Mark Lanegan‘s 2004 album Bubblegum is getting reissued for its 20th anniversary. Beggars Arkive and Mark Lanegan’s estate collaborated on Bubblegum XX, which will be out August 23 as a remastered double-LP. It’ll also be available as a four-LP box set that includes two bonus LPs featuring rarities, outtakes and demos, including 12 previously unreleased tracks.
Bubblegum was remastered by Geoff Pesche at Abbey Road Studios, and this is its first release as a double LP (the original 2004 vinyl edition squeezed the 50-minute album onto a single disc). The box set’s bonus discs include a remastered edition of Here Comes That Weird Chill (Methamphetamine Blues, Extras & Oddities), now with three extra songs
The last LP is Demos & Unreleased Songs, which includes four songs that were produced and mixed by Troy Van Leeuwen and recorded “in various hotel rooms,” with Mark singing and Troy playing all the instruments. There’s also “Union Tombstone” where Mark shares vocals with Beck.
“These hotel demo sessions were basically forgotten,” says Van Leeuwen. “When I heard the news of Mark’s passing, these memories started rushing back to me. I searched through my archive of drives and somehow magically was able to open up these sessions. I thought to myself, ‘That NEVER happens.’ These ideas couldn’t be more fresh out of the tap. The original rough mixes are a real time capsule that stands up to the 20 years that have passed. It’s a true gift from Mark to those of us who love him and his unvarnished expression of beauty. With every listen, I am humbled and honored to share his gift with you.”
The Bubblegum XX box set also contains a a 64-page hardcover book with essays by Troy Van Leewuen, Josh Homme, Chris Goss, Alain Johannes, David Catching, Greg Dulli, Duff McKagan, and Brett Netson, along with studio notes and previously unseen photographs by Steve Gullick. “When he told me: ‘I’m calling it Bubblegum’, I was like you’re a sick fuck, because I knew him so that’s funny to me, ‘cause Lanegan wanted to be a new piece of bubblegum on a sunny happy day,” Josh Homme writes in the liner notes. “But he was the gum underneath the desk. He was the bubblegum underneath the table. He was the dark Lord.”
Check out the Bubblegum XX artwork and tracklist — and the original (unremastered) album below.
BUBBLEGUM – 2XLP
A1. When Your Number Isn’t Up
A2. Hit The City (w/PJ Harvey)
A3. Wedding Dress
A4. Methamphetamine Blues
B1. One Hundred Days
B2. Bombed
B3. Strange Religion
B4. Sideways In Reverse
C1. Come to Me (w/PJ Harvey)
C2. Like Little Willie John
C3. Can’t Come Down
D1. Morning Glory Wine
D2. Head
D3. Driving Death Valley Blues
D4. Out of Nowhere
HERE COMES THAT WEIRD CHILL (METHAMPHETAMINE BLUES, EXTRAS & ODDITIES) – 1XLP
A1. Methamphetamine Blues
A2. On The steps of the Cathedral
A3. Clear Spot
A4. Message to Mine
A5. Lexington Slow Down
A6. Skeletal History
B1. Wish You Well
B2. Sleep With Me
B3. Sleep With Me – Version…
Bonus Tracks
B4. Sympathy (previously only available on the Has God Seen My Shadow Anthology)
B5. Mirrored (B-side from Hit The City Single)
B6. Mud Pink Skag (B-side from Hit The City Single)
DEMOS & UNRELEASED SONGS – 1XLP
A1. Heard a Train %
A2. Union Tombstone feat. Beck %
A3. Josephine %
A4. Kingdom %
A5. Soldier %
A6. Little Willie John % (Alternate version of Like Little Willie John)
A7. Blood (Crackers & Honey) %
B1. You Wild Colorado # (Johnny Cash cover)
B2. Revolver # (original demo, of song eventually used on Isobel Campbell – the only track he wrote for that album)
B3. Leaving New River Blues # (previously only available on the Has God Seen My Shadow Anthology as Heaven Is Dry)
B4. St. James Infirmary # (cover)
B5. Willie John # (Alternate version of Like Little Willie John)
B6. Pure Religion # (Alternate version of Strange Religion)
% outtake
# Troy Van Leeuwen Hotel session