drag", but positively noted the album's influences and Lanegan's vocals ("almost invariably powerful on a sheer physical level"). Stereogum'' listed the album as Album of the Week upon its release and gave a very positive review applauding Lanegan's vocals, the album's synthpop influences and "his most unburdened album in many, many years".
Track listing
Japanese bonus track
Personnel
Musicians Mark Lanegan – vocals Alain Johannes – guitar, bass, keyboards, percussion, backing vocals Jack Irons – drums Aldo Struyf – keyboards (8, 9, 12), guitar (12) Dave Rosser – guitar (3, 6) Duke Garwood – guitar (2, 12) David Catching – guitar (2,5 & 11) Martyn LeNoble – bass (7, 9)
Guest musicians Chris Goss – guitar (10), backing vocals (10) Greg Dulli – backing vocals (4) Josh Homme – guitar (5) Shelley Brien – backing vocals (8)
Technical personnel Alain Johannes – producer, engineer, mixing
Chart positions Chart (2012) Peak positionAustrian Top 4042Belgian Albums Chart (Vl)4Belgian Albums Chart (WA)50Canadian Albums Chart172Danish Albums Chart37Dutch Top 4020Finnish Albums Chart24French Albums Chart51German Albums Chart41Irish Albums Chart12Irish Independent Albums Chart2Italian Albums Chart38Norwegian Albums Chart12Spanish Albums Chart53Swedish Albums Chart23Swiss Albums Chart27New Zealand Albums Chart40UK Albums Chart21US Billboard 20099US Billboard Alternative Albums16US Billboard Independent Albums15US Billboard Rock Albums26US Billboard Tastemaker Albums5
Year-end charts Chart (2012)PositionBelgian Albums Chart (Flanders)42
References