Red House Painters: Classic or Dud?

Yes, some of the songs go on for too long. But there's an "open diary" kind of honesty (particularly in the rollercoaster album) that's often a bit scary yet undeniably compelling. And frequently beautiful. And if you're in the right frame of mind, many of the long songs can be rewarding too... Actually, my favorite RHP album isn't even a RHP album at all... I love Kozalek's "Rock and Roll Singer" album, where he reconstructs AC/DC, Neil Young, and John Denver songs... Basically, he throws away everything but the lyrics and creates almost new songs from them. Who knew AC/DC's lyrics could sound so wistful? :-) Brilliant stuff.

capable of making Phil Collins-era Genesis songs sound good or a miserable git?

hey:: i still like phil collins "in the air tonight",especially when the drums kick in:)

― william harris, Sunday, 13 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

That said, I don't really listen much to Old Ramon, and I just sold off my copies of the two solo albums. They were okayyyyyy, but really weren't enough to keep me coming back over and over again.

I really was ready to just send Ned my copy of Blue Guitar, but since you guys have praised RHP to the sky, I am now listening to it again in hopes of some revelation. Up til now my opinion of Kozelek has been (warning: tortured analogy zone) that being able to float in sewage don't make you a world class swimmer.

Hey, that bit of guitar wankery on track "Make Like Paper" is kinda fun!

Hunter

So I'm reading this as a sign you're giving me your copy. Why thank you!

Or Tom H. can send it if he likes. :-)

yah, it's stupid, but pretty fun anyhew.

you know the best album ! which one ?

oh and is there a best of ?
a little history here ?

really, extremely classic.

but what you get out of it on a personal level is essentially the very core of the listening experience. it can be difficult to get your friends to listen to old koz and expect them to be hearing exactly what you hear.

i tend to find red house painters immensely satisfying. 'medicine bottle' pretty much encapsulates what the band is about - long, dreamy, reflective, melancholy, and half entrenched in real, tangible, physical things ('ladies underwear tossed over the alarm clock' !!!), while still somewhat steeped in the surreal and metaphorically bizarre.

all of the albums are very good. and all of them have at least one shimmering highlight

I like Kozelek's solo lps better. Some of those guitar solos remind me more of Zuma-era Neil Young, than Phil Collins.

4AD never wanted him to do solos, and koz wanted to do them.
hence you see a bit of a stylistical change from 'songs for a blue guitar' onwards

i like the solo ones too, i might add

Love these guys.

I'm seeing Mark Kozelek at SXSW today :)

wow, i'd love to catch him

one of those bands that I feel personally protective about, like they're "mine".... first two albums, ocean beach, and the first skm album all amazing.

kozelek can be kind of uneven live, solo; not really 'bad' but he can be really dull, I think. the last painters shows were like that as well. there were some amazing ones in the early 90's though.

bought my ticket today to see him in july in the inner-west suburb of enmore, sydney.
really looking forward to the show, particularly given how much i love 'april'.

funny that only a month ago (xpost) this seemed like such an improbability

Classic

Apart from the voice and lyrics, some of the guitar work -particularly on the earlier stuff- was aceness squared. I'm thinking 'Katy song', 'Brown Eyes' etc. Was that down to Kozelek or that other geezer?

My memory is hazy, but when I saw them live, it was a portly guy who was picking out all those beautiful appregios

Bummed out his show in Chicago is sold out, especially since the venue is five blocks from my house.

That's the good and bad of live music in a city like this, lots of great shows swing through town but a much greater chance of them selling out before you get a chance to grab tickets.

My memory is hazy, but when I saw them live, it was a portly guy who was picking out all those beautiful appregios

i don't know when you saw them but if it was in the early 90's then you must be thinking of Gorden Mack, but he hasn't played with them since 94 (in fact, he stopped playing music altogether I think). Phil Carney played guitar with them later, but he wasn't portly. Kozelek might be seen as portly from time to time

X Post

It must have been Gorden Mack . It was at the much lamented Duchess of York in Leeds - 93/94?

Gorden probably wasn't even that portly - maybe it was his oversize specs? Something was incongruous with the music he was producing from his guitar. I don't think he was sat on the crapper or anything.

Again, hazy, but whoever it was was had the electric guitar right stage of Kozelek , the latter mainly on acoustic?

I found this article I cut out years ago. I think it was from Melody Maker, but it might have been NME. I've kept it for years, it cracked me up.

I have mp3 of Kozelek playing a radio show in 1988

I used to swear by "Mistress," but in the end it's all about "Summer Dress." RHP are the cat's pajamas and all, but I think the Sun Kil Moon albums are even better. Cheers to aging gracefully!

Sometimes it gets no better than the Bridge version of "New Jersey". Just listened to it three times in a row.

Stay away from the razor blades.

"uncle joe" from bridge really strikes a raw nerve with me these days. i think it might be to do with the lyrics.

"the after late night television pain"

Holy shit he plays "Mistress" with the Roots at Jimmy Fallon!

http://www.latenightwithjimmyfallon.com/blogs/2012/10/sun-kil-moon-plays-two-songs-with-the-roots-on-late-night/

So beautiful, what a treat.

Wow, I had no idea he was going to be on - thanks for linking, Evan.

And yr dead right, *what* a treat. Both great performances, I've been playing the hell out of Among the Leaves recently, enjoying it more and more. So great to hear and see Koz on the TV :)

Neither did I! I heard some so-so things about the new record but it's hard to not love everything this guy releases, so I need to listen to the rest of it.

an observation on the (kind of) under-appreciated Bridge album:

http://walkingthelongmileshome.wordpress.com/

the later cd version of the RHP album with "evil" on it and that includes the shock me EP sounds like shit. fyi. so if you need it on cd make sure you get the original cd version. and the original shock me EP. cuz they sound great. they made it louder and it gets all horrible and distorted if you turn it up. if you play music softly it probably wouldn't matter to you.

Wasn't even aware of the multiple versions, assumed they were vinyl only or something before being compiled on one reissue.

they were on vinyl in the u.k. originally. man, i wish i had them on vinyl. i never see them. i had ocean beach on vinyl. double ten inch. but i sold it. now it goes for a bunch. the first album sells for even more. but the original u.s. CDs sound great so i never worried about it much. this is the first time i'd heard a later cd release of that album.

Even the guy's most recent releases are impossible to come by. Unfortunately I have this cd release so ill have to investigate this when I get home.

it was just noticeable to me because i've played my old cd a million times over the years. and it definitely sounded different. and when i turned it up it just sounded...bad. and there is no reason for that. it already sounded great. i might actually get my old copy and play them back to back.

It was my #1 played album this past winter. Listened to it back to back most days.

Most played that is.

A drunkenly compiled sort-of best-of, working title "Everything We Felt Failed".

1. Roller Coaster
2. Songs for a Blue Guitar
3. Mistress (Piano)
4. Have You Forgotten?
5. Medicine Bottle
6. San Geronimo.
7. All Mixed Up
8. New Jersey
9. Trailways.
10. Katy Song
11. Dragonflies.
12. Summer Dress
13. Shadows.

I know there are people on here who would *cut me up* for the inclusion of the piano version of Mistress but what else would you replace?

Would replace Roller Coaster with Grace Cathedral Park, and add Cruiser if space permitted.

What version of New Jersey are you including?

which version of have you forgotten

The Roller Coaster version.

That is, the Roller Coaster version of "New Jersey" and the Songs for a Blue Guitar version of "Have You Forgotten".

All great picks, but you need to find a way to squeeze Sundays and Holidays, Japanese to English, Cruiser, and Michigan. Too damn hard. I might cut Roller Coaster, Shadows... can't bring myself to cut anything else.

Grace Cathedral Park is like, preparing all teenagers for any adult moments of sadness to come.

lol i only discovered the rerecording (for the soundtrack of vanilla sky???) of "have you forgotten" a few years ago so i was sorta joking

still i prefer it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mb1ILIQvdM

still, extremely solid comp, hard to condense this band

kudos on including "trailways," i love that song

I just remember this album a lot, because this and Suede were a year old when My So Called Life first came out and everyone that I knew was listening to those and Dookie the summer it premiered.

'trailways' is heartbreaking and will never not remind me of visiting a penpal in wisconsin when i was nineteen. puppy love. she was a direct relative of frank zappa. i had my first kiss to a record of his in her basement.

Thanks all. Good calls on the Old Ramon tracks (though they wouldn't bump anything off). I think "Japanese to English" made it on to a similar CD I made a few years ago but hasn't made it this time. I love "Trailways".

Going to drink a bottle of red and compile Volume 2.

Will probably include "Drop", "Mistress (non-piano)", "River", "Silly Love Songs" and everything suggested above.

Evil would definitely be in there, I love that song so damn much.

Strawberry Hill
Drop
River
Silly Love Songs
Make Like Paper
Cruiser
Mistress
Uncle Joe
Bubble
Sundays and Holidays.

Need to lose five minutes - Uncle Joe or Bubble are the obvious tracks ... but could lose one of the long tracks (Silly Love Songs?) and even add Michigan back in.

In the cold light of day (aka sober) "Silly Love Songs" feels like a mistake. I'm going back in, with wine ...

yeah "silly love songs" should go, much as I enjoy it. "bubble" is the best song there!

"Bubble" isn't going to make the cut!

Weirdly, I think I must have bought Old Ramon and then never played it (at the time). Really enjoying bits of it though they don't seem at all familiar.

Shock Me!
Brown Eyes
Take me Out

this guy sucks but 'silly love songs' is incredible

i mean name a more subversive cover that also wants to make me kill myself

he sucks but he made a shit ton of great albums (and then a shit ton of awful ones)