Above is the only studio album by the American rock band Mad Season, released on March 14, 1995, through Columbia Records.

During the production of Pearl Jam's Vitalogy, guitarist Mike McCready went into rehabilitation in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he met John Baker Saunders, who would a short while later become bassist in The Walkabouts.

Producer and mixer Brett Eliason previously worked with McCready as Pearl Jam's sound engineer.

This was done even quicker than Temple of the Dog, which took about four weeks… With Mad Season we just went in and started jamming on tunes and everybody had ideas and it just happened with three or four days.

[9] Vocalist Mark Lanegan of Screaming Trees contributes guest vocals on "I'm Above" and "Long Gone Day"; he is also credited for co-writing the music to those tracks along with McCready and Martin.

[9] Lanegan also wrote the lyrics for the three bonus tracks on disc 1 of the deluxe issue - "Locomotive", "Black Book of Fear", and "Slip Away".

guitarist Peter Buck is credited for co-writing the music to "Black Book of Fear" along with McCready, Martin, Saunders, and Lanegan.

[14] Melody Maker called the album "a Country Sabbath combination" and "a refreshing holiday from the pressures of corporate ultra-stardom.

"[13] Chuck Eddy of Entertainment Weekly gave the album a C. He said, "A sax solo and zooming guitars provide momentary relief, but most Mad Season sludge is unbearably immobile."

Martin said that To honor our departed brothers, Mike [McCready] and I oversaw a Mad Season box set, which comes out March 12th, 2013.

[16] On January 7, 2013, Blabbermouth.net reported that Legacy Recordings would release an expanded deluxe edition of Above, a three-disc boxset comprising two CDs and one DVD.

[17] It includes the original studio album and a host of extras, specifically some unreleased tracks from the band's unfinished second album with lyrics and vocals by Mark Lanegan; the full audio set of the band's "Live at The Moore" performance on April 29, 1995; and the first official DVD release of "Live at The Moore", including a previously unreleased full concert video of the band's New Year's Eve performance from the now-defunct Seattle club RKCNDY.

[1] The album's gloomy, black and white cover art featuring a couple tongue-kissing was illustrated by Staley.

[17] A promotional version of Above has a bonus track entitled "Interlude", an instrumental piece by McCready which was also sometimes played live by Pearl Jam, labelled as "Going Home (improv)", which follows "Artificial Red".

Mad Season's cover of the John Lennon song "I Don't Wanna Be a Soldier" was also recorded around this time.

"I Don't Wanna Be a Soldier" appeared on the 1995 John Lennon tribute album, Working Class Hero.