Sunday, January 22, 2023

Screaming Trees: Anthology: SST Years 1985 - 1989 (1991)


 

VAN CONNER, the bassist who cofounded the influential hard-rock group Screaming Trees


alongside his brother, Gary Lee, and singer Mark Lanegan, has died. “Van Conner bassist and songwriter of Screaming Trees died last night of an extended illness at 55,” Gary Lee wrote on Facebook. “It was pneumonia that got him in the end. He was one of the closest friends I ever had and I loved him immensely. I will miss him forever and ever and ever.”
                               


Van Conner (March 17, 1967 – January 18, 2023) was an American rock musician, best known as the bassist for Screaming Trees. As a bass player in high school, Conner formed the band

Explosive Generation with his brother Gary Lee Conner and Mark Pickerel. That band later evolved into Screaming Trees with the addition of singer Mark Lanegan in 1985. The band moved from their native Ellensburg, Washington to Seattle in the late 1980s to join that city's burgeoning alternative rock scene. Conner played on seven studio albums with Screaming Trees until the band split in 2000.
                               

While he was with Screaming Trees, Conner formed the side project Solomon Grundy, in which he
MARK  LANEGAN

performed lead vocals and guitar. That band released an album in 1990, and during that period Conner also joined a live lineup of Dinosaur Jr. He later formed another side project called Gardener, which released an album in 1999. After the breakup of Screaming Trees, Conner worked as a session musician and had formed several additional alternative rock bands, including VALIS and Musk Ox.
                             
                                 
Screaming Trees was an American rock band formed in Ellensburg, Washington, in 1984 by vocalist

Mark Lanegan, guitarist Gary Lee Conner, bassist Van Conner, and drummer Mark Pickerel. Pickerel was replaced by Barrett Martin in 1991. Screaming Trees became known as one of the pioneers of grunge along with the Melvins, Mudhoney, U-Men, Skin Yard, Soundgarden, Green River, Malfunkshun, among others.
                           
                      
Although widely associated with grunge, the band's sound incorporated hard rock and psychedelic

elements. Screaming Trees was a unique voice in the Pacific Northwest "grunge" scene. Their sound was more psychedelic, garage-rock, and '70s hard rock influenced which made them stand out amongst their peers.
                          

The Conner brothers formed Screaming Trees with Mark Lanegan and Mark Pickerel in 1984 in


Ellensburg, Washington, a small town a little over 100 miles from Seattle. The band was drawn together in high school by an interest in punk, garage, and classic rock. 

                                


The band rehearsed at the Conner family's video rental store and recorded their demo tape Other Worlds


in the summer of 1985 with Steve Fisk at Creative Fire recording studio in Ellensburg. It was initially distributed by the independent label K Records. Other Worlds then got a wider release through the independent label, Velvetone Records (also based out of Ellensburg).
                                 


Screaming Trees – Anthology: SST Years 1985-1989
Label: SST Records – SST CD 260
Format: CD, Compilation
Country: US
Released: 1991
Genre: Rock
Style: Alternative Rock, Psychedelic Rock

TRAXS

                     


01. Barriers    2:53
02. The Turning    2:46
03. Other Worlds    2:39
04. Transfiguration    3:55
05. Don't Look Down    2:55
06. Cold Rain  (Backing Vocals – Rod Doak)   3:36
07. In The Forest    4:06
08. Back Together    2:15
09. Other Days And Different Planets    3:14
10. Walk Through To This Side    2:34
11. Smokerings    3:45
12. Ivy    3:19
13. Grey Diamond Desert   (Piano – Steve Fisk)   4:24
14. Night Comes Creeping    3:54
15. Invisible Lantern    3:04
16. Subtle Poison    3:51
17. Windows    2:42
18. Black Sun Morning  (Backing Vocals – Jack Endino)   5:01
19. Flower Web    3:41
20. End Of The Universe    5:48
21. Where The Twain Shall Meet    3:28

MP3 @320 Size: 171 MB
Flac  Size: 458 MB


            



Screaming Trees on Urban Aspirines HERE  

12 comments:

  1. Excuse my shortless. But i was about to launch a major attack against a Dutch music critic, probably the most famous in NL. The work is done and now we have to wait and see.

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    Replies
    1. That's dutch. It's also less interesting for you because the matter is further back and you wouldn't understand the connections. In any case it was a masterpiece. I've been waiting for the opportunity for a long time and now a third one has come up. But without of course personal attack. I ask no surface for attack. But the one to whom it is addressed must know that he is meant.

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    2. Josef, I'm curious when you'll decide to write a book, centered on music of course.

      Long ago, the only way to learn about music was through mags and I quickly found out that they were not to be trusted. There were a couple of critics who often offered good reviews and suggestions, but most were trash.

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    3. Anonymous thank you for your encouragement. If i write a book then probably more about philosophy. (Probably exitential philosophy).

      Delete
  2. Cool Dutch sotry, Bro.

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  3. Thanks for this, I read about ST some 30 years ago but never managed to listen to them.

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  4. I should add that I feel sad that I will finally listen to ST due to the incident of this death. Life seems so evasive these days.

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  5. Mark Lanegan had a peerless voice, live it was evident the true power and uniqueness it was gifted.... I prefer Mark works as solo artist but Screaming Trees along with TAD was the Greatest band of the so called Grunge period.

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