Mad Season – Above

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Uploaded on 28 January, 2013

Above is the only studio album by the American rock band Mad Season, released on March 14, 1995 through Columbia Records. The album has been certified gold by the RIAA in the United States. Layne Staley also did album artwork on cover.

Background

During the production of Pearl Jam’s Vitalogy, guitarist Mike McCready went into rehabilitation in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he met The Lamont Cranston Band bassist John Baker Saunders.

In 1994, when the two returned to Seattle, they formed a side band with Screaming Trees drummer Barrett Martin. Immediately the trio set up rehearsal time together and began writing material. McCready then brought in friend and Alice in Chains frontman Layne Staley to round out the line-up. McCready had hoped that being around sober musicians would push Staley to get himself sober.

Recording

The album was recorded in 1994 at Bad Animals Studio in Seattle, Washington. The band worked with producer Brett Eliason, who had previously worked with McCready as Pearl Jam’s sound engineer. The album was mixed by Eliason.

The music for the songs “Wake Up” and “River of Deceit” came out of rehearsals that the group had before Staley joined. The song “Artificial Red” came together at a show that the band had at the Crocodile Cafe in October 1994. The songs “Lifeless Dead” and “I Don’t Know Anything” were first premiered on Pearl Jam’s January 8, 1995 Self-Pollution satellite radio broadcast, a four-and-a-half hour long pirate broadcast out of Seattle which was available to any radio stations that wanted to carry it.

McCready said, “We did all the Mad Season music in about seven days. It took Layne just a few more days to finish his vocals, which was intense since we only rehearsed twice and did four shows. So this has been the most spontaneous thing I’ve ever been involved in. This was done even quicker than Temple of the Dog which took about four weeks…With Mad Season we just went in and started jamming on tunes and everybody had ideas and it just happened with three or four days.”

McCready said, “I told [Staley]…’You do what you want, you write all the songs and lyrics. You’re the singer.’ He’d come in, and he’d do these beautiful songs.”  

During the making of the album, Staley read The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran. Martin said, “Layne Staley felt as though he was on a spiritual mission through his music. Not a rock mission, a spiritual mission.”

Music and lyrics

“River of Deceit”
A sample of “River of Deceit”, the first single released from the album. The lyrics for the song, written by Staley, were inspired by The Prophet by Khalil Gibran.

McCready described the songs on the album as “some jazzy stuff, some blues, some arena rock.”[1] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic said that the album “sounds like a cross between Alice in Chains and Pearl Jam, taking the ponderous seriousness of Alice and PJ’s ’90s update of winding ’70s guitar rock.”
Vocalist Mark Lanegan of Screaming Trees contributes guest vocals and additional lyrics on “I’m Above” and “Long Gone Day”. “I Don’t Know Anything”‘s verse bar features a droning, overdriven guitar melody centered on the use of harmonics. “Long Gone Day” takes influence from genres as diverse as jazz, progressive rock, classic rock, and blues. Saxophonist Skerik contributes to the song.

Staley’s lyrics dealt with his struggle against addiction as well as other personal troubles. Lyrically, much of “River of Deceit” was inspired by Khalil Gibran’s The Prophet.

Release and reception

The album was released to critical and commercial success. Over the course of 1995, Above scaled the Billboard 200 album chart eventually peaking at number 24. Above has been certified gold by the RIAA.
Melody Maker called the album “a Country Sabbath combination” and “a refreshing holiday from the pressures of corporate ultra-stardom.” Allmusic staff writer Stephen Thomas Erlewine gave the album three out of five stars, saying that “the album meanders without much direction, yet there are flashes of invention, particularly in Staley’s work, with McCready contributing a few tasty licks.” Rolling Stone staff writer Barbara Davies gave Above two and a half out of five stars, saying that Mad Season “take artistic risks and set out to make something fresh on Above.” However, she criticized the album for having a “hit-or-miss quality.” Davies ended the review by stating that “the band is—at times—more than the mere sum of its parts.”[10] Chuck Eddy of Entertainment Weekly gave the album a C. He said, “A sax solo and zooming guitars provide momentary relief, but most Mad Season sludge is unbearably immobile.” He ended by saying, “It’s big trouble when one of the most upbeat songs is called ‘Lifeless Dead’.”

Above included the singles “River of Deceit”, “I Don’t Know Anything”, and “Long Gone Day”. The lead single “River of Deceit” had an accompanying music video, while other music videos were taken from performances from the band’s home video release, Live at the Moore. “River of Deceit” was the most successful song from Above on the rock charts, reaching number two on the Mainstream Rock charts and number nine on the Modern Rock charts. “I Don’t Know Anything” also charted on the Mainstream Rock charts. “River of Deceit” is arguably the group’s best known song while “I Don’t Know Anything” still maintains modest radio play today.

Re-release

In October 2012, drummer Barrett Martin announced a Mad Season box set, which will be released on March 12, 2013, nearly 18 years to the day after the release of Above. Martin said that To honor our departed brothers, Mike [McCready] and I oversaw a Mad Season box set, which comes out March 12th, 2013. It contains the re-mastered Above album, the Live at The Moore concert on DVD with surround sound, and a bunch of live recordings that we never released. The most exciting stuff: three songs that Mark Lanegan wrote lyrics and sang on, songs that we started to record for the second album but never finished because of Baker’s and Layne’s deaths. One of the songs Peter Buck wrote with us, and the other two are from me and Mike. They are three of the heaviest and most beautiful songs Mad Season did, and I know Layne and Baker will love them.

On January 7, 2013, Blabbermouth.net reported that Legacy Recordings will release an expanded deluxe edition of Above, a three-disc boxset comprising two CDs and one DVD. It will include the original studio album and a host of extras, specifically some unreleased tracks from the band’s unfinished second album with lyrics and vocals by Mark Lanegan; the full audio set of the band’s “Live at the Moore” performance on April 29, 1995; and the first official DVD release of “Live at the Moore”, including a previously unreleased full concert video of the band’s New Year’s Eve performance from the now-defunct Seattle club RKCNDY.

Packaging

The album’s gloomy, black and white cover art was illustrated by Staley. The drawing was based upon a photograph of Staley and his then-girlfriend, Demri Lara Parrott. The album’s title comes from the song “I’m Above”.

Original 1995 release

All songs written and composed by Barrett Martin, Mike McCready, John Baker Saunders, and Layne Staley, except where noted.

1. “Wake Up” 7:38
2. “X-Ray Mind” 5:12
3. “River of Deceit” 5:04
4. “I’m Above” Martin, McCready, Staley, Mark Lanegan 5:44
5. “Artificial Red” 6:16
6. “Lifeless Dead” 4:29
7. “I Don’t Know Anything” 5:01
8. “Long Gone Day” Martin, McCready, Staley, Lanegan 4:52
9. “November Hotel” 7:08
10. “All Alone” 4:12
Bonus tracks on 2013 CD version
No. Title Lyrics Length
11. “Interlude”
12. “Locomotive” Lanegan
13. “Black Book Of Fear” Lanegan
14. “Slip Away” Lanegan
15. “I Don’t Wanna Be a Soldier” John Lennon
2013 deluxe edition disc 2: Live at the Moore
Previously unreleased full audio set of “Live At The Moore” performance from Seattle, Washington, April 29, 1995.

DVD: Live at the Moore plus bonus footage
Full video set of the “Live At The Moore” performance from Seattle, Washington performance, April 29, 1995 plus bonus footage, including a full concert of the band’s performance from New Year’s Eve 1995 at RKCNDY in Seattle, and both performances from the Seattle-based Self-Pollution Radio specials, one newly edited.

Mad Season

• Barrett Martin – drums, percussion, double bass, cello, marimba, vibraphone
• Mike McCready – lead and rhythm electric and acoustic guitars
• John Baker Saunders – bass guitar
• Layne Staley – vocals, rhythm guitar, illustrations

Category: Mad Season.

Tags: Mad Season.