Has God Seen My Shadow? An Anthology 1989–2011

Former Screaming Trees leader, member of The Gutter Twins and Soulsavers , collaborator Isobel Campbell and Duke Garwood - music wanderer with one of the greatest voices in music (as defined by ), Mark Lanegan shared his intention to release a career compilation shortly after his eighth studio album Imitations ^{[1] [2]} . The two-disc album included 32 compositions, covering exclusively the solo work of the musician and not affecting his numerous works in a duet with various artists and as part of groups ^[3] .

The first part of the collection includes the 20 best songs from the Lanegan studio albums, excluding the seventh Blues Funeral , the festive mini-record Dark Mark Does Christmas and the album of cover versions of Imitations ; the second part contains 12 previously unreleased songs that Marc once recorded for the labels Sub Pop and Beggars Banquet ^{[4] [5]} . The compilation was released under the label Light in the Attic Records as two CDs with a 44-page booklet of archive photographs and handwritten text, and as three records with a 20-page book ^[6] .

The collection took 79th place on the Belgian chart ^[7] .

Browsers of American and British music online publications unanimously recognized the importance of Mark Lanegan's contribution to rock music and appreciated his thorny career. Starting his career as a handsome long-haired singer of the Emerald City , who does not stand out with bare breasts like Chris Cornell and Eddie Vedder , nor with fashionable misanthropy like Kurt Cobain and Lane Staley ^[8] , Mark Lanegan was also Nancy Lee Hazlewood for Isobel Campbell ^[9] , and collaborator Greg Dulley, crowning his notes with his thick, unbroken baritone ^[10] , in order to eventually become his own Man in black Gothic American reality ^[11] (according to the opinions of reviewers Pitchfork , Drowned in Sound , and The Guardian ) .

Critic of American Songwriter notes: Lanegan’s solo works have wide boundaries in executive skills and songwriting, which have led to numerous attempts to classify them genre ^[10] , but complements the author of The Quietus - Has God Seen My Shadow? does not set itself the goal of an exhaustive review, the collection focuses on a consistent, chronological study of the most significant features of the music of “ Tom Waits , when he does not call back” ^{[12] [9]} . A Pitchfork correspondent calls the compilation quite restrained, a review of the artist’s work, whose interests are so eclectic, somewhat narrow ^[8] . The Allmusic observer has a similar opinion - ignoring joint projects with Isobel Campbell, Soulsavers, Queens of the Stone Age and The Gutter Twins, he calls both the only drawback of the collection and its superiority ^[3] .

Two discs Has God Seen My Shadow? full of the Lanegan trademark - thoughts about death, religion and drunkenness, but, as the Guardian critic emphasizes, they are not without love and attractiveness ^[11] . The British author is echoed by a Pitchfork reviewer: the collection covers the qualities so often overlooked in Mark’s outstanding pairings - his mercy and tenderness, as well as his self-destructive sense of humor ^[8] . Being one of the greatest existentialists and romantics of modern music, Lanegan exposes the soul through an immortal creaky voice, as recognizable as ethereal - concludes the author of the article in ^[13] .