• Artist: Screaming Trees
• Rating:
• Styles: Neo-Psychedelia, Grunge, Alternative Pop/Rock
• Track Picks: "Dollar Bill," "Nearly Lost You," "Winter Song"
• Similar Albums: Sap, Here No Evil: A Tribute to the Monkees, Let Me Come Over, Honey's Dead, Ferment, Copper Blue, Bricks Are Heavy, Reading, Writing and Arithmetic, Ten, Smell the Magic, Un-Led-Ed, Fossils

Review

The Screaming Trees one-upped their major-label debut, Uncle Anesthesia, with this solid, vastly underrated effort. Sweet Oblivion's lead single, the jumpy hard rocker "Nearly Lost You," proved itself a highlight on the hugely successful, Seattle-themed Singles soundtrack. But even though the Screaming Trees stacked up quite well against their more famous peers in that particular showcase, the exposure didn't make them stars. Perhaps it was because Sweet Oblivion had been released several months before Singles, and the band thus couldn't build a sense of anticipation for a new album release, the way Alice in Chains and Smashing Pumpkins did for Dirt and Siamese Dream, respectively; nor could they capitalize on the extra publicity that goes along with new releases. For whatever reason, Singles didn't push sales of Sweet Oblivion, as the latter only scraped the lower reaches of the Billboard charts. And that's a shame, because the record is quite good -- the best songs here are easily among the best in their catalog, and the songwriting was their most consistent yet. "Nearly Lost You" is a standout, of course, but "Dollar Bill," "Shadow of the Season," and "Butterfly" are nearly as impressive. Mark Lanegan's raspy voice conveys a weary wistfulness that adds an unexpected dimension to the group's otherwise macho garage-psych grunge. The Trees no longer sound all that punkish, trading in some of their early, noisy fury for a more '70s-indebted hard rock sound, but it's done with a graceful power that proves they were at least the equal of their more famous fellow scenesters. Unfortunately, the four-year hiatus between Sweet Oblivion and its follow-up, Dust, ensured that the band would be forever relegated to cult status. ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track Title	iTunes	Composers	Performers	Time
Shadow of the Season		Mark Lanegan, Lee Conner	Screaming Trees	(4:34)
Nearly Lost You		Mark Lanegan, Lee Conner, Van Conner	Screaming Trees	(4:07)
Dollar Bill		Mark Lanegan, Van Conner	Screaming Trees	(4:35)
More or Less		Mark Lanegan, Lee Conner, Van Conner	Screaming Trees	(3:11)
Butterfly		Mark Lanegan, Lee Conner, Van Conner	Screaming Trees	(3:22)
For Celebrations Past [*]	...	Mark Lanegan, Lee Conner, Barrett Martin, Van Conner	Screaming Trees	(4:09)
Winter Song		Mark Lanegan, Lee Conner	Screaming Trees	(3:43)
Troubled Times		Mark Lanegan, Lee Conner, Barrett Martin, Van Conner	Screaming Trees	(5:20)
No One Knows		Mark Lanegan, Lee Conner	Screaming Trees	(5:13)
Julie Paradise		Mark Lanegan, Van Conner	Screaming Trees	(5:05)
The Secret Kind			Screaming Trees	(3:08)

Credits

Mark Lanegan (Vocals), Screaming Trees (Main Performer), John Agnello (Engineer), David Coleman (Art Direction), Don Fleming (Producer), Barrett Martin (Drums), Andy Wallace (Mixing), Howie Weinberg (Mastering), Gary Lee Conner (Guitar), Michael Lavine (Photography), Van Conner (Bass)

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