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Rating: We are in 1995, and while grunge was slowly dying, a bang once more (for the last time?) brought light to the genre: we are talking about "Above" by Mad Season. A very particular album perhaps truly understood by few, but which is certainly (without exaggeration) a gem of the entire musical world.
Mad Season was a supergroup formed by Layne Staley (from Alice in Chains), Mike McCready (from Pearl Jam), John Baker Saunders (from the Walkabouts), and Barrett Martin (from Screaming Trees).
Having met in a rehabilitation center for drug addicts, the four formed a band and recorded just this album: 56 minutes in a world that, contrary to what a soft title like "Above" might suggest, is immersed in the persecution of one's guilt, abandonment, pain, solitude... this is an anthem to death. Death, however, is not addressed directly, but is the logical consequence of every track. The atmosphere is not heavy, in fact, it almost seems fantastic, you can hear the sun in the distance, a sun that we will never see. There is nothing positive, only distrust in tomorrow and in everything that could save us, every note is as if a bullet fired to the heart.
The label "grunge group" quickly dissolves with the first song "Wake up", 7.38 minutes of very slow, sick, resigned blues, with the sweet voice of Layne Staley guiding us in an atmosphere of freedom tinged with drugs, but damn honest! An atmosphere that will accompany us throughout the journey. The highlights of the album are definitely the wonderful and introspective "River of deceit" (definitely one of the most beautiful songs written by Staley), "I'm above" with its so depressed aura, the dramatic "Long gone day" (where, as in the already mentioned "I'm above", we also find Screaming Trees' singer Mark Lanegan) and the closing "All alone", a rarefied resignation to pain with a four-word text that perhaps represents the emblem of the album: "We're all alone..." The rock side is well represented by "X-ray mind" and the hit "I don't know anything" (the only grunge episode on the record). Also memorable is the highly inspired "November hotel", 7 minutes of pure music.
In short, this is not an easy album to understand, it is not the typical album to listen to and hum along to while you are in the shower: it is an album that makes you reflect!
Unfortunately, in recent years, interest in such profound works has waned, favoring the catchy nature of pop... making "Above" almost forgotten, I always hope that there is at least someone else who continues to love this masterpiece, and that one day everyone will recognize its beauty.
"Above" is an unrepeatable work, it has something tremendously magical, it enters your soul making you experience many unique emotions, and leaves causing a profound change in you, it is something that makes you grow, it is an intimate and deep lesson in life.
Try it to believe it... for me, it was like that...
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
03 River of Deceit (05:04)
My pain is self-chosen
At least, so The Prophet says
I could either burn
Or cut off my pride and buy some time
A head full of lies is the weight, tied to my waist
The River of Deceit pulls down, oh oh
The only direction we flow is down
Down, oh down
Down, oh down
Down, oh down
Down, oh down
My pain is self-chosen
At least I believe it to be
I could either drown
Or pull off my skin and swim to shore
Now I can grow a beautiful shell for all to see
The River of Deceit pulls down, yeah
The only direction we flow is down
Down, oh down
Down, oh down
Down, oh down
Down, oh down
The pain is self-chosen, yeah
Our pain is self-chosen
04 I'm Above (05:45)
For clear space and soundess of mind
I've let you play me for some time
One can only receive and retain
But the lies you recite for your gain
So you rely on my faith in your kind
Or rather continue to pretend that I'm blind
You say I made your life a living hell
And yet still let me pay you when I fell
How is it you're feeling so uneasy?
How is it that I feel fine?
Life reveals what is dealt through seasons
Circle comes around each time
I've been blessed with eyes to see this
Behind the unwhole truth you hide
Bite to remind the bitten, bigger
Mouth repaying tenfold wide
I'm above
Over you I'm standing above
Claiming unconditional love
Above
Try to keep bad blood in the past
Never thought a chance, a chance it would last
I have strength enough, enough to forgive
I desire peace where I live
I've been blessed with eyes to see this
Behind the unwhole truth you hide
Bite to remind the bitten, bigger
Mouth repaying tenfold wide
How is it you're feeling so uneasy?
How is it that I feel fine?
Life reveals what is dealt through seasons
Circle comes around each time
I'm above
Over you I'm standing above
Claiming unconditional love
Above
I'm above
Over you I'm standing above
Claiming unconditional love
Above
I'm above
Over you I'm standing above
Claiming unconditional love
Above
07 I Don't Know Anything (05:01)
I don't know anything
I don't know anything
I don't know anything
I don't know who I am
I don't know anything
I don't know anything
I don't know anything
I don't know who I am
Why we have to live in so much hate everyday? Oh yeah
Why the fighting and the coming down, am I sane?
I don't know, yeah
I don't know anything
I don't know anything
I don't know anything
I don't know who to be
I don't know anything
I don't know anything
I don't know anything
I don't know who I am
Why we have to live in so much hate everyday? Oh yeah
Why the fighting and the coming down, am I sane?
I don't know
When the teacher put the ruler down on my hand
I laugh!
Cross my heart and hide reliever in trails of blood,
I love?!?
I don't know anything
I don't know anything
I don't know anything
I don't know who I am
I don't know anything
I don't know anything
I don't know anything
I don't know who to be
Why we have to live in so much hate everyday? Oh yeah
Why the fighting and the coming down, am I sane?
I don't know
When the teacher put the ruler down on my hand
I laugh!
Cross my heart and hide reliever in trails of blood,
I love?!?
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Other reviews
By Rooster
Staley’s raw and damned singing, the true protagonist, manages to express itself in all its natural essence.
The strong emotions that emerge are the true success of 'Above', one of the last masterpieces produced by Seattle’s brief, intense, and frenetic rock period.
By sausalito
This album is perhaps the artistic pinnacle of Seattle grunge, the result of a supergroup including the great Layne Staley.
Layne Staley expressed emotions and poetry in a much deeper way: something especially demonstrated in the eponymous Alice in Chains album released a few months later.
By treno
Blues and Hard rock blend into a brew of sadness and anguish that emerges in tracks like 'I Don’t Know Anything.'
'River of Deceit,' the gem of the album, introduces a very sad track with a dark text which transforms into an incredible live version.
By Nevskji
"Mike McCready’s guitar work on this album is a masterpiece, balancing electric outbursts and sweetness in perfect harmony."
"Layne Staley once again confirms the extraordinary talent bestowed upon him — a voice capable of stirring emotions and dreaming."
By Diego Remaggi
Seattle was the center of the world. From there came the cries of anger and fear of a devastated generation.
River Of Deceit is a gem, delicate and suffused like a jazz song, delighting the listening of anyone.
