Imitations | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Studio album by | ||||
Released | September 17, 2013 | |||
Recorded | 2012 | |||
Length | 41:20 | |||
Label | Vagrant (US) Heavenly Recordings (UK) | |||
Producer | Martin Feveyear | |||
Mark Lanegan chronology | ||||
| ||||
Singles from Imitations | ||||
|
Imitations is the eighth studio album by the American alternative rock musician Mark Lanegan, released on September 17, 2013 on Vagrant Records and Heavenly Recordings. It is a collection of cover songs, consisting of songs from Lanegan's parents' music collection and contemporary musicians, including Chelsea Wolfe, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and The Twilight Singers.
Produced by Martin Feveyear, who had worked with Lanegan on his previous covers album, I'll Take Care of You (1999), the album was preceded by the single, "I'm Not the Loving Kind".
Commenting on the decision to record a covers album, Mark Lanegan said: "when I was a kid in the late sixties and early seventies, my parents and their friends would play the records of Andy Williams, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and Perry Como, music with string arrangements and men singing songs that sounded sad whether they were or not. At home my folks were also listening to country music, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, George Jones and Vern Gosdin were some of our favorites. For a long time I've wanted to make a record that gave me the same feeling those old records did, using some of the same tunes I loved as a kid and some that I've loved as I have gotten older. This record is it." [1]
Imitations was announced for release on June 26, 2013 through a press release on Lanegan's official website. [1] It was subsequently released on September 17, 2013 on Vagrant Records, with whom he signed after the release of Blues Funeral (2012). The album's lead single, a cover of John Cale's "I'm Not the Loving Kind", was released on SoundCloud alongside the album's announcement. [2] [3]
A nine-date tour of European festivals to support Imitations' release began on July 12, 2013 at BBK Live in Bilbao, Spain and concluded on July 21 at the Longitude Festival in Dublin, Ireland. Tour dates for the United States were later in 2013, according to Imitations' press release. [4]
Aggregate scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
Metacritic | (71/100) [5] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
Allmusic | [6] |
The Guardian | [7] |
NME | (6/10) [8] |
Pitchfork Media | (6.6/10) [9] |
Writing for Allmusic, Thom Jurek gave the album a positive review, stating: "Imitations is a fine collection that reveals the depth of the songs through the openness and considerable skill of the singer." [6] In a mostly positive review, The Guardian's Michael Hann wrote: "Imitations works best when Lanegan, his voice as dark and smoky as one of those old-fashioned gentlemen's clubs, tackles something so unexpected it forces you to reappraise the song: "You Only Live Twice", in particular, is a triumph, the grandeur and drama of the Bond replaced by a delicate weariness." [7]
In a mixed review for the NME , Jeremy Allan, wrote: "Up there with Cash's American series this is not. But 48-year-old Lanegan is a classy bastard, so he just about gets away with it." [8]
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Artist | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "Flatlands" | Chelsea Wolfe | Chelsea Wolfe | 3:58 |
2. | "She's Gone" | Vern Gosdin | Vern Gosdin | 2:09 |
3. | "Deepest Shade" | Greg Dulli | The Twilight Singers | 4:03 |
4. | "You Only Live Twice" | Leslie Bricusse, John Barry | Nancy Sinatra | 3:06 |
5. | "Pretty Colors" | Al Gorgoni, Chip Taylor | Frank Sinatra | 2:43 |
6. | "Brompton Oratory" | Nick Cave | Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds | 4:15 |
7. | "Solitaire" | Neil Sedaka, Phil Cody | Andy Williams | 4:55 |
8. | "Mack the Knife" | Kurt Weill, Bertolt Brecht (English lyric: Manheim-Willett) | Bobby Darin | 3:08 |
9. | "I'm Not the Loving Kind" | John Cale | John Cale | 3:08 |
10. | "Lonely Street" | Carl Belew, Kenny Sowder, W. S. Stevenson | Andy Williams | 2:50 |
11. | "Élégie funèbre" | Gérard Manset | Gérard Manset | 3:33 |
12. | "Autumn Leaves" | Joseph Kosma, Jacques Prévert (English lyric: Johnny Mercer) | Andy Williams | 3:32 |
Queens of the Stone Age is an American rock band formed in 1996 in Seattle, Washington. The band was founded by vocalist and guitarist Josh Homme, who has been the only constant member throughout multiple lineup changes. Since 2013, the lineup has consisted of Homme alongside Troy Van Leeuwen, Michael Shuman, Dean Fertita, and Jon Theodore. The band also has a large pool of contributors and collaborators. Queens of the Stone Age are known for their blues, Krautrock and electronica-influenced style of riff-oriented and rhythmic hard rock music, coupled with Homme's distinct falsetto vocals and unorthodox guitar scales.
Mark William Lanegan was an American singer, songwriter, and poet. First becoming prominent as the lead singer for the early grunge band Screaming Trees, he was also known as a member of Queens of the Stone Age and The Gutter Twins. He released 12 solo studio albums, as well as three collaboration albums with Isobel Campbell and two with Duke Garwood. He was known for his baritone voice, which was described as being "as scratchy as a three-day beard yet as supple and pliable as moccasin leather" and has been compared to Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen, and Nick Cave.
John Weldon "J. J." Cale was an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Though he avoided the limelight, his influence as a musical artist has been acknowledged by figures such as Mark Knopfler, Neil Young, Waylon Jennings, and Eric Clapton, who described him as "one of the most important artists in the history of rock". He is one of the originators of the Tulsa sound, a loose genre drawing on blues, rockabilly, country, and jazz.
Dust is the seventh studio album by Screaming Trees, released on June 25, 1996.
Music for a New Society is the eighth solo studio album by the Welsh musician John Cale, released in September 1982 by ZE Records and Island Records. With the suggestion from ZE Records owner Michael Zilkha, Cale performed the album mostly improvised live at Skyline Studios in New York City. The album was a creative shift after several rock-oriented albums, with sparse piano-based performances.
The Winding Sheet is the debut studio album by alternative rock artist Mark Lanegan. It was released on May 1, 1990, on Sub Pop. The album was Lanegan's first solo work, and is notable in its departure from the characteristic sound of Screaming Trees, the band he fronted from 1985 until 2000.
"Julia Dream" is the B-side of the Pink Floyd single "It Would Be So Nice". The song was the first to be released by the band with lead vocals by David Gilmour.
Blackberry Belle is the second full-length album released by The Twilight Singers. It was released by One Little Indian Records on October 14, 2003 and features guest appearances by Mathias Schneeberger, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Stanton Moore, Petra Haden, Kamasi Washington and Mark Lanegan. The album is a tribute to director Ted Demme, a close friend of Greg Dulli's who died of a heart attack while playing a game of basketball in January 2002. Dulli had been working on another project entitled Amber Headlights, but abandoned those sessions due to Demme's death. The recordings which followed, fueled in part by the memory of Demme, resulted in Blackberry Belle.
5 is the fifth studio album by J. J. Cale. Released in 1979, it was his first album in three years. When the album was re-issued on CD, "Katy Kool Lady" was replaced by a new song listed as "Out of Style," though it was still listed as the former on the CD. "Out of Style" is also included on the 2007 album Rewind: The Unreleased Recordings under its proper title. There is still no U.S. domestic release of the song "Katy Kool Lady" on CD.
Field Songs is the fifth solo album by Mark Lanegan, released in 2001 on the Beggars Banquet label.
Saturnalia is the only studio album by The Gutter Twins, a collaboration between Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan. The album, which was started as far back as 2003, was released on March 4, 2008. Prior to the album's release, the duo began posting songs on their official MySpace page. Joseph Arthur sings backing vocals on "Idle Hands." The song was also the first single, released April 14, 2008.
Broken is the third full-length studio album by British electronic music production duo Soulsavers, and their second album predominantly featuring Mark Lanegan as lead vocalist. The album was released by V2 and Cooperative Music in the UK on 17 August 2009, and released by Columbia Records in the US in September 2009 as a digital download.
The Loving Kind is the 19th album by singer-songwriter Nanci Griffith. It was released June 9, 2009 as her last album for Rounder Records, a label for whom Griffith worked since 2002. Comprising thirteen songs, it was her first release of all new material since 2005. The album tackles political topics such as Loving vs. Virginia and capital punishment, as well as songs about Griffith's heroes, such as Townes Van Zandt. BBC Music gave the album a generally positive review, stating that "It does sound like her muse is finally on the mend."
Satisfied Mind is the sixth album by American rock band The Walkabouts, released in 1993 on Sub Pop. It consists entirely of covers of roots music and compositions by modern singer-songwriters, including songs authored by the Carter Family, Gene Clark, Mary Margaret O'Hara, John Cale, Nick Cave, Patti Smith and Charlie Rich.
Old Sock is the nineteenth solo studio album by Eric Clapton. It includes the two new compositions "Gotta Get Over" and "Every Little Thing", as well as covers. Several notable musicians were involved in the album, including Steve Winwood, JJ Cale and Paul McCartney.
"I'm Not the Loving Kind" is a song written and produced by John Cale, originally featured on his 1975 album Slow Dazzle. In 1996, it was released on compilation The Island Years.
Phantom Radio is the ninth studio album by alternative rock artist Mark Lanegan, performing as the "Mark Lanegan Band". It was released on October 21, 2014, on Vagrant Records. In an interview with The Quietus, Lanegan stated that he used a phone app called FunkBox to write the drum parts on some of the songs.
Gargoyle is the tenth studio album by American singer Mark Lanegan. It was released in April 2017 on Heavenly Recordings. It was produced by Lanegan's long-time collaborator Alain Johannes. Roughly half of the music on the record was written by UK-based Rob Marshall through e-mail exchanges with Lanegan, who would write lyrics subsequently.
Somebody's Knocking is the eleventh studio album by American singer Mark Lanegan. It was released through Heavenly Recordings on October 18, 2019.
Straight Songs of Sorrow is the twelfth and final studio album by American singer Mark Lanegan. It was released through Heavenly Recordings on May 8, 2020. The album was inspired by writing his memoir Sing Backwards and Weep, which was published April 28, 2020. It's his first solo album credited to simply Mark Lanegan, as opposed to Mark Lanegan Band, since 2013's Imitations, and the first one credited to Mark Lanegan that doesn't feature former collaborator Mike Johnson.