....it's a bass that turns and a drum that beats, it's a bass that turns and a drum that beats, it's a bass that turns and a drum that beats, it's a bass that turns and a drum that beats, it's a bass that turns and a drum that beats, it's a bass that turns and a drum that beats, it's a bass that turns and a drum that beats, it's a bass that turns and a drum that beats, it's a bass that turns and a drum that beats, it's a bass that turns and a drum that beats.
This is the classic record that needs to be listened to from the end to be understood. A circular record, circular like a blues, obsessive like its author, full of mental spaces and so simple in its guitar, bass, and drum playing, or rather just guitar and voice, as in the most intimate moments of the record (On The Steps Of The Cathedral). So basic that even live, these days in Bologna and Milan, it resonates simple but intense and full, without leaving any response space to a listener."Message To Mine" seems to echo, in a dark version, the best Beatle-esque Oasis, but then after the ballads, it’s Keni Richards' piano that provides a solitary sonic counterpoint to Mark's hoarse voice in "Lexington slow down," and it feels like listening to the best Nick Cave.
The dirty blues that always resonates, sometimes asking for a thought to Tom Waits ("Wish You Well"), sometimes a toxic piano chord to Cave or a guitar loop to Lou Reed, drags me into the whirlwind of dark, obsessive, circular passions, in a loop that endlessly restarts and never ends in "Sleep With Me", where Lanegan, giving his best, invites us to watch over a nightmare that plays, plays, plays and repeats itself like a bass that turns and a drum that beats, like a bass that turns and a drum that beats, like a bass that turns and a drum that beats, like a bass that turns and a drum that beats, like a bass that turns and a drum that beats, like a bass that turns and a drum that beats, like a bass that turns and a drum that beats, like a bass that turns and a drum that beats....
Had to run so far to find a clear spot
Sun's all hottin' in the rotten hot
Swamp's all rotten and stinkin', buh
Vegetation's hot
Sleepin' in the bayou in an old rotten cot
Can't find my kind of folks havin' fun
Have to run, run, run, run
Run to find a clear spot
Cave shattered down on the sun baked ground
Mosquitoes 'n moccasins, steppin' all around
'fraid I'm gonna get hit
Sun's all hottin' and a rotten hot
Vegetation's hot
Sleepin' in the bayou on an old rotten cot
Can't find my kind of folks havin' fun
I gotta run, run, run, run
Run to find a clear spot
Cave shattered down on the sun baked ground
Mosquitoes 'n moccasins, steppin' all around
And I'm gonna get hit
'fraid I'm gonna get hit
I run so far to find a clear spot
Afraid I'm gonna get hit