Scraps at Midnight

Scraps at Midnight is the third solo album by former Screaming Trees vocalist Mark Lanegan. It was produced by Mark Lanegan and longtime collaborator Mike Johnson.

The album opens with "Hospital Roll Call," which many interpret as a sly reference to a hospital room number that the singer occupied during one of his stints in rehab. The Cohenesque "Hotel" expands on this theme ("Hear the roars and the hush and the cold chill of time, and I'm happy murdering my mind"), while the gentle "Bell Black Ocean" and "Stay" deal with themes of love and perseverance ("Livin's not hard, it's just not easy, always keepin' the dogs off"). "Last One In The World" is rumored to be a dedication to friend and collaborator Kurt Cobain, who committed suicide in 1994.

Scraps At Midnight could arguably be considered the final installment of a trilogy of albums (preceded by The Winding Sheet and Whiskey for the Holy Ghost) which feature the songwriters's interpretation of American roots music set to troubling lyrics that explore themes of loss, sin, and redemption. In a 2004 interview (currently available on YouTube), Lanegan stated "That's always been my goal since I started...It's sort of been my obsession to make records that had the feeling of the blues, the spirit of them, I think, but without being what we'd consider to be traditional blues, or twelve bar "bar band" blues, which is a boring, outdated mode and I'm not interested in it. But I am interested in the real feelings behind it."

Track listing

1. "Hospital Roll Call" - 2:58
2. "Hotel" - 3:10
3. "Stay" - 3:29
4. "Bell Black Ocean" - 2:43
5. "Last One in the World" - 4:24
6. "Wheels" - 4:35
7. "Waiting on a Train" - 4:32
8. "Day and Night" - 3:16
9. "Praying Ground" - 3:07
10. "Because of This" - 8:19

Personnel

• John Agnello - Engineer, mixing
• John Burton - Engineer
• Greg Calbi - Mastering
• Terry Date - Engineer
• Tad Doyle - Drums
• Jack Endino Engineer
• Mike Johnson - Guitar, producer
• Jeff Kleinsmith - Artwork
• Mark Lanegan - Vocals, guitar, producer
• J Mascis - Piano
• Charles Peterson - Photography
• Kenneth Sherwood - Design
• Phil Sparks - Bass (Upright)
• Terry Yohn - Harmonica
• Mike Stinette - Saxophone
• Liz Burns - Voice

References