Review Summary: As thousands have said beforehand, an overlooked gem.
Sweet Oblivion, basically the Screaming Trees' spiritual and overlooked little diamond in the rough of grunge music. Like most of the older and more "classic" grunge pieces, the Sweet Oblivion was released right in September, when the days were long and dry and when the inhabitants of Seattle (after a long day at Starbuck's) would kick back and listen to some grunge music. In the chaotic whirl of new grunge albums just being spewed out in this year, it appears one dog got a little lost - the Screaming Trees's own Sweet Oblivion. To be fair, it is not an album that presses the envelope.
Dust is still a better album in its own style, give or take a few songs. But considering the ever-"expansive" catalog of grunge tunes then, it's impressive how Sweet Oblivion manages to be a brilliant reimaging and a new step forward in their own career; compared to the punk flair of their precessors.
To be fair, there was a period in time where grunge was indeed one of the biggest musical movements in the world. Hordes of teenagers would pile and mosh to Nirvana; record label Sub Pop went from a group of unemployed men still buying from McDonald's and turned into millionaries. There wasn't a day missed when local
Barnes & Noble's would have all their copies of Superunknown sold out, when Pearl Jam's 'Alive' wouldn't play at least thirty or forty times a day; entire beanie caps and ice ski hats with the Stone Temple Pilots on it would sell for hundreds of dollars on eBay; it dominated the glam metal and hip hop that had usually dominated the charts and turned little-known bands into big ones, right up there with platinum success. But that died as quickly as it came, and it's safe to say that
Sweet Oblivion had its run. And it didn't help when everyone eventually realized just what grunge was - a distorted genre full of C-grade production values and low budgets, dominated by cheap guitars purchased at the local flea market and out of tune drums. So why, after so long, do people still listen to grunge?
First of all, Sweet Oblivion has a far more professional flair to it. Whereas grunge themes technically tended to be full of depressed themes; but that's heavily emphasized. The Screaming Trees should be hailed for their own underground popularity, but considering that they only stayed underground (besides, stations couldn't stop playing
Smells like Teen Spirit) they didn't become it. But this feels original. Guitarists Gary Lee Conner and Van Conner are both excellent players and oppressively heavy in their own right; such as the album closer
Julie Paradise, the deliberate and slow
Shadow of the Season, and the blend of acoustic and electric guitars in
Dollar Bill. Mark Lenegan does a really good job as well, sounding like a mix between Chris Cornell and Atma Anur; the very rough and grainy pitch of his voice does take a bit to warm up towards, but is very passionate when he shows his best. The drumming in itself is decent, displaying good percussion chops and fills and rolls, though it's the guitar work that steals the show here.
Though the album in itself does sound like a broken record (there was indeed grunge that sounds all too alike) and doesn't accomplish the goal the Screaming Trees probably set, it's definitely an overlooked classic and one that should leave fans very pleased. This dips its feet well into a different genre, finally getting past the similarly dry punk music and psychedelic-flavoured rock of the 60's, both of which had probably ruined the band's own commercial appeal. This, on the other hand, probably won't burn out like the band had faded away. Recommended.
