The Winding Sheet

Though he served honorably as the lead singer for the Screaming Trees, Mark Lanegan truly came into his own with his solo career, where his blues-soaked scowl found its natural home. His solo debut, 1990's The Winding Sheet, is a brilliant collection of dark, acoustic-based tunes that highlight Lanegan's dark, foreboding growl with a set of lyrics every bit as dark. His cover of Leadbelly's "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" set the stage for Nirvana's Kurt Cobain's version (Cobain also appears here on "Down in the Dark"). But it's Lanegan's own originals, the swooning drama of "Mockingbirds," the John Cale-like isolation of "Museum," the plaintive acoustic lament of "Wild Flowers," the Lee Hazlewood tension of "Ugly Sunday" and the haunted misery of "Woe" that paint the man as one of the great modern-day blues singers. Subsequent solo albums mine deeper blues and psychedelic textures, but the unadorned simplicity of this debut with acoustic guitars, occasional piano accents and ghostly back-up vocals, reigns among Lanegan's supreme achievements.