Mad Season - What I'm Obsessed With This Week

For the first edition of 'What I'm Obsessed With This Week', we transport back to a simpler time, a time of Pulp Fiction and excessive hairspray, Pirate Radio and dodgy fashion sense, a time when a tamagotchi meant more to you than some family members, ah yes, the 90's. But aside from all of the crazy antics of the 90's, it was a period that gave us some of the best music ever created. So, forgive me if this segment mainly consists of music from two decades ago, it's just my obsession. So today, we're looking at 'Above', released by grunge supergroup 'Mad Season' in 1995.

Mad Season first caught my attention a few months back when I fell in love with Alice in Chains. And once I'd worked my way through most of their discography, Studio Albums (old & new), B-Sides, Demo's, Live Shows, just like when I'd done the same with Nirvana, I found myself craving more. I do enjoy the new Alice in Chains material (2009 - present), and I feel that the absence of their former, sadly dead frontman Layne Stayley, isn't as noticeable as was first expected when diving into the new material. But Stayley's haunting harmonies and comforting screams affected me to the point where I had to look beyond the Alice stuff, and what I found blew me away.

Layne Sayley. 1993.

After reading, and very much enjoying, I highly recommend it for any Alice fan, David De Sola's 'Alice in Chains - The Untold Story', I learned that in 1995, Stayley, along with Pearl Jam Guitarist Mike McCready, Screaming Trees drummer Barrett Martin, and The Walkabouts bassist John 'Baker' Saunders had formed a somewhat supergroup of grunge figureheads, named 'Mad Season.' 

To simplify the origin story, McCready and Baker met at a rehab facility, and once they were both out, started writing material with mutual friend Barrett Martin, and after only two or three rehearsals they had roughly 10 instrumentals. McCready had been a friend of Stayley's for over 10 years, and considering Alice in Chains were apparently broken up following the release of their 1994 No. 1 EP 'Jar of Flies', McCready offered Stayley the opportunity to rehearse with this new project, and he would give Stayley full lyric writing responsibility, something he didn't have in Alice in Chains. Mad Season was born. 

From left to right; Barrett Martin, Layne Stayley, John 'Baker' Saunders, Mike McCready. 1995.

So, fast forward 24 years, why am I obsessed with this album. Well, before getting into my opinion on the songs, the simple concept of this band fascinates me. An Alice in Chains and Pearl Jam crossover is a dream for any grunge fan, obsessive or casual, and with only 1 Studio Album and literally just 7 live shows to their entire history (not counting the 2015 reunion which I will mention later), this band's limited story is one that could be told forever.

My favourite song on the album is the title track, 'I'm Above', which features Screaming Trees singer Mark Lanegan, and is just fantastic. This album weaves in and out of metal, grunge and chilled out rock so smoothly its like listening to a mash up of 5 albums from different genres, but it works, so well. From the chilled out chaos of the opener 'Wake Up', instant hit 'River of Deceit', to the heavy 'I Don't Know Anything', this one off album, despite being certified gold, is one of the greatest overlooked pieces of work from the 90's.

But with all this greatness, must come tragedy. In 1999 John 'Baker' Saunders passed away and then Layne Stayley in 2002, both by drug overdoses. In 2014, 'Above' was reissued with a few bonus tracks that were written in preparation for a second album, one that could not even be started due to Stayley's drug issues, but were recorded with Mark Lanegan on full lyric writing and vocal duties. Also on the reissue, a cover of John Lennon's 'I Don't Want To Be A Soldier', sung by Layne. A DVD and Vinyl of their now famous 'Live at the Moore Theatre' show was also released, their only professionally recorded show.

From left to right; Barrett Martin, Mike McCready. 2014.

Mad Season also reunited in 2015, for a one off show accompanied by the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, with McCready on Guitar, Martin on drums, and featured many guest vocalists including grunge legend, Soundgarden & Audioslave singer, now also sadly dead, Chris Cornell. His version of River of Deceit is beautiful. This show was also released on Vinyl but is hard to track down and is quite expensive.

From left to right; Mike McCready, Barrett Martin. 2015.

So, Mad Season is just amazing. It's like the most amazing bonus when working your way through grunge bands, something you never realised you wanted until you find it. I can't recommend 'Above' enough, there's something on their for everyone. So, please check it out, and do research the full story as I just can't explain it well enough. Thank you so much for reading.