Has God Seen My Shadow?

Round one: I first heard Mark Lanegan in his capacity as frontman for The Screaming Trees though I didn't know his name at the time I took a liking to their song 'Nearly Lost You', which I misremembered for years as having been by The Afghan Whigs. Round two: I bought Songs for the Deaf by Queens of the Stone Age a year or two after it came out, but Lanegan's contributions were some of my less favourite parts of that album. Round three: via Spotify, I found my way to the album Broken by Soulsavers, which I loved primarily because of Lanegan's contributions. Round four: I heard the song 'One Hundred Days' on the radio ca. 2012, and realised I needed to listen to more of his solo recordings, but money was tight at that time.

I was still hard up in 2014, but somehow scraped together enough change to order the 3LP set Has God Seen My Shadow? from Piccadilly Records in Manchester. It was around then I'd been obliged to sell some things I wished I didn't have to part with: I think this box was a consolation prize of sorts paid for with some of the proceeds. I'm very glad I did buy it, as I love this set dearly. The first two discs contain highlights from Lanegan's solo albums up to 2004's Bubblegum in roughly reverse chronological order, with the third offers up an assortment of previously-unreleased tracks.

The emphasis is on the quiet & downtempo - there's no 'Hit The City' or 'Methamphetamine Blues', for example. Sides A-C in particular are outstandingly good, and the pressing & mastering, etc. all serve the music well. Many a time I have sipped at a whisky and immersed myself in these songs while reflecting on how things came to be as they are.

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