Screaming Trees Best Album Poll

yeah, I've been doing this and have been pretty stoked. All of the SST stuff never sounded quite right together on Anthology, which I had as a kid, but now that I'm listening to EIAEW and Buzz Factory it just sounds perfect. Definitely need to hear the rest.

Surprisingly, I've never heard the Epic stuff either except for Nearly Lost You.

there's some really good songs that weren't on the SST Anthology album.
The 3 albums on Epic are awesome. They really did get better as they went on, and the last 2 were perfection IMO. They really went out on top.
Would love them to reform as Lanegan still does excellent solo stuff and Valis were pretty good (there's a new Valis album out btw)

http://www.myspace.com/valis

Band Website http://www.valisrocks.com
Band Members Van Conner - Vocals, Lead Guitar (Screaming Trees, Solomon Grundy, Musk Ox)

Patrick Conner - Lead Guitar, Vocals (Kitty Kitty, Kittitas, Musk Ox)

Adrian Makins - (Master Blaster, Musk Ox, Kitty Kitty) Bass, Vocals

Sean Hollister (King Krab, Solomon Grundy, Screaming Trees)- Drums

Wes Weresch (Ring, The Western Trio)- Trip

Former members:
Kurt Danielson - Bass (1996-2002) (TAD, Bundle of Hiss)
Dan Peters - Drums (1996-1998) (Mudhoney, Bundle of Hiss)

I forget what Gary Lee Conner is upto these days

Gary Lee Conner (born Lee Gary Conner on August 22, 1962 in Fort Irwin, California, USA) was the lead guitarist for grunge music act Screaming Trees, along with his brother Van, who was the band's bassist. In addition to his work with the Screaming Trees, Conner was featured on Ball-Hog or Tugboat, a 1995 album from Mike Watt. In 1999, he released a 7" EP on the Sub Pop entitled Grasshopper's Daydream/Behind The Smile; this album also featured Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age, Brother Van Conner of VALIS (band) and Former Screaming Trees Drummer Mark Pickerel. In 2004, Conner started up a new music project called Amanita Caterpillar. His other band of the past with brother Van Conner was called The Purple Outside.

Conner currently lives in San Angelo, Texas with his wife Janet and daughter Juliana. He also works as a newspaper courier.

I thought he'd be a bit old to be a paper boy ;)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I voted Sweet Oblivion. "Dollar Bill" is such a great song. They were great at that folk rock acoustic opening turning into a rock snarl down pretty well. The closer "Julie Paradise" pulls something similar, but the end is just wah-wah heaven.

I should pick up copies of those last three albums again; I sold mine in the great grunge purge in the mid 90s.

yes you should!

last hour to vote

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

whoa! Dust should be no2! Did everyone think others would vote for it?

You do know you vote for your favorite, right? This isn't "Rank'em Top To Bottom." I laugh every time I see that reaction - "My second/third/nth favorite should have done better! But I, like everyone else, voted for my absolute favorite!"

Sorry, you don't deserve that pissy response. Just think it is funny that it happens every time. Dust is a great album, but obviously not too many people's #1 pick.

I'm just glad to see that all have partisans.

It's not that at all, it's just Dust got the most mentions by people in the thread AND most fans reckon it's their best album, and critics also agree with that, so I'm surprised it wasnt first or second.

there's different schools of trees fans though, aren't there? and for those who love the Epic-era, I think SweetOblivion is their most substantial, their best album. The SST era is more scattered, so SST acolytes chose around the catalogue. To be honest, I'm amazed as many voted as did. Glady so, though.

I'm amazed that Sweet Oblivion got so many votes; it must be a zeitgeist thing because to me it's their most boring album. Yeah it's got Nearly Lost You on it, but for the life of me I can't remember any other tune (aside from Dollar Bill, which I'm not a big fan of).

i have a soft spot for dust mainly because i recall how it really seemed to fall under the radar on its release, despite overwhelmingly positive reviews. i loved it from the day i picked it up all those years ago, and even though it's perhaps a little tame and underpowered in parts, i think it really holds together well.

that said, sweet oblivion will always be my favourite. i listened to this constantly along with other seminal seattle records released around the same time, and i'll always associate it with the singular expressions of its era.

Went with Sweet Oblivion, best (singalong)songs + epic Connertronics + sweet nostalgia.

Coincidentally, the debut is today's album of the day at allmusic.

"epic Connertronics" is right! Listening to "Julie Paradise" again and at about 2:50 in: what's the name of that effect, the one that could be called a wah-wah but also sounds like it has some chorus going on? Is this a standard pedal or something the band put together? Because it sounds great, that swirling roar.

Julie Paradise is my go-to track on this disc

i has a bitchen 10 minute version from a bootleg somewhere...

Their final recordings (1998-1999) will be released in August. No reunion.

http://easystreetonline.com/blog/5268/new-screaming-trees-album-out-in-august

pretty fuckin excited to hear this.

weird. i'm surprised by the amount of enthusiasm and expertise on display itt, though i don't know why i should be. 75 responses to this poll, which must make the screaming trees something of a minor ILM favorite, though seldom discussed.

have mixed feelings about the trees cuz i was at one time something of a fan, despite lanegan reservations and the fact that they never made a record i 100% loved all the way through. i guess they suffered in my mind for being better than das damen, but 2nd to the likes of the meat puppets and dino jr, damned with not-so-faint praise. even if and especially when is my favorite (or was, haven't heard it in ages), with buzz factory a good close second, both more for certain songs than front-to-back perfection. was a sucker for the tough punk edge and spaceflower hippie lyrics on shit like "straight out to anyplace" and "the pathway":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RelQCJmssHk

this was (and still is!) my favorite tho:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLWLLrjaAzw

Even If And Especially When is such an SST title that when someone namechecks it, I usually assume that it's by Black Flag or the Minutemen.

or fIREHOSE

^

What it reminds me most of is "I won't stick any of you unless and until I can stick all of you."

Enjoying the Last Words: The Final Recordings. However, back in the 90s, I could have sworn I heard they recorded an album before Dust that was rejected by the label, and that was the "lost album." Was I confused, and it's only these later sessions?

these are the sessions from the album they intended to make after dust, but yeah, i think you're right and there was another album rejected between sweet ovlivion and dust.

would purchase the penultimate recordings, if they released it.

How did Dust poll so low?! Although to be fair I don't know much of their other work, and came to them via Dust.

bizarrely low

i love their SST output, bought Anthology as a teen from mailorder SST catalog that came with i think You're Living All Over Me. Only recently have I been trying to track down all the originals on vinyl. I think Invisible Lantern is my fav. Not such a fan of the 90s stuff, kinda like Sonic Youth 90's vs. 80's where the 90's major label stuff seems less murky/mysterious/lo-fi/intangible to me but that's probably down to my not being old enough/around when the early stuff was new.

"new" album is fuckin awesome.

sweey obliv remains my favourite, love the sst stuff, but have always been cold on uncle anaesthesia

Surprised that "Dust" polled so low.

I am super gay for Lanegan.

Commute this morning was fueled by Invisible Lantern. what a great album, song after song of good material...even the terrible production job sounded good. Still love these dudes.

their SST stuff is so so rad.

Man. I fucking missed out on this band like crazy the first time around; recently bought Invisible Lantern (on SST) and it's so fucking good. Like you can hear that Pacific Northwest pre-grunge thing but they have such a cool sound, integrating 60s psych/garage influences so well.

yeah, amazing record. no fluke neither. even if and especially when & buzz factory are right up there with it. never liked the epic albums anywhere near so much as those 3.

great (& kinda silly) track from the beat happening split:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnZXEAGTA9I

lol i posted the exact same track 4 years ago. listen with new ears!

Awesome, kind of a 13th Floor Elevators pastiche (until the chorus).

troo. and i recant of what i said 4 years back: they suffered in my mind for being better than das damen, but 2nd to the likes of the meat puppets and dino jr.

bosh. they don't suffer at all in that comparison.

That entire Beat Happening/Screaming Trees EP is pretty great, though Polly is my favorite track from it. What a weird idea for a record.

I don't think they're anywhere near as idiosyncratic and as interesting as the Meat Puppets (80s)...Black Flag, maybe

90s Meat Pups maybe better...but not the 80s stuff

... Maybe a better comparison I mean xp

Change Has Come EP (1989) is an important record too, and how do you all rate Last Words, recorded around '98? I'm surprised the other lost album never surfaced. I'd be much more excited for a reunion of this band than say, Soundgarden.

Find it v weird that they couldn't get a deal after Dust tbh

Soundgarden are apparently recording a new album atm, news to me too

It seems really weird that Lanegan working with Queens of the Stone Age never seemed to bring people around to this band, cause a reunion, etc.