Mark Lanegan's band, Screaming Trees, were already four albums deep into their run as grunge forefathers (and eventual also-rans) when The Winding Sheet was released. But the churn and grind of that Seattle band is nowhere to be found on their frontman's solo debut. That dank, magisterial croak, one of rock's most expressive, devastating instruments, is on full display on The Winding Sheet, an album that would predict Lanegan's career arc far more accurately than anything the Trees did. His skull-n-bones duets with Belle & Sebastian's Isobel Campbell and the Afghan Whigs' Greg Dulli, as well as his time spent with Queens of the Stone Age, seem to be born here.

The murky imagery and elusive qualities of the songwriting ("Wrap your arms around me/ I'm as light as anything/ Through the air I can't breathe," he sings on "Undertow") are bathed in acoustic white blues, reverb and throaty recitations, making this is one of the darkest records Sub Pop ever released. What makes it doubly fascinating are the contributions of one Kurt Cobain. The longtime friend of Lanegan's chips in backing vocals on "Down In The Dark" and a guttural cover of Leadbelly's "Where Did You Sleep… read more »