Screaming Trees - Dust

Although finding mainstream success with the release of Sweet Oblivion, and the single Nearly Lost You from the soundtrack to Cameron Crowes’s film Singles, the Screaming Trees’ history goes back to 1985, predating many of their Grunge-era, Seattle peers. Formed in Ellensburg, Washington state, around the nucleus of brothers Garry Lee Conner (guitar) and Van Conner (bass), and fronted by the sonorous tones of Mark Lanegan, they recorded four albums and numerous singles for such grunge movers and shakers as Sub Pop and SST, before signing a major label deal with Sony's Epic Records.

Dust emerged in July 1996, featuring guest spots from Benmont Tench, on loan from Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, and Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready. Mixed by Andy Wallace (Nirvana, Jeff Buckley, White Zombie), the album kicks off with the visceral Halo Of Ashes, driven by Garry Lee Conner’s electric sitar, followed by the psychedelic single, All I Know and the plaintive Sworn And Broken. The album ends with a drone for the formidable Gospel Plow.

Among the bonus tracks that make up CD 2 (but are not on the vinyl), are non-album B-Sides Wasted Time and Silver Tongue, live versions of Butterfly, Sworn And Broken and Dollar Bill, plus a version of Darkness Darkness which was originally recorded for the True Lies motion picture soundtrack. Also included are very rare studio versions of Tim Rose’s Morning Dew, plus a cover of Freedom, originally recorded by cult Australian hard rockers, Buffalo.