Red House Painters

Track Listings

1. Grace Cathedral Park

2. Down Through

3. Katy Song

4. Mistress

5. Things Mean a Lot

6. Funhouse

7. Take Me Out

8. Rollercoaster

9. New Jersey

10. Dragonflies

11. Mistress [Piano Version]

12. Mother

13. Strawberry Hill

14. Brown Eyes

Red House Painters,Red House Painters,Warner Bros / Wea,Alternative Pop/Rock,Dream Pop,Indie Rock,Popular Music,Rock,Sadcore,Singer/Songwriter

Red House Painters

Tracks:

Have You Forgotten
Song For A Blue Guitar
Make Like Paper
Priest Alley Song
Trailways
I Feel The Rain Fall
Long Distance Runaround
All Mixed Up
Revelation Big Sur
Silly Love Songs
Another Song For A Blue Guitar

Amazon.com

At first glance, Songs for a Blue Guitar appears much like previous Red House Painters albums, meandering and largely self-indulgent. Eight of the album's 11 songs stray over the five-minute mark (with two more than twice that length), and there are the covers of Yes's "Long Distance Runaround," Ric Ocasek's "All Mixed Up," and Paul McCartney's "Silly Love Songs." Kozelek may have strange taste when it comes to picking out covers ("Silly Love Songs"?), but on this album he's also showing a commitment and sense of deliberate purpose that I've not heard from him before. Even in the album's centerpiece, the more than 12-minute long "Make Like Paper" that contains a guitar solo that supposedly is responsible for 4AD dropping them, there's not a false move. The song unfolds gently, revealing more facets of itself than the spare instrumentation would seem to allow. The guitar's absolutely delicious Neil Young/Robert Quine/Richard Lloyd crunch doesn't hurt, either. That crunch shows up again in "Long Distance Runaround" and "Silly Love Songs," but the rest of the album is built around a gently arresting acoustic guitar that mirrors the soft-voiced Kozelek. --Randy Silver

Customer Reviews:

Review of Songs for a Blue Guitar.......2007-06-04

I came across this album, and RHP, pretty much by accident. For the past 10 years, it remains one of my favorites -- as my life changes, and I get older, I never tire of it. And while I haven't gotten into the group's other albums so much, I can say that this particular work -- Songs for a Blue Guitar -- is about as close to being a perfect album as they come. It evokes a melancholy so pure, so powerful, it shakes your soul to the core. The tracks breathe, not being overproduced with too much instrumentation. If I had to take 5 albums with me to a deserted island, this would have to be one of them (and I own a lot of music!). I was hoping other RHP stuff would do the same for me, but nothing comes close. That's OK. The group should be proud to have produced something so extraordinarily divine -- Brilliant. Nothing like it.

Incredible album that is NOT for the attention-span-challenged.......2007-04-26

I am a person of varied musical tastes, and Songs for a Blue Guitar has been one of my favorite albums since I purchased it 10 years ago... largely because the first time I listened to it was on a road trip and I had the time to devote to listening through the entire album. If you purchase this album, wait for a nice, sunny day, and take a drive through farm country while you listen to this. It's the only way to truly appreciate the epic simplicity of songs like "Make Like Paper" and the ludicrously cool cover of "Silly Love Songs" (...much more profound than the original version.) And of course, it goes without saying that if you are even remotely into acoustic guitar, this album will have you foaming at the mouth.

Are you into mostly mainstream rock and want to get into something a little more (but not too) "indie"? This is a great place to start!

If u like this CD, get Vanilla Sky soundtrack!.......2007-01-29

The Vanilla Sky soundtrack has a much better version of Have You Forgotten than Blue Guitar!

Excellent --and the best of the Red House Painter albums!.......2006-12-30

If you are just getting into Mark Kozelek...pick this one up first. It is a good introduction to what he is recording presently. The previous RHP albums are all different and well done, but do not connect with the listener as this one does. The "Roller coaster" RHP album is a close second. If you are interested in more than this album...pick up his solo albums and the two superb Sun Kil Moon albums.

This is a great album by a wonderful artist that has re-established the melancholy singer songwriter status I have been looking for since David Sylvian released the fabulous "Secrets of the Beehive" in 1987.

A Little Like Watching Lawn Furniture Rust . . . (but pretty).......2006-07-30

I understand reviewers who find this album tedious. But, I also understand those who love it dearly. This album is certainly not party music and does tend towards the melancholy but on the other hand it has some key songs that shouldn't be missed.

To my ears, the first three songs ARE the album. "Have You Forgotten" is a wonderful song about the bittersweet quality of reminiscing. It's followed by the haunting and sad "Song for a Blue Guitar" which is now a Red House Painters classic. "Make like Paper" is a rousing mid-tempo guitar piece--altogether straight ahead and likeable. That is until the infamous rambling "Neil Young and Crazy Horse"-styled guitar solo starts up and carries on for a good long hell of a time. I happen to like this kind of caterwauling myself, but the solo loses a lot of good will on some people. Supposedly, the band lost the good will of their label over it too.

I could listen to these three songs forever. The album could contain ONLY these and I'd be fine with it, because after they end the problems start. Those who groan about the album's slow monochromatic pace start to seem like they have a point. The second half of the album just gets a lot less interesting. The original songs don't reveal anything that hasn't already been done better in the first part of the album, while the cover songs that people fuss over so much stand out largely because they are completely unrecognizable from their original versions.

"All Mixed Up" has some merit, but why didn't the band just come up with some new lyrics and have a whole new song? Why pay royalties to The Cars for a song like this that bears little relation to the original? Some argue that this and in particular the cover of McCartney's "Silly Love Songs" is little more than an attention device designed to pull in listeners who might otherwise ignore the band.

I don't have an answer, other than to say that having seen Mark Kozelek play live on a recent tour; I can tell you he's in his own musical world. You have to come to his world. He's not coming to yours. He's got one really good sound: moody, ethereal, and evocative. That's what he does well and he doesn't stray from it. If you love it, you'll be happy; if you don't you'll be bored. I look at the album as a litmus test. If you cannot get into this album, you're not on his wavelength and probably don't need to bother with the rest of his work. If you do like it, you've come to the right spot and Kozelek has plenty of more music like it where this came from, both with this band and with his others.

I can only give the whole album three stars, but to my ears the first half of the album is five stars all the way.

Average customer rating:

A really mixed bag... Very Good and Very Fake
great interpreters
sunny days of past and present
A somber tribute to John Denver by alternative artists
The Artists They Selected Are Very Good.

Take Me Home: A Tribute to John Denver
Various Artists
Manufacturer: Badman Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Rock 'N' Roll Singer
What's Next to the Moon
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Shanti Project Collection
Little Drummer Boy Live

ASIN: B00004SG4K
Release Date: 2000-04-18

Tracks:

The Eagle And The Hawk - Bonnie Prince Billy
Follow Me - The Innocence Mission
Poems, Prayers, And Promises - Rachel Haden
Fly Away - Red House Painters
Around And Around - Mark Kozelek And Rachel Goswell
Looking For Space - Hannah Marcus
Matthew - Granfaloon Bus
Annie's Song - Sunshine Club
Whispering Jesse - James Hindle
Leaving On A Jet Plane - Tarnation
Back Home Again - Low
I'm Sorry - Red House Painters

Customer Reviews:

A really mixed bag... Very Good and Very Fake.......2006-08-19

John Denver was a really complicated guy. Real highs and abyssmal lows. His music is already beautiful, so if you also cringe when you are relaxing around a campfire when the acoustic guitar appears, there are songs here to skip.
Will Oldhams' version of 'The Eagle and the Hawk' and the Red House Painters "I'm Sorry" cover the cost of admission twice over. They are the most moving songs on the album. You have to buy the album for those two songs. Brilliantly done. The Innocence Mission pulls off 'Follow Me' hauntingly well. If you have an afternoon to adjust your equalizer the Low version of 'Back Home Again' is excellent as well.
I wish I had never heard the Tarnation version of 'Leaving on a Jet Plane'. How can you make a bad song so much worse? The Rachel Haden song has an artificially sweetened bubble-gum feel with over-the-top horn that places it in a bad Japanese cartoon. The other Red House Painter's/Kozelek songs are very well done and are solid. The other songs on the album are very easy to forget. They are blown opportunities by bands that were trying to make the songs more beautiful than they already are by adding gimmicks and overproduction. There is no depth of feeling that grace the originals. If thats your thing maybe you should search out "The Boston Pops play John Denver"....

great interpreters.......2005-12-30

This quirky CD is the perfect example of the fact that there is an endless number of great songs out there in search of a great interpretation. I did not realized until listening to this CD what a beautiful song "Annie's Song" is. The music industry needs people like this-- people with great voices and interpretive talent to record the already existing great songs. It reminds me of Al Green's version of To Sir With Love. Who would have thought....

sunny days of past and present.......2005-11-04

My mother used to have a well loved and beat-up copy of a two lp john denver live album. She would always play it on saturday mornings when she was cleaning the house. I associate songs like Matthew, the Eagle and the Hawk, Poems Prayers and Promises etc. with morning sun, the smell of pine-sol and lemon pledge and my mother's strong alto pulling me into another childishly happy morning.

I discovered Mark Kozelek through his work as Sun Kil Moon. Their first album was an instant favorite. Right from track one, standing at a listening station in a Borders bookstore back home in Indiana, I knew I needed this music.

John Denver counts as a guilty pleasure for alot of people beacuse he was so resolutely uncool. He was an optimist, a new age-ey mystic AND a country flavored folk singer.
His craft though, at its height, was undeniable. His melodies are absolute human classics and his lyrics bear a soul that may not have ever been in danger of being hip but seemed genuinely good.

Kozelek and his gathered cohorts pay wonderful tribute to that fact on this sincere and fitting collection. Each song stands as a coherent interpretation and a pleasent re-invention.

This collection is likely the closest John Denver will ever get to being "hip" and perhaps he's not entirely out of place.

A somber tribute to John Denver by alternative artists.......2005-03-03

The first concert I ever went to was to see John Denver and to this day when I drive through the Rocky Mountains I have to listen to his original "Greatest Hits" album. We first heard about John Denver for writing "Leaving on a Jet Plane" and singing "Take Me Home (Country Roads)," but he became identified in my mind with Colorado and "Rocky Mountain High." But there was more than the glorification of nature in his music, and my favorite John Denver songs are "Poems, Prayers and Promises" and "Rhymes and Reasons," which can certainly be accused of being more spiritual than commercial in essence.

I stumbled on "Take Me Home: A Tribute to John Denver" because I was going on one of my periodic searches to find interesting covers versions of songs I like and I stumbled across the Rachel Hayden cover of "Poems, Prayers and Promises" on this album. In contrast with the moody and somber approaches taken by most of the artists on this album, Hayden provides a rather perky pop take on the song, with some interesting harmonies in the chorus. It is very different, but that is what is interesting.

That approach is clear from the opening track of the album, "The Eagle and the Hawk" by Bonnie Prince Billy. The shortest of all John Denver songs, this is another personal favorite because of the guitar introduction. But Billy just sings the song a cappella in a simple haunting manner that gives you no other options but to listen to the lyrics this time around. As soon as he starts singing you know that this is a tribute album to someone who has died too song. The other defining element is that these are not artists that you would think of as being anything remotely close to John Denver. But they must have listened to him in their youth and compelled them to pay their respects to his music in their own manner.

For example, it seems the Red House Painters only sings songs of haunting sadness as a means of purging emotions, and their two tracks her are decidedly in that spirit. The sparse instrumentation and Mark Kozelek's introspective vocals emphasize the confessional aspects of "I'm Sorry." But the group relies entirely on almost wall of sound instrumentation to turn "Fly Away" into a dirge (A commentary on the circumstances of Denver's death? Perhaps). At the other end of the spectrum there is "Follow Me" by the Innocence Mission, where Karen Peris' vocals remind me of Melanie (the folk singer, not either of the Spice Girls).

Despite the often quite moody approaches often taken to Denver's songs (e.g., Low's "Back Home Again"), I think many of his fans will be open to what these artists are doing with his songs. Granted, chances are they will not find everything here to their liking. But there will be a couple of songs here that will catch their fancy. Most of these songs might be somber and moody, but they are certainly respectful and I cannot help but thinking with many of these tracks that these artists are literally performing them as if they were at the funeral (cf. "Take Me Home, Country Roads" by Jason & The Scorchers or "Rocky Mountain High" by the Yonder Mountain String Band ).

The Artists They Selected Are Very Good........2004-11-24

What's with the reviewer who said it's suddenly ok to like John
Denver ??
Hey sweetie..
We have all loved him for years..you were the one who missed out.

Average customer rating:

captures the soul of the songs
ac who?
Other stuff to check out
why did I wait so long?
Kozelek's Alchemic Touch

What's Next to the Moon
Mark Kozelek
Manufacturer: Badman Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

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ASIN: B000059H34
Release Date: 2001-02-27

Tracks:

Up To My Neck In You
Love At First Feel
Love Hungry Man
Bad Boy Boogie
What's Next To The Moon
Walk All Over You
You Ain't Got A Hold On Me
If You Want Blood
Riff Raff
Rock 'N' Roll Singer

Album Description

'What's Next to the Moon' from Red House Painters singer Mark Kozelek, is a collection of 10 Bon Scott-era AC/DC songs recast as quiet, acoustic interpretations. This Badman Records release copes packaged in a digipak.

Customer Reviews:

captures the soul of the songs.......2007-07-25

Mark Kozelek - all that I admire about music, all that drives me to write songs, all that compels me to not settle for anything less than the truly amazing - is caputered in the beauty that is Mark's music.
It was the greatest accident in my life. I saw "Ghost's of the Great Highway" in a record store a few years ago and bought it thinking I was buying a different artist. (PS: The Baptist Generals album Silver and Gold has a similar looking cover, and at the time I couldn't remember the name The Baptist Generals, but I remembered what the cover kind of looked like.) It was one of the greatest musical discoveries I've made in a long time.
With What's Next to The Moon he takes ACDC songs and deconstructs them, stripping them of everything that you know of ACDC and playing it with just an acoustic guitar. Simply amazing! We all now ACDC's sound and we know it well, they are balls to the wall rock. What we have here, however, is a guy who has managed to find and bring to light the soul of their songs. They are so unrecogonizable that unless you are pretty familiar with their music, you probably wouldn't even know that they are cover songs.
Not to put to fine a point on it, but the only other musician I know of who could take somebody else's song and make it their own to the point where you don't even care who did the original - was Johnny Cash.

Standout track: Love at First Feel

ac who?.......2007-07-07

I was never particularly familiar with AC/DC. I was too young, or had the wrong friends, or something. But in Koselek's rendition of these songs I feel as though I can hear the originals without needing to hear them. More than that, Koselek takes us into the heart and soul of the songs. It's like hearing the writer discussing the emotional undercurrent of his lyrics on a therapist's couch. But it's far more than that. Koselek is a genius at getting inside and under a song and making it his own. He crafts beautifully simple arrangements that sound as though they came first.

I'd highly recommend this album. I've listened to it regularly for months. And, if you like this, you'll love Koselek's similar treatment of Modest Mouse. Modest Mouse I am familiar with, I'm a huge Mouse fan, and what Koselek does with their beautiful songs under the moniker Sun Kil Moon is a treat to hear. Tiny Cities

Other stuff to check out.......2006-06-21

I am a huge fan of catchy, quiet folk music with insightful lyrics. If you enjoy this album then I strongly recommend that you check out the following:
1) Ghosts Of The Great Highway by Sun Kil Moon
2) Kings Avenue Joe Kile
3) Subtitulo by Josh Rouse

why did I wait so long?.......2005-02-03

the Red House Painters were a band I heard of MANY times but never actually listened to. It was in winter 2001 when I heard "Mistress" on an old 1993 CD compilation. After getting hooked on the RHP right away, a friend recomended "Rock and Roll Singer" and "What's Next To The Moon", but for some reason I never picked them up. What a big mistake. I still Don't have Rock and Roll Singer but I just got a hold of What's Next To The Moon and I absolutely love this CD. All AC/DC songs done acoustic and mellow. I would HIGHLY recomend this CD to any fan of the RHP. Honestly, I think this CD blows away ANYTHING that Mark has done in the past.

Kozelek's Alchemic Touch.......2004-07-23

Mark Kozelek has been putting out great music for a long time, from the early Red House Painters' output all the way to his recent "Ghosts of the Great Highway" under his new band's banner, Sun Kil Moon.
This effort is one of two solo albums he recorded after RHP disbanded, and probably the quirkiest and most ambitious of both albums. Every song here is an AC-DC cover, and when you think of the high Heavy Rock energy of the original versions, contrasted with Kozelek's laid back and melancholy sound signature, the results are wondrous.
Not being a fan of AC-DC, I did not bring any prior love of this material to justify potentially mediocre renditions. Even further I was somewhat skeptical about Kozelek's left-of-field repertoire choice.
The final product of this venture could not be more pleasing in its realization nor surprising as far as the new depths of feeling he's brought out from these tunes.
It takes a talent and modesty like Kozelek's to sense the essential beauty in these songs, strip the sound to its bare truth, and come out with such personal reading of such unlikely material.
If in addition to your respect for Kozelek you also dig AC-DC, this may be even more rewarding for you that has already been for me. If Kozelek's own writing has already moved you, you may prefer to check his other acoustic album out, Rock and Roll Singer.
Either one is bound to fulfill the proper expectations.

Average customer rating:

A short review for Red House Painters (I)
Classic masterpiece
"The gentle missing puzzle part to Nirvanas rage?" What?
Grace Cathedral Park
Rollercoaster

Red House Painters
Red House Painters
Manufacturer: 4ad / Ada
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Indie Rock | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Dream Pop | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

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Similar Items:

Songs for a Blue Guitar
What's Next to the Moon
Ghosts of the Great Highway
Tiny Cities
Rock 'N' Roll Singer

ASIN: B00002SWSX
Release Date: 1999-11-02

Tracks:

Grace Cathedral Park
Down Through
Katy Song
Mistress
Things Mean a Lot
Funhouse
Take Me Out
Rollercoaster
New Jersey
Dragonflies
Mistress [Piano Version]
Mother
Strawberry Hill
Brown Eyes

Album Description

Reissue of the American alternative pop outfit's 1993 album on 4AD. 14 tracks. 1999 release.

Customer Reviews:

A short review for Red House Painters (I).......2006-12-01

Mistress is the best song ever, Katy Song is the saddest song ever, and Funhouse is the strangest melodic song ever. This is the most evocative album I've ever heard.

Classic masterpiece.......2006-09-12

For me this is the best record Red House ever recorded, the record that defined sadcore and above all, a alternative pop-rock masterpiece, one of the best 90's records and from 4AD catalogue. A masterpiece in simple beauty, the unique voice and lyrics from Kozelek and the music... the music is psychedelic in its power, you'll get lost in time and space after you dive your head and ears into this music. Prepare yourself to cry, laugh, feel peaceful and outrageously mad. Red House Painters, thank you so much for this!

"The gentle missing puzzle part to Nirvanas rage?" What?.......2006-05-26

Please don't insult Red House Painters by relating them to Nirvana at all, Nirvana sucked. Pearl Jam was a million times better & still is.

But this isnt about Pj &/or Nirvana, this is about Red House Painters... Great album, especially Mistress.

Grace Cathedral Park.......2005-11-18

Well, this is why we love music so much. We have bands like Red House Painters that just astound you with their genius. I keep coming back here, hoping someone will write another review that expresses what I feel about these songs. I guess I'll write one myself.

I think Grace Cathedral Park is the most honestly emotional and personal song I've ever heard. To me, the poignancy created by a beautiful harmony is the most sublime aspect of music. In Grace Cathedral Park, the flow of the chord progression between Mark Kozelek's vocals and the bass as he sings 'and I know for sure that you'll never be the one' - I don't know anything like this - it is so enrapturing. It just goes to show you that music is able to capture or express a feeling better than words. It's as if a lot of talented musicians can write prosaic songs that might rock or groove, but here they have attained something more transcendent. And the part right before this is just as beautiful- the 'music box sounds' that build up to such a nice groove and climax. Kozelek writes such stunning words: 'it's the forbidden moment that we live that fires our sad escape...' I feel the sun's glimmering rays as the guitar arpeggio repeats to the end of the song. It is so perfectly sung, like the way he says 'fading sun' or 'sad escape.'

Things Mean a Lot is my second favorite song on the album. Here they attain it again, when the piano kicks in with its unusual melody and chords. Such an exquisite feeling created by the piano and him singing 'scares me how you get older' around 1:43 into the song, after he sustains such a great tone when he sings 'in the same part of the world.'

Then there's Katy Song. It starts with a mesmerizing guitar riff that creates such a great atmosphere. Then Kozelek comes in with some clever, flowing lyrics in his pained voice. I can't get enough of this song and its guitar line. Who plays chords like that? I would nominate it as one of the greatest songs ever.

The other great songs I think are Dragonflies, Rollercoaster, Down Through, and the guitar-fueled version of Mistress. Dragonflies paints such a great image- 'with their ornamental stars.' Such great harmonies between the guitar, bass and Kozelek singing, 'you're chasing dragonflies at play, my little lost girl....' Rollercoaster gives the feeling of such expansive skies, 'reminding me I'll never be able to relive this day except in memory.' Down Through is another searingly personal song with nice guitar picking. I love the way Mistress keeps building and building to its climax, when he wails at the end.

Ok, I'll quit analyzing each second of the song now. It's more fun riding on the train, staring out into the sunlight and reliving the poignancy created by these songs from earlier, more urgent times. This is one of my top one or two favorite albums.

Rollercoaster.......2005-09-30

I've been listening to this album for about twelve years and never get tired of it. "Katy Song" is my favorite, but each song on this CD is beautiful. Mark Kozelek is my favorite songwriter/singer.

Average customer rating:

A nice parting gift
amazing masterpiece
A melancholic masterpiece of introspection/ retrospection
Melancholy and a glimpse into angst, but a brilliant band
Interesting And Different

Retrospective
Red House Painters
Manufacturer: 4ad / Ada
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Indie Rock | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Dream Pop | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Singer-Songwriters | Pop | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music

Folk Rock | Rock | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Folk Rock | Folk | Indie Music | Stores | Music

Singer-Songwriters | Pop | Indie Music | Stores | Music
Similar Items:

Songs for a Blue Guitar
Tiny Cities
What's Next to the Moon
Rock 'N' Roll Singer
Ghosts of the Great Highway

ASIN: B00000JQIN
Release Date: 1999-07-20

Tracks:

Shock Me
Grace Cathedral Park
Katy Song
Summer Dress
New Jersey
Medicine Bottle
Michael
San Geronimo
Bubble
Mistress
Drop
Evil
Rollercoaster

Tracks:

Funhouse
Waterkill
Uncle Joe
Helicopter
Brown Eyes
Dragonflies
Japanese To English
Shock Me
Over My Head
Brockwell Park
Shadows
Mistress
Summer Dress
Instrumental

Amazon.com

In 1995, the label 4AD unceremoniously threw in the towel on Red House Painters and their tortured troubadour Mark Kozelek. As if to do penance for that move, they have blessed the devoted following of these brilliant mope rockers with this collection of hard-to-find and out-of-print tracks. The first disc of the set is a free-flowing montage of songs from the band's five 4AD releases that serves as an excellent greatest-hits collection, cataloging their slow-paced, shimmering guitar laments and exploring their heartbreakingly introspective style. With haunting reverb-laden atmospheres, epic song structures, and deeply personal lyrics, songs like "Rollercoaster" and "Summer Dress" alternately roar and recede as bewildered and lost protagonists wander through landscapes of evocative and sometimes nightmarish imagery. But alongside these dark ruminations are lighter moments, such as the sunny fade-out of "San Geronimo" and the tongue-in-cheek Kiss cover "Shock Me," that betray the band's awareness of their own dour pretensions and ability to explore a full emotional palette. As good as the first disc is, the real fire lies on the second disc, especially for long-suffering fans of the band. Twelve outtakes and two never-before-released songs of harrowing vulnerability showcase Kozelek's thematic takes on confession and catharsis, twin motifs that have always defined his songwriting. Some are ambitious, like the early recording "Roadkill," with its patient, complex song structure and long lyrical passages, while other songs are quiet wonders, like the acoustic renderings of "Japanese to English" and "Mistress," both songs tracing a desperate search for lovers just out of reach. Taken together, the two CDs offer a captivating emotional experience, a chronicle of rarely explored, grandiose themes and a well-done summation of a tragically underappreciated band's catalog. --Matthew Cooke

Album Description

Limited edition retrospective from this American alternative act signed to 4AD. Disc one is a 13 track 'best of' and disc two, entitled 'Demos, Outtakes, Live 1989-1995', contains 14 rarities, including the previously unreleased cuts 'Waterkill' & 'Instrumental'. 27 tracks in all. Double slimline jewel case. 1999 release.

Customer Reviews:

A nice parting gift.......2006-01-06

We sadly say goodbye to the shoe grazer folk heroes The Red House Painters will this best of collection. The Painters will always be a speacial band for me because they just played honest emotionally raw acoutic music.(There are times when they went electric but I try to forget)The tracks for "the best of" disk are excellent. I honestly have no gripes about it expect that "Have you forgoten" some how missed the line up. It's a beautiful song and it should be on the list! The ture beauty of "Retrospective" is the second disk. It would of been just as easy to just release a "Best of" but instead they issued a b-sides rarities disk to go along with it. very cool. It's nice to see the music of the Painters treated with such respect. A great homeage to a talented and unique band

amazing masterpiece.......2003-01-12

this is one of top 10 albums of all time
" summer dress, japenesse to english, medicene bottle, mistress ( live ), kayt song are timeless. They are framed in depression and immorality which mark leaves us a hope to get threw this sickness of sadness. They frame are emotions which people go throw once in there life but to shallowminded to consider it. This masterpiece expresses or fear in love and hate which only rhp can sympahtize for us. The music linger in our minds as feelings which trap our soul in a state passion which are heart cannot reach. This album is are bible into love. i love this album due too his depression into real life situtions of passion and love which the human heart cannot express in such pain

A melancholic masterpiece of introspection/ retrospection.......2002-12-14

I have to admit that I first heard of the Red House Painters through the film "Excess Baggage," starring Alicia Silverstone and Benicio del Toro as star-crossed lovers of sorts. The Painters' rendition of "All Mixed Up," originally by The Cars, was featured in this film, and I must say that although the film leaves just a little bit to be desired, that the choice of the aforementioned song in certain scenes of the film is phenomenal. . . see the movie, you'll see what I mean, perhaps.

Emily Hope (Silverstone's character in the movie) compels "John Doe" (del Toro's character) to feel oh so "mixed up". . . Anyways, moving on. . . hearing this song was enough to make me pause the credits and see who exactly was this band performing such a hauntingly melancholic and gorgeous version of the Cars' classic. "The Red House Painters," I read. "Hmmm," I said to myself, this sounds like a potentially great band. So the next day I ventured to my friendly neighborhood record store to see what they had to offer for the Red House Painters. I went through the various CD's they had of the band, and purchased "Retrospective," which I thought would be a good introduction to the band. It truly was. (It goes without saying that I also got "Songs for a Blue Guitar," since it does, after all, contain the song "All Mixed Up" which had impacted me so, but since this review is about "Retrospective," I'm going to stick to this album in my review). I read the liner notes, while hearing both disks of this album, and I was enthralled. How could I, such a devoted fan of good and original music (with a penchant for the sad and gloomy and melancholic) have possibly missed this incredible band, I asked myself? I spoke to a friend that evening, after I had spent the entire afternoon indulging in my Red House Painters CD's, and I told her that I had "discovered" this awesome band, entitled the Red House Painters. "Oh, you mean the band who did the song for that Gap commercial?" she replied, much to my dismay (I'm not prone either to "commercial," or "commercialized" music, or to huge retail stores). Regardless, I did not allow this to alter my fascination with this band. They are really phenomenal; sad, gloomy, melancholy, wistful, somber, with an unbelievable talent for transforming the pain suffered in life and in love into song.
"They're like Joy Division without the synthesizers or drum machines, with a bit of Leonard Cohen thrown in," is what I said to my friend who had informed me of their musical Gap appearance. And they are, but with a style entirely all their own. "Retrospective" has not left my CD player. Their rendition of "Shock Me" (a Kiss song) is as shocking as it is beautiful. And "Katy Song," "Summer Dress,"Medicine Bottle," "Michael," and "Mistress" are gorgeous. And the second disk, with demos, outakes, and live performances, is far from disappointing (as such disks tend to be); they only reinforced the fact in my mind that this is one uniquely talented and outstanding band. The tracks "Uncle Joe," "Japanese to English," "Over My Head," and the closing instrumental track, stand out on the second disk. None of the songs on either disk are disappointing, quite the contrary, in fact. . . each song merits another listen, and another, in order to absorb the lovely subtleties of each one. For anyone considering an introduction to the Red House Painters, this is indeed a great place to start. It's not often that a band entrances me so much, and I am more than happy (sad/happy?!) to have discovered the charm that is the Red House Painters, regardless of "Excess Baggage" or a Gap commercial. They have put a voice and music to the pain of the human condition, what we all have suffered at some point or another, and have done so originally, and this is no minor feat. Mopey, melancholic, and mystifying music (how's that for alliteration?!). . . a wonderful contribution to your music collection, especially if you like Joy Division and Leonard Cohen! Sadness can be inspiring, as these guys more than demonstrate in their music. . . perhaps you too might find their gloomy and ruminating music as powerful and gorgeous as I have. And if not, well, no one's asking you to paint your house red! :)

Melancholy and a glimpse into angst, but a brilliant band.......2002-09-13

Red House Painters, a band centered on the ever melancholy Mark Kozelek, created some of the saddest and most haunting music ever released on the 4AD label. Kozelek's songwriting, focusing on angst, rejection, and the pain of solitude had a way of putting into words what everyone has felt at one time or another. On RETROSPECTIVE we are treated to a disc of some of the finest moments from RHP' five albums released on 4AD, as well as to a second disc of outtakes and live material.

RETROSPECTIVE opens up, ironically, with a Kiss cover. "Shock Me", however, is transformed by Kozelek from a wild, outrageous romp to a low pleading. From there, though, the listener gets 12 tracks of Kozelek's poignant songwriting. "Katy Song", the first standout is, like most of RHP's output, an elegy to an ended relationship, twisting through complicated time signatures and finishing with a remarkably tightly played jam. "Medicine Bottle", called RHP's best song by many fans, is an 8-minute expression of the pain of losing a girlfriend because she could not handle introvertedness and the idea that certain thoughts and emotions are felt but can never be communicated. It cultimates in the astounding lines "I do not want to lose / the thrill that it gives me to look out from my window / and scour the houses from the world in the bedrom. / It's all in his head she read, in a girlfriend's self-help book..." That Kozelek can put into words the feelings that most men have from adolescent to 30 is a testament to his unique lyrical skill. Two of the later songs on this disc, the reverb-heavy "Drop" and "Evil", flow well together and display the crystal-clear production that was a hallmark of each of the albums the band released on 4AD.

Disc 2 is less interesting than the first, as one assumes that the outtakes were taken out of the albums for a reason, and the live material is unexciting (in fact, the live version of "Japanese to English" is downright unlistenable). However, it's closing track, an instrumental, displays the musical prowess of a band where the singer and songwriter Kozelek tends to get more recognition than the musicians.

RETROSPECTIVE is a great collection, and packs RHP's best output onto one release. Why only four stars? Red House Painters' music is not for everyone. While those who can remember the angst of their teenage years or still feel it now after a broken relationship know exactly what Kozelek is singing about, others feel the lyrics are juvenile and too depressing. The Red House Painters are worth trying, I think, and if RETOSPECTIVE is too much, try their first 4AD release DOWN COLORFUL HILL.

Interesting And Different.......2001-09-14

After reading reviews for this band I thought I would purchase the Retrospective Cd so I could get a good sample of the music. The music is kind of boring. Each song songs a lot like the previous one.Vocals are a bit bland. My best guess is this is a band you need to see live before you can enjoy the recorded music. I am sure this band is talented but just a little to plain for me. No offense to anyone, just my opinion.

Average customer rating:

depressingly beautiful...
A perfect album no matter what mood you are in
One of the Few Flawless Albums in Existence
An imperfect first album, but "Medicine Bottle" astounds
A true artist gifted with extra-ordinary talent...

Down Colorful Hill
Red House Painters
Manufacturer: 4ad / Ada
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Songs for a Blue Guitar
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ASIN: B00002SWSW
Release Date: 1999-11-02

Tracks:

24
Medicine Bottle
Down Colorful Hill
Japanese To English
Lord Kill The Rain
Michael

Album Description

Reissue of the American alternative pop outfit's 1992 debut on 4AD. Six tracks. 1999 release.

Customer Reviews:

depressingly beautiful..........2006-12-17

I remember some years ago when I bought this album, being a hardcore fan of several 4AD acts and not knowing anything about RHP but a live concert review from Lizardlounge magazine, how a strong experience it was: the sparse and obscure production (remember that this was a compilation of some polished demo recordings) yet technically never in the low quality side, but the most important, a quite emotional concept, Mark's personal and miserable lyrics full of vulnerability and self research that drilled my soul immediately, I wondered how brave a guy must be to be able to sing this bared emotions without crumbling down or deviating to certain common places, that and the out of trend musical arrangements, the exotic tuning and minimalism of Gorden's guitar parts and the sometimes martial band drumming... this was something special and will be forever, probably a more complicated affair than the posterior bridge and rollercoaster albums but for me their best. Try it please.

A perfect album no matter what mood you are in.......2006-11-03

This album ranks up there with most of the Red House Painters albums. Unbelievable lyrics and melodies. I am really glad I added this ablum to my Red House collection. Perfect for rainy days.

One of the Few Flawless Albums in Existence.......2002-10-15

When I first bought this CD, I was actually pretty angry that it only had six songs. However, several of those songs are quite long, and so at least in terms of length, you don't get the feeling of just listening to an EP. It's also a concept album, even more than the other RHP records, because it is probably the most concentrated on one issue: emotional breakdown.

The album begins by taking apart the issue of growing older and dealing with the anxiety of losing youth. Then, you get two tracks both concentrating on the difficulties of effectively communicating emotion to a lover in a very intense relationship and the consequences involved. "Down Colorful Hill" is at the heart of the album and sums up the desperation Kozelek feels in his "prayers for success". (This could possibly mean the success of his career, as well, but more than likely it's just success in general.) "Lord Kill the Pain" is a very sarcastic song that wishes the rest of the world would just die so Kozelek wouldn't have to deal with anyone or anything anymore. The real genius of the album comes in with the closer "Michael", which is perhaps the most touching song, lyrically, I have ever come across. In it, Kozelek recounts his youthful experiences with his friend who ended up become a worthless bum many years after their friendship. For Kozelek to label such a person as his "best friend" shows an insight into human love that most people, let alone musicians, don't have the capacity for.

I fell in love with the lyrics of this album first, and then slowly I came to love the music. I don't know if it's the best place to start if you're trying to get into RHP, though. I think Rollercoaster or Retrospective are probably the best places to start. I highly recommend DOWN COLORFUL HILL to the already-interested RHP/Kozelek fans.

An imperfect first album, but "Medicine Bottle" astounds.......2002-09-14

DOWN COLORFUL HILL was the debut of Red House Painters, Mark Kozelek's exploration-of-angst band that put out some of the most haunting music on the 4AD label. While it is very immature compared to the albums that came after it, in fact this is the band's demo tape for the label, DOWN COLORFUL HILL does give a glimpse of the potential of Kozelek and the skilled musicians Anthony Koutsos (drums), Gordon Mack (guitar), and Jerry Vessel (bass).

In "24", Kozelek expresses fear of his own mortality and the feeling that his life is amounting to nothing. It is slow but by no means boring, in fact its pace matches the lyricism perfectly.

The highlight of the album is definitely "Medicine Bottle", an elegy for a broken relationship that goes for nearly ten minutes. In it, Kozelek sings of the pain of losing a girlfriend because she could not understand that he, like all people, could not put into words his deepest thoughts. The listener is amazed as he sings "I do not want to lose / the thrill that it gives me to look out from my window / and scowl at the houses from my world in the bedroom. / It's all in his head she read / in a girlfriend's self-help book..." It was remarkable how Kozelek could express the angst so many men feel between adolescence and 30.

"Japanese to English" is ambitious and musically brilliant, and closely follows "Medicine Bottle". It does suffer a bit from Kozelek's failure to consistent match the beat of the lyrics to the instrumentation, but the listener doesn't notice it much under the right-on-target drumming of Koutsos and the the lush guitar.

Unfortunately, some of the album is not as strong. "Lord Kill the Pain" is so dull as to be unlistenable. "Michael", a tale of a friend lost to deliquency, is difficult for the reader to grasp if he or she has never been in the same situation.

DOWN COLORFUL HILL is probably not the best introduction to Red House Painters. Their first self-titled album, referred to as the "Rollercoaster cover", is an easier listen and includes the perfect "Katy Song." However, if you've enjoyed other RHP albums, DOWN COLORFUL HILL is worth getting for "Medicine Bottle" alone.

A true artist gifted with extra-ordinary talent..........2002-01-07

His soul plays the quitar, His heart sings the lyrics. No pretension, No excuses, no fear, just pure truth.
He graciously and honestly shares with us his intimate, and personal life memories and experiences. He tells us of his delicate observations of others that come into his life through a lover or a friend. Many songs are of lost loves, heartbreak and lost friends, because Mark writes about the stuff of life that really matters. True to his passion and dedicated to his gift, with no compromises. I honor and thank him for the music he has given to us all. I am also grateful for the time I shared with him. The heartache that followed eventually became overshadowed by the joy of just being able to know him.
Down Colorful Hill is my favorite of all RHP cd's. Some favored songs are Michael, Medicine Bottle, Uncle Joe, Lord Kill the Pain, Katy Song, etc..etc, and all solo guitar. Amazing.
Most beloved songs ....New Jersey and Trailways, of course! ....

Average customer rating:

One Deep Album
I used to work with Mark at a San Francisco Hotel
patience needed
The quintessential RHP album
The last 4AD album shows evolution and confidence

Ocean Beach
Red House Painters
Manufacturer: 4ad / Ada
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Songs for a Blue Guitar
What's Next to the Moon
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ASIN: B00002SWSZ
Release Date: 1999-11-02

Tracks:

Cabezon
Summer Dress
San Geronimo
Shadows
Over My Head
Red Carpet
Brockwell Park
Moments
Drop

Album Description

Reissue of the American alternative pop outfit's 1995 album on 4AD. Eight tracks. 1999 release.

Customer Reviews:

One Deep Album.......2006-11-03

Ocean Beach took me a number of play throughs to catch on to it. But now that I have gone rounds with this album I have realized that it has been quite a long time since I have taken it out of my car collection.

I used to work with Mark at a San Francisco Hotel.......2005-12-03

I was with Mark when he played for 4AD at a club in San Francisco, CA. We worked a hotel job together to make ends meet. He's a wonderful guy who I've lost track of over the past 12 or so years. But, the first album is really magic and it comes from his heart. Mark is a real talent, as was his band.

Dean Phillips
The Chelsea Motor Inn and Suites
1992-1994
3-11pm shift
Lombard St. SF, CA

patience needed.......2004-10-04

I was really looking forward to listening this record. I'd never had anything from RHP before and I looking at the reviews I thought I found a new favorite. Well, actually it turned out a bit too arty for my taste. There are songs that are way too long on this album, they sometimes become a bit too repetitious. The voice of Kozelek is fine, though. Sounds like Duncan Sheik a bit - some of the songs even resemble Sheik's "ballads" musically. But, on the whole, if you consider that "Ocean Beach" consists only of slow songs (that must be a trademark of the band), they're simply not that heavenly breathtaking. Experimental, creative music, but I think one that's hard to really adore.

The quintessential RHP album.......2003-06-21

Sometimes you wonder just how on earth Mark Kozelek can continue to come out with songs of such raw emotional intensity. No other songwriter is able to detail pain and loss in the way Kozelek does. This was evdient even on the band's debut lp Down Colourful Hill - songs like "Medicine Bottle" and "Michael".

Perhaps what is most interesting about Ocean Beach is that it is almost entirely a Kozelek project. Granted a few of the songs employ a full band - but mostly its sparse, lonely acoustic guitar and piano. Yet this is what makes Ocean Beach so stunning - its ability to draw you deep into Kozelek's world. "Summer dress" and "Shadows" are probably the highlights, both are just Kozelek on vocals with accompanying guitar and piano. As one would expect, most songs pack a punch with its honesty and beauty. Try listening to "drop" without feeling something tingling up your spine.

I could say a lot of things, but tt the end of the day, Ocean Beach is a great album. Its music at its most intense and emotional, yet still remaining simple and unoffensive in its delivery. A classic.

The last 4AD album shows evolution and confidence.......2003-02-26

Red House Painters released their fourth album OCEAN BEACH in 1995. Their last for the influential British record label 4AD, the album displays a bit of creative evolution while retaining and in fact epitomising everything that there is to like about Red House Painters' work.

Frontman Mark Kozelek was previously nervous about vocals; the singing on earlier RHP records is characterised by shyness and heavy use of reverb. This is still true on "Brockwell Park" and "Moments", but by the time OCEAN BEACH was recorded, Kozelek was feeling more confident and some tracks here feature vocals that are suprisingly up front. Kozelek was also moving towards a more electric sound, a change which ultimately led to the band's dismissal from 4AD and subsequent loss of members, and "San Geronimo" features suprising aggression while remaining recognisable as RHP. "Summer Dress", arguably the most moving song of OCEAN BEACH, features string orchestration which intensifies the melancholy for which RHP's genre was given the label "sadcore."

The most underappreciated aspect of Red House Painters was Anthony Koutsos's drumming. Though he always resisted the temptation to showboat or speed things up, he provided a rhythmic base without which none of the band's magic would have been possible. The percussion on the opening instrumental "Cabezon" and the album's transcendently beautiful closing track "Drop" is excellent.

Fans of His Name is Alive may enjoy the album, as Warren Defever plays a hidden track after "Drop" just like Kozelek was a guest on HNIA's 1996 album STARS ON E.S.P.

Tracks:

Wop-A-Din-Din
Byrd Joel
Void
Between Days
Cruiser
Michigan
River
Smokey
Golden
Kavita

Amazon.com

Released almost concurrently with head House Painter Mark Kozelek's solo venture What's Next to the Moon (a delightful selection of deconstructed AC/DC covers), Old Ramon allows the rare opportunity to hear an artist both then and now. Recorded in '97, Old Ramon languished in the limbo of label fallout, finally to be rescued and released by Sub Pop in '01. Meanwhile, though, it seemed Kozelek had moved on, releasing a flurry of projects with nary a look back, making Old Ramon almost seem like an afterthought. But what a lovely afterthought it is. The trademark features of a Red House Painters' joint are all here: the songs are long and meandering, the guitars seesaw languidly, the drums plod, dissonant harmonies moan, and Kozelek's olive-oil voice seeps around everything. The best tracks include the light and airy "Wop a Din-Din," an homage to Kozelek's cat; the dark and beastly "Byrd Joel"; and the understated "Cruiser." Still, though, the album doesn't quite shake off its purgatorial past and remains more of an asterisk amid the band's outstanding back catalog. If you already love the Painters, Old Ramon is a godsend. But novitiates might better be off checking out the lovely cascade of Ocean Beach or Kozelek's aforementioned solo joint. --Tod Nelson

Album Description

Sixth album recorded in the fall of 1997 through the spring of 1998, was intended for release that summer. However the major labels piled delay upon delay. Old Ramon features 10 tracks of classic material for fans and newcomers of the unique Kozelek style. Standard jewel case. 2001 release.

Customer Reviews:

I really like this one!.......2006-02-19

This album is great.....the nice accustic guitar cuts thru and is introspective and just a little bit dark. It's my first purchase for this band, and I like it alot!!

Drone-Fi.......2005-05-06

Wanted: one merciless producer/editor. I can easily take the drone one-note guitar, mostly soft acoustic, but on a couple of occasions (Void and River) revved up pretty well with amped feedback. And, with the exception of the way too cute ode to his cat (wop-a-din-din), I like Mark Kozelek's opaque lyrics, to the extent that they can be understood as he mumbles and elongates his lines over the guitars. He gets points as a writer because unlike a lot of heart-in-hand emo guys, he's not emotionally broken at the slightest of life's cuts. In fact, his pain seems to come more from the aftermaths of inflictings than inflicteds, which is a nice twist. But even on the best of these sometimes very good songs, I was ready for them to end two or three minutes before the House Painters brought them lumbering home. Best cuts: Byrd Joel, Cruiser, Michigan, and Golden. Four stars is a slight stretch, but it's because I think I'll like this better with repeated listens, but never eight minutes and more worth.

Their Most Consistent Work.......2004-07-29

It took me a shile to fully appreciate this album. But after a number of listens, I finally have grown to love the album. I consider Old Ramon to be their most consistent work ever. Though I love this band, I usually have to skip a number of tracks in their previous cd's to fully appreciate them. However, not this album! My favorite tracks are Golden, Michigan and Wop-A-Din-Din--an excellent and endearing song about Mark K.'s cat.

I am a huge fan of RHP and I consider them to be the best band to come out of San Francisco, my hometown. Any band that names an album after my favorite place in the world, Ocean Beach, is sure is a great group!

I cant stop listening to this CD..............2004-01-18

I have been avidly collecting music of all genres and eras for over 20 years and I have NEVER found myself playing a CD over and over. Every song on this is absolutely amazing. Hats off to Mr. Kozelek for being the astounding songwriter he was meant to be and thereby enriching our lives by his remarkable craft. Im currently buying the entire catalog and will undoubtably remain a fan for life.

A Great Album..........2004-01-06

The Red House Painters have always been a little inconsistent on each album. Kozelek is one of those songwriters that places masterpieces alongside songs that border on self-indulgence. Old Ramon may be the most solid Red House Painters album of the whole lot. Some purists have disparaged the dominance of electric guitar on this album's sonic palette, but I think it's brilliantly done and beautiful. Lyrically, this is also one of the stronger albums in their catalog, Wop-a-Din-Din aside. If there is one complaint, it's that the album as a whole almost runs together. Others could see this as a strength, but upon first listen--especially since the songs are also very long--it can be a bit much to get through. Songs like Void and Smokey are devastatingly good though, and instant classics. In an age of instant gratification and hooks tossed out like cheap candy, Kozelek's music is a sharp and gratifying counterpoint.

Average customer rating:

Eloge de la lenteur
On par with their best
Their weakest album, I guess.
I don't know about his others, but this is great...
the most underrated of them

Red House Painters
Red House Painters
Manufacturer: 4ad / Ada
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

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Dream Pop | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

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Similar Items:

Songs for a Blue Guitar
Rock 'N' Roll Singer
What's Next to the Moon
Tiny Cities
Ghosts of the Great Highway

ASIN: B00002SWSY
Release Date: 1999-11-02

Tracks:

Evil
Bubble
I Am A Rock
Helicopter
New Jersey
Uncle Joe
Blindfold
Star Spangled Banner
Shock Me
Sundays And Holidays
Three-Legged Cat
Shock Me

Album Description

Reissue of the American alternative pop outfit's 1993 & third album. Often referred to as the 'bridge' album (to distinguish it from their second album, also eponymously titled & first released in 1993), it contains all eight recordings from the original issue, including their interpretations of the 'Star Spangled Banner' and the Simon & Garfunkel hit 'I Am A Rock', plus all five cuts from their 1994 EP 'Shock Me' added as bonus tracks, 'Shock Me', 'Sundays And Holidays', 'Three-Legged Cat', their cover of KISS' 'Shock Me' and the hidden, unti

Customer Reviews:

Eloge de la lenteur.......2005-10-11

Au cours des années 90, un mouvement assez hétéroclite a vu le jour aux Etats-Unis, prosaïquement baptisé la nouvelle scène folk américaine, dont les meilleurs représentants seraient Lambchop, Mazzy Star ou Palace. Mais un vrai-faux groupe, mené par l'énigmatique Mark Kozelek, mérite toute l'attention, et particulièrement cet album, deuxième sommet d'un fameux diptyque, résultat de fructueuses sessions d'enregistrement réalisées en 1993.
Difficile d'accès au premier abord (le relatif hermétisme du livret et de la superbe pochette, ainsi que la nudité instrumentale de la musique, en rebuteront plus d'un...), le disque révèle cependant toutes ses qualités au fil des écoutes, les propres compositions de Mark Kozelek, titres à la lenteur magnifiquement maîtrisée (le poignant Bubble), faisant place à quelques reprises - I Am A Rock de Paul Simon, ou The Star Spangled Banner, l'hymne national américain martyrisé en son temps par Jimi Hendrix - prodigieuses tant le groupe parvient à se libérer des trames originales des chansons.
L'un des attraits de l'uvre réside incontestablement dans les talents vocaux de Mark Kozelek. Mais quels drames effrayants, quelles funestes tragédies ont pu blesser cet homme, pour que sa voix douloureuse soit empreinte ainsi des stigmates de la souffrance et du désespoir ? Ailleurs, son chant évoquerait même l'aridité traînante de Gene Clark, la clarté souveraine d'un Michael Stipe, voire l'élégance mutine de Bobbie Gentry (trompeusement, l'album débute par des rires insouciants...). Cette désolation, cet amer sentiment d'abandon, s'instillent dans les différentes plages de l'album : Uncle Joe, inquiétante ballade en forme de confession définitive, le terrifiant Blindfold, aux vertus cathartiques évidentes, où Mark Kozelek semble vouloir se purger de toute la laideur et des frustrations accumulées au cours de ses années d'indigence...
Mais un titre particulièrement, qui se cache au milieu du disque, restera à mes yeux Le chef-d'uvre des RHP : Helicopter, morceau à la beauté déroutante, où le chant désenchanté de Mark Kozelek réalise un authentique tour de force. Amorcé a capella, d'une voix presque apaisée, le titre déploie doucement ses délicats arpèges de guitare, puis à la faveur d'une lente gradation, aboutit à un sommet d'introspection désabusée ("Daylight won't find a trace..."), et à une mise à nu presque indécente, nous laissant ainsi entrevoir les affres les plus sombres de l'âme tourmentée du leader... ; et à chaque fois cette mystérieuse interrogation : comment un groupe constitué de trois musiciens, dont un bassiste qui joue avec un doigt et un batteur à qui l'on a retiré la moitié de ses éléments, peut-il à ce point occuper l'espace, imprégner l'atmosphère de ses textures sonores si riches et si amples ?
Sans aucun doute l'uvre la plus personnelle et la plus passionnante de cet artiste trop souvent relégué à une reconnaissance indigne de son talent, et qui est devenue avec les années une des bandes-son privilégiées de mes singuliers moments de mélancolie apathique...

On par with their best.......2002-12-18

I've kind of immersed myself in the Red House Painters over the last few months so I can compare this one pretty confidently to the others. I'll say without hesitation that this is equal to anything they've done and possibly my single favorite album. 4 tracks are masterpieces (Bubble, Helicopter, Uncle Joe, Sundays and Holidays) -- how many other albums by *anyone* can you say that about? The remakes (I won't call them covers since they're so altered from their originals) of I am a Rock, Star Spangled Banner, and the 2 versions of Shock Me don't work as well, but I attribute this mostly to the weakness of the source; I mean, how good can a Kiss song ever really be ('Black Diamonds' excepted)? Yet even these make for fairly enjoyable interludes between the moments of brilliance.

If you like these guys at all, please do yourself a favor and pick this one up. It's a little harder to find in the stores, and if you're the instant-gratification type like me and prefer having the little sucker in your hands when you purchase it you may be put off by this. But it's worth the week of shipping time, I assure you.

Their weakest album, I guess........2001-06-04

This is a collection of outtakes and leftovers from the "Rollercoaster" album, and it's instantly noticeable why these songs were excluded from that album: except for "New Jersey" and "Uncle Joe", this is simply weak material. If you're a serious fan, you may like this, but novices should head for one of the other RHP albums first.

I don't know about his others, but this is great..........2000-12-11

This being the first and only album I own by RHP, I can't speak to all the comparisons made below, but I can say that I think it's great. As is typical for me, I first listened, loved New Jersey, and thought the rest was boring. Then after a few months pulled it out, put it on, and fell in love. I agree that the emotional canvas here is a broad one. Just makes me want to lay in a field in the sun. Pastoral is a pretty good word for the album (as suggested by the cover).

Mark Kozelek's voice, though usually placid and soothing, does have impressive capabilities both for emotion and range. Uncle Joe gives me chills just about every time. Very raw. Lyrically, the songs mesh with the instrumentation and tunes. Very complementary. Usually, I get a kick out of sad lyrics sung happy and other oxymoronic songs, but I'm thankful that Mark doesn't do that. The songs are too beautiful to trivialize.

I'm about ready to get another album. The reason I haven't yet is that I haven't been ready to move on from this one yet. And I've had it for over a year!

the most underrated of them.......1999-12-24

This is DEFINITELY the most underrated of any of the cd's that RHP have put out to date. I've heard/seen it called boring, bad, etc. The fact is that this album is my favorite of them is irrelevant; what is important is that Mark Kozelek and co. offer probably the most representative work in their discography, and every song will play an emotion to someone. "Evil" will drag out the paranoia in you, while "Helicopter", probably the most beautiful song ever written, will display the one glimmer of hope you have seen in the last decade; very uplifting. "Uncle Joe", "Blindfold", and a disturbingly wonderful cover of "I Am A Rock" will make any listener understand both isolation and acceptance. What's more is that, musically, this album takes the parts of DOWN COLORFUL HILL which were downplayed and makes them more relevant, and even hints of what is to come on OCEAN BEACH; think of having your eyes made larger or even getting a tattoo. The ambience and texture of Mark's vocals against the battling drones from the guitars and sometimes piano, adding the sheer power which results, will make this almost a religious experience. No REAL RHP fan can deny these songs or what they mean to both the listener and the man who wrote them. Sure, the CD may be the songs that didn't fit in anywhere to the ROLLERCOASTER album; think of this as the BreakfastClub of CDs. It's these odds and ends which make both the magic of the cd and the true magic and humanness of RHP's music tangible. Try listening to it again.

Average customer rating:

Ok but you can kind of tell some of these are left-overs.

Red House Painters
Red House Painters
Manufacturer: Warner Bros / Wea
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Indie Rock | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Dream Pop | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Singer-Songwriters | Pop | Styles | Music

General | Rap & Hip-Hop | Styles | Music

Folk Rock | Rock | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

Ocean Beach
Down Colorful Hill
What's Next to the Moon
Ghosts of the Great Highway
Tiny Cities

ASIN: B000002MJP
Release Date: 1993-05-25

Tracks:

Grace Cathedral Park
Down Through
Katy Song
Mistress
Things Mean a Lot
Funhouse
Take Me Out
Rollercoaster
New Jersey
Dragonflies
Mistress [Piano Version]
Mother
Strawberry Hill
Brown Eyes

Customer Reviews:

Ok but you can kind of tell some of these are left-overs........2006-01-31

This is RHP's second album released in 1993 and it was made up of songs that didn't go on the Rollercoaster (1st self titled)album. A few of these tracks are kind of weak, the re-recorded version of New Jersey and the 2 covers, which served as a warning for Kozalek's future cover's obsession. But Evil, Evil has got to be one of the most beautiful songs ever recorded. It sounds like he's whispering the personal yet oddly poetic lyrics in your ear, this is much more than someone reading their diary over acoustic guitar. And the ending howls, its hard for me to listen to them they sound so painful. Also worthwhile is Helicopter, the guitar at the end is moody in just the right way, Uncle Joe and Blindfold. So, no, its not as good as rollercoaster but the high points are just as strong and if you are an RHP fan you should get this.

Soul Music:

Soul Music

soul music

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