Has God Seen My Shadow: An Anthology 1989-2011 [VINYL] [Box set]

So what if I've got all of, half of ,some of or only 2 of the songs here. It's Lanegan & I love it.I had to get this just to have some Lanegan for the first time on a record machine & honestly,it's a treat hearing some of his best stuff on vinyl for the first time. A Fantastic selection of songs!several of my personal favorites are here.A great album for anyone's record collection ,even if you have all the cds or other formats. If you're into buying records,of course. it would make a nice gift for someone who's maybe not familiar with Lanegan,as well. Mark's been one of my top 5 favorite vocalists for over 20 years now & is one of very few bands/artists that I will pick up just about any new release/ b sides/ live album that comes out & I'll go see live every chance I get because he is that good. This is a very cool 3 lp set,including a 20 page book with photos & Mark's hand written lyrics. I like this very much, too,since if I'm thinking clearly without having to pull out the cds,the lyrics weren't included on most of them.some of these songs I've heard 100 times & That's ok. Hopefully I'll live to hear them 100 more.Resurrection Song puts me in a trance drugged haze like state everytime i hear it . Whether I'm on drugs or not! the previously unreleased songs will surely grow on me like all of Lanegan's music does. So What kind of hardcore fan rushes to write a review complaining about the format it's in not pleasing him ,so he leaves a 3 star review for a singer who deserves no less than a 5 star review here for this anthology. Shut up, be happy. Hope to catch Lanegan live again & this year would be great!

This is a wonderful anthology of Mark Lanegan's solo albums and it also features 12 previously unreleased tracks. As for the track selection, the tracks chosen are his more mellow, quiet and elegant songs. None of his more rockin' or experimental tracks are featured on this compilation. I think the tracks chosen, and their unusual placement in non-chronical order were arranged that way in order to set one specific mood for the compilation, which it does wonderfully. Some albums are more represented than others, but I was glad to see that none of them were left out (I don't think Scraps at Midnight gets enough love, so glad to see favorites "Last One In The World" and "Wheels" were included).

As for the unreleased material, it is extremely interesting and a welcome addition to my collection. "Big White Cloud" is a cover of John Cale, which had been recorded for I'll Take Care of You but was cut. I had heard it on YouTube, but in poor quality so I was glad to get a quality sounding copy of this cover. "Following The Rain" was taken from some demos that Mark did prior to Whiskey For The Holy Ghost that have been circulating around the web for years, but I was glad to see it included. Especially because the CD and Vinyl both include handwritten lyrics, and now I finally know what he was saying! The live cover of "Blues Run the Game" has also been on the web for awhile, but it's a good one with a funny guitar mishap in the middle. It's weird hearing "Blues For D" with vocals, after having heard the instrumental version from Field Songs for years, but I like the addition of the vocals! Some great lyrics there. All of the other songs I had not heard before, and some new favorites are "Leaving New River Blues" and "To Valencia Courthouse".

The packaging itself is wonderful as well. I bought both the CD version and Vinyl version and they are both impressive! There's several pictures I hadn't seen before as well as the handwritten lyrics. The lyrics are more easily read from the vinyl booklet, as they are a little bigger and his handwriting isn't the clearest! You can tell a lot of time was put into the presentation and artwork for this compilation.

I think this compilation would serve well as an introduction to Mark Lanegan for someone who hasn't heard his work before, though it is still essential for Lanegan fans because of the new, previously unreleased tracks.

I love all of this guy's work, but this Anthology exceeded my expectations. So glad to have the additional 12 previously unreleased tracks, with Halcyon Daze being my favorite. Great stuff.