Mad Season: Layne Staley (vocals, guitar); Mike McCready (acoustic & electric guitars); Barrett Martin (cello, vibraphone, marimba, acoustic bass, drums, percussion); John Baker Saunders (electric bass).

Additional personnel: Mark Lanegan (vocals); Nalgas Sin Carne (saxophone).

Recorded at Bad Animals, Seattle, Washington.

Personnel: Layne Staley (vocals, guitar); Mark Lanegan (vocals); Mike McCready (acoustic guitar, electric guitar); Barrett Martin (cello, vibraphone, marimba, upright bass, drums, percussion); John Saunders (electric bass).

Audio Mixer: Brett Eliason.

Recording information: Bad Animals, Seattle, WA.

Illustrator: Layne Staley.

Photographer: Lance Mercer.

As expected, Mad Season sounds like a cross between Alice In Chains and Pearl Jam, taking the ponderous seriousness of Alice and PJ's '90s update of winding '70s guitar rock. Most of Above is quite somber, surpassing the meditations of Temple of the Dog in its dour tone. Staley's voice has always worked well in this setting, yet he frequently has had more compelling material than the webs of guitars that form the basis of Above. Much of the music on the album meanders without much direction, yet there are flashes of invention, particularly in Staley's work, with McCready contributing a few tasty licks. However, it commits the fatal flaw of a side project -- it sounds like one. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

The black and white lithographs by Layne Staley that dot the cover and liner notes of ABOVE are a subtle hint of what lies in wait on this disc. Gray shades of music ebb along, seared by an occasional lead instrument. Besides designing the artwork, Staley sings, while Pearl Jam's Mike McCready provides six-string back-up alongside bass player John Baker Saunders and Screaming Trees drummer/multi-instrumentalist Barrett Martin.

ABOVE aches with the pain of living in a world streaked by deception, betrayal and disgust. Lumbering rhythms occasionally rumble into Sabbathville ("X-Ray Mind" and "Lifeless Dead"). Staley nods through the sinuous confines of "Long Gone Day," coasting on a surreal Brazilian beat prodded along by Martin's vibraphone and Nalgas Sin Carne's sax solo. This hour of emotional bloodletting ends with a convoluted two-part piece: The instrumental "November Hotel" starts with a faraway tribal beat that builds up gradually as McCready's guitar eases in and unleashes a wave of effects-laden riffs that flow into a disembodied declaration of solitude called "All Alone."

Melody Maker (7/1/95, p.38) - "...At its best, it's a Country Sabbath combination of Alice and the Trees, in particular `I'm Above' and `Long Gone Day'...both of which make ABOVE at least a compulsory listen....A refreshing holiday from the pressures of corporate ultra-stardom..."