I know only three people who have heard of Mad Season, including myself; they’re not exactly huge. However stardom doesn’t always equate to good music, as we have seen with the success of bands like Green Day (that’s just my opinion of course). This album proves that fact and although Mad Season maybe somewhat of a “Grunge Super Group”, they never achieved the glory that I think they truly deserves.
With members from Alice in Chains (Layne Stanley), Pearl Jam (Mike McCready) and the Screaming Trees (Barret Martin and John Baker Saunders), Mad Season were somewhat of a diamond in the ruff of the dirty, distortion driven Seattle grunge world. It’s not to say the album is soft through out but it does have some Jazz/Blues touches to it.
The first track, Wake Up, starts soft with just guitar; bass, drums and what I think are vibraphones. It’s quite a beautiful song, Layne’s singing is nice and you can hear the differences to his work with AIC, the lyrics seem to be persuading someone not to commit suicide. The song builds up and slows down a few times, with an instrumental and guitar solo just after half way. It then slows up and repeats the first verse however Layne shows more emotion in his voice, after that it dies off.
X-Ray Mind starts off with tribal percussion and guitar before the drums come in for the main riff this is repeated a few times throughout the song. This is a more up-beat song with some cool little riffs. However it’s not quite as good as Wake Up. River Of Deceit starts off with some almost county like guitar before the rest of the band comes in. It has nice lyrics with clean guitar with a few cool licks here and there. This is another of the beautiful songs off the album.
I'm Above begins with a Pearl Jam type riff and Layne singing quietly through the verse. The pre-chorus and chorus have cool riffs and lyrics. There’s an acoustic guitar solo about half way through before it goes back to the verse and eventually ending with some repeats of the chorus. Overall it’s differently the best rocky track on the album.
Artificial Red has a bluesy feel about it. Barret’s drum fills are cool; rolling tom work I guess you’d call it. Blues guitar solo also which is quite cool, however the song rambles a wee bit. Lifeless Dead starts out with a wicked little riff and drums breaking down into the verse, another rocky track. The bridge is the best part and the solos pretty awesome too. Lyrics leave a bit to be desired though.
I Don’t Know Anything is somewhat haunting, the guitar harmonics and Layne repeating the phrase “I don’t know anything” give the impression that the writer has ruined everything in his life, it’s sure to get stuck in your head this one. Long Gone Day is my personal favourite song off the album, there’s a lot of percussion (marimba and bongos and or congas). The lyrics are about someone reminiscing about the past. It has nice guitar wok and cello as well, played by Barret.
I don’t like November Hotel all that much, it drags on to much, the music is of course very good but I just find it…well slightly boring, although the guitar solo is cool, it would have been better if it was shorter and in another song. Last of all is All Alone. It’s more of an outro than a song, the guitar works up for awhile then the percussion comes in, it’s very relaxing, the vocals are kind of like Arc on Pearl Jam’s Riot Act.
Well that’s the album, quite a masterpiece despite a few flaws. A great weekend album, sitting by a fire I guess. I would differently recommend it if you already have plenty of AIC and Pearl Jam, if not, get some more first. Give it a few spins and you’ll eventually love it.
Best Tracks:
Wake Up
River Of Deceit
Long Gone Day
