Mark Lanegan - I'll Take Care Of You (LP)

By the time Mark Lanegan reached his fourth solo record in 1999, he’d already carved out a lane of bruised, nocturnal songwriting that felt a world away from the noise of Screaming Trees. I’ll Take Care of You is the moment he steps sideways, setting aside originals for a set of covers that shows his crate‑digger ear and a deep respect for American songcraft. It is not a fancy concept. It is just one of the great voices of the last few decades sitting with songs he loves, letting them breathe, and trusting that restraint can say more than bombast.

The choices tell you everything. He opens with Carry Home, from The Gun Club, and turns Jeffrey Lee Pierce’s wiry desperation into something more stoic, almost fatalistic. Guitars are kept lean, drums soft and close, and the whole track moves like a late tram through an empty street. The title cut is the Bobby Bland classic, written by Brook Benton, and Lanegan treats it like a confession. No histrionics, no showy runs, just a low, lived‑in promise that sounds believable. You can hear why fans go hunting for I’ll Take Care of You vinyl. It’s the sort of record that rewards quiet rooms and good speakers.

Tim Hardin’s Shiloh Town is another heartbreaker, and Lanegan leans into its weary cadence. He was always a student of the bittersweet folk tradition, and here he lets Hardin’s melody carry the weight while a small band sketches around him. Fred Neil’s Badi‑Da has an easy sway, a reminder that Lanegan’s taste runs to the deep cuts that turn up in second‑hand bins. Then there’s Creeping Coastline of Lights by The Leaving Trains, a song many listeners encounter for the first time here. He finds the lonely shimmer in it, and the recording feels like it could have been tracked in the small hours, with the amps barely ticking over.

Country and soul are just as central. Together Again, from Buck Owens, is stripped of Bakersfield polish and recast as stark regret. Consider Me, a Stax tune associated with Eddie Floyd, glows with organ and a patient groove. You can almost hear the smoke curl off the ceiling. On Jesus’ Program, drawn from the deep soul gospel tradition and recorded by O. V. Wright, brings a quiet intensity rather than churchy flash. Lanegan never fakes the sanctified stuff. He just settles into the lyric like he’s lived it.

What ties all this together is a sound that sits somewhere between folk, soul, and low‑lit rock. The production keeps his baritone right up front, close‑miked and textured, with space around the instruments so every brush of the snare and tremolo quiver can be felt. It is a very Sub Pop approach for that era, and it suits him. You can hear the same careful economy that ran through The Winding Sheet and Whiskey for the Holy Ghost, but the covers format sharpens it. Instead of trying to reinvent each tune, he pares them back until they feel inevitable.

When it landed, critics keyed in on how naturally he inhabits these songs, not as exercises in taste but as a kind of ongoing conversation with the past. That still rings true. I’ll Take Care of You plays like a map of Lanegan’s influences, but also like a statement of values. He was never one for empty flash. He’s here to serve the song. It is why the record feels stronger with age, and why it is often recommended when people ask where to start with Mark Lanegan vinyl.

If you collect Mark Lanegan albums on vinyl, this one sits comfortably beside Field Songs and Bubblegum, but it scratches a different itch. It is quieter, more intimate, and probably the one you’ll reach for on a cool, rainy night. If you spot I’ll Take Care of You vinyl tucked in the L section of a Melbourne record store, do yourself a favour and grab it. And if you tend to buy Mark Lanegan records online, keep an eye on condition notes, because this is a record that people actually play. It deserves a clean copy and a careful needle drop.

There is no gimmick here, no stunt casting. Just a singer with an unmistakable voice, honouring songs that mattered to him, and by extension, to anyone who values craft over show. For fans digging through vinyl records Australia wide, it is a quiet gem that rewards attention. Put it on, let it run from Carry Home through to the final, smoky fade, and you’ll hear why this set has become a favourite in so many collections.