MAD SEASON
By Joshua Ott on August 17, 2010Would you like to hear one of the greatest albums of all time? Of course you would! I would never steer you in a wrong direction when it comes to music! In 1994 an album came out that changed my life. I can say that it has helped me get through some of the worst times in my life. It’s made me realize how great my life is now. “ABOVE” by Mad Season is an album that EVERYBODY should listen to. With an all-star ensemble of 90’s grunge gods; one would expect to be blown away with distorted guitar, screams and grumbles. However on this album you are blown away with amazing lyrics while the musical composition is breathtaking. Although Layne Staley of Alice in Chains was the voice and attitude of the band; the rest of the band is just as talented.
Layne Staley takes you on a journey to depths of sadness and despair while the music plays a sweet jazz, infused rock. You find yourself slipping into a trance and wandering through your inner conscience to make sense of everything around you. For me the lyrics hit home on many levels. It felt as if they wrote the album just for me. Because of this album, I chose to “WAKE UP” and do something. When I joined the Army I thought about the lyrics from this album throughout my time in the Military. “Wake Up Young Man, it’s Time to Wake Up, Your Love Affair has got to Go” was the song that motivated me to pick myself up from a dark place and change things. I can’t say it will change your life like it changed mine, but I promise it will make an impact if you are truly a fan of music and lyrics.
Some time went by until I felt the need to play this album again, but when the time was right it did the trick again. This time it was a different song, a different reason and much different outcome. I will not bore you with the details; the song titled “RIVER OF DECEIT” should explain it all. Sometimes you need to just turn off the lights, lie on the floor and play some music while following the lyrics. This is one of the songs.
The most impressive and most intense song on the album is “LONG GONE DAY”. Layne takes a break from lead vocals and lets Mark Lanegan from Screaming Trees take over. Mark brought his raspy, yet controlled voice into a song that has some powerful instrumentals to match the dynamic lyrics. It may be one of the saddest songs I’ve ever heard, yet I play this song to show how things could be worse off. This may be the one song that I could never get tired of hearing. It’s sad and unfortunate that Layne Staley died in the way he did. This album captures his deteriorated soul and lack of will to continue. But in the same breath it captures Layne at his absolute best in song writing. It’s nearly impossible to say what could have been with this band; I think down deep they knew it would be a short lived arrangement so they held nothing back on this album.
Tags: alice in chains, layne staley, mark lanegan
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