| Down Colorful Hill | 1992 |
| Red House Painters I | 1993 |
| Red House Painters II | 1993 |
| Ocean Beach | 1995 |
| Songs For A Blue Guitar | 1996 |
| Retrospective (compilation) | 1999 |
| Old Ramon | 2001 |
The name of the Red House Painters should more or less be equivalent with that of Mark Kozelek, since so far as I can tell the rest of the band are almost recurring session musicians appearing on his solo albums. Both the music and the lyrics are reflections of the personality of one man, and while the additional musicians certainly give the music a fuller form, sometimes one gets the impression the first few times through the Painters’ albums that Kozelek himself could have gone into the studio and recorded all of the parts himself with more or less the same result. In fact, from what I have read (having never attended a Painters concert on my own) about half of the show is simply Kozelek with his guitar, unaccompanied. However, the more one becomes acquainted with the Painters’ output the more one notices the small nuances of each player’s style, and it does seem that there would be some small degrees of difference that those of us who listen to these albums almost constant would doubtless pick up on over time. These are still minor in the face of the overall product, and I doubt that the casual Painters listener is likely to care at all.
So this simply leaves one question: who is Mark Kozelek? This is a rather hard statement to answer completely, actually, and I would suggest anyone seriously interested in understanding the man and the music to its fullest take the time to read a quick biography as to have some understanding of Kozelek's background, since of all the ways to describe Kozelek and his music, perhaps above all is the fact that he is an honest character. For six albums he has laid his life down in front of listener, almost as if to say that he has been through so much he no longer fears rejection: this is who he is, and he will not change that. If you can relate to that, he sends his thanks, if not, please move on. This is hardly to say that Kozelek is a difficult character to resonate with -- certainly most people who have shared his sense of passionate alienation and loneliness can find something within his work to cling to, any romantic who has been disappointed, or anyone, for that matter, who has ever simply wanted to sit alone in a room for a while. Not necessarily out of deep depression or suicidal tendencies (for that there's always your Radiohead or your Joy Division or your Smiths or whatever), but more for anyone who in disappointed wishes to spend some time alone thinking, away from everyone for a while. I used to frequently take Ocean Beach and Down Colorful Hill out on nightwalks, finding them a more than suitable soundtrack for the late night atmosphere. Indeed while there have certainly been bands more despondent in an overall sense, the last time I heard a soundtrack as effective on a lonely late night was Joni Mitchell's Blue.
This isn't to say that the Painters are here to drive the listener to suicide. As a matter of fact, when looking at the band's overall progression, I find the recent albums to be quite uplifting. While his often relatively unknown albums have long received positive reviews from major publications and fairly good reception from those who have actually found them, in recent years Kozelek has experienced minor mainstream success, in considerable part due to the influence of fan Cameron Crowe. Kozelek appears in a minor though certainly present role in Almost Famous (the bassist) and even has a bit part in Vanilla Sky ("Dude, fix you FUCKING face!"). More importantly, "Have You Forgotten?" made an appearance on the soundtrack of the latter, and we are beginning to approach the point at which almost all serious music fans have at least heard of the Red House Painters.
In spite of these recent successes the Red House Painters, and particularly their early work, remain a haunting outfit. I'd venture to call Mark Kozelek the single most emotionally intense character of the 1990s, perhaps the rock movement as a whole, and while he may or may not be the most talented figure to emerge during the decade (Keaggy and Swano provide some pretty strong competition), he is undoubtedly among the peak, with five of the decade's most solid releases to his name.
Of course, this leaves the ultimate question about the band itself: what does it sound like? This is another fairly difficult question to answer, since Kozelek blends such a diverse set of influences into his music, and has shifted his overall sound a couple of times. But overall his music tends to be slow-moving, often epic (his song lengths caused major upset with his first record label) folk-rock. Perhaps if Nick Drake's Pink Moon was an art-rock record it would sound more like this. At the same time, it would be unfair to limit the sound to this, because on the occasion that they feel up to it, Kozelek and company know how to rock out. Like several of the bands of the "sadcore" movement (which the Painters are often said to be the leading figures in) the rocked out tunes here can almost work as kick-ass headbanging material. But the mood is still quieter than the music itself in these most distorted, kickin' moments.
Really in the end we come back to the fact that this is just the expression of once man, and isn't that what art is all about? The sound reflects his moods, his shifts through life, his brighter ending as opposed to his dark beginning. It is a sound that can never fully be described, one that truly must be heard to be understood, that one must experience several times in order to appreciate.
--Robert Grazer
Post your comments about Red House Painters
COMMENTS
Hi. I just wanted to let Robert Grazer know that I thoroughly enjoyed reading his Red House Painters reviews and was wondering if he's heard Ghosts of the Great Highway, the recent album by Mark Kozelek's new band, Sun Kil Moon. I'd love to know what he thinks of it and would particularly like to read a review of it. So please let him know if you get the chance.
Thanks!
(reviewed by Robert Grazer)
HIGH POINTS: Medicine Bottle, Down Colorful Hill, 24, Michael, Lord Kill The Pain, Japanese To English. LOW POINTS: None.
The first and by far the darkest of the band's releases, Down Colorful Hill seems almost a collection of all of the pain of Kozelek's earlier life summed up into a forty-minute record. From themes ranging from the struggle to get his music heard to his past drug addiction to death and lost friendship, Kozelek sings these tunes in a manner so downcast that it is almost frightening. These are not depressed musings or despairing philosophies or sad stories written -- these are memories, plain and simple. These are half a dozen selections of a real man's life, his trials and pains as he shifted through the troubles and isolation of the first years of his existence. It is a staggeringly personal record -- "Medicine Bottle" is a song so deeply tragic and painful that Kozelek never plays it live.
I'm actually uncertain whether he pieced this together deliberately to have the united atmosphere of his past rolled by his listener in such a brief and intense manner, or whether these were simply randomly selected tracks from the considerable amount he had floating around that he thought best represented him, but whatever the case there have been few albums I have encountered that sound so full and uniform in an abstract sense. The music here shifts texture and even style each track, so that none of them sound even remotely like each other, but the confessional and reflective mood caught within only increases as the album itself progresses. The final result is a piece of breathtaking beauty and almost unbearable pain blended together into an intense yet quiet and subtle whole.
These songs are shades of character, often lengthy yet never dull, moving through phases of life, journeying until the present day. There is little optimism within these songs, only the sarcastic prayer of "Lord Kill The Pain" offering up an upbeat moment in the midst of these reflections, snuggling in between the distant and unfamiliar longing of "Japanese to English" and the closing memories of "Michael". The rest of these are here as extensions of his pain to our own, looking desperately for someone else to cling onto, but as track after track shows, this is an album for the time when we have no one else to hold onto, and, as I mentioned in the introduction, find ourselves alone on a late night, thinking silently. These songs are the soundtrack to that situation.
In addition, "Medicine Bottle" in itself is worth the purchase of the album ten times over, and even now still stands as quite possibly the best song this band has ever released. Covering what might perhaps be Kozelek's most troubling point in life, the isolation and separation he felt where all he had left to himself was his own drug habit, which would in turn do nothing but drive everyone further away from him. His near-ten minute narrative covers him as he tries to hold onto the only love he has, still finding himself completely alone in the end. The dark riff (in a guitar tone I would love to duplicate, if I played) sort of winds through his words, and the percussion itself serves as a quiet connection of each bit of the song, almost a sigh behind the tale itself. In the mid-section solo the drums hit an odd echo that nearly sounds like gunfire, almost making a musical suggestion of some sort of resolution. But there is no resolution, only the numb and comfort that music like this can provide in the midst of nightmares.
The title track as well picks up almost without pause between the two tracks into an even longer and far more repetitive continuation of the darker mood. But this repetition builds up to a strong release, almost a cathartic sigh and nod of the head, accepting the pain and life expressed from the beginning of the album. It still provides no real answers, but begins to show a path of small light through the music, a path further expanded upon by the Kozelek's later reflections. The rest until then comes through understanding of who he is and what he has been through and how he can express that.
It may have indeed been tragic if Mark Eitzel (of American Music Club) had not decide to lend the Painters, his favourite band, a hand in getting a deal with 4AD, and though in the end it turned out to hit a rather nasty finish (the aforementioned wars over Kozelek's song lengths) but in doing he so allowed for one of the better musical products of its or any year. Whether it is the band's finest effort or not is debatable (quite a few believe it is), and I would hardly call it the best starting point for someone interested in getting into the Red House Painters. Instead, tuck it away and save it until you have grown accustomed to the band's sound and lyrical style, then go back and look into the darkest, most unique gem in the band's catalogue, a silent and solemn reflection.
Post your comments / reviews for this album
(reviewed by Robert Grazer)
HIGH POINTS: Mother, Funhouse, Katy Song, New Jersey, Strawberry Hill, Mistress (both), Grace Cathedral Park, Rollercoaster, Down Through. LOW POINTS: None.
Following the (relative) success of Down Colorful Hill, Kozelek pulled out a whole bunch of choice cuts from his library of unreleased tracks, an entire CD's worth that might amount to the best Red House Painters album money can buy. The most of these songs has shifted some, though, from Down Colorful Hill; while that one was more a depressed expression of life, Red House Painters I (often referred to as Rollercoaster due to its cover) is a more cathartic release. Some of the reflective moments here, sure, but the ending is likely the most intense stretch of Painters music Kozelek ever put out, and that's mostly just twenty minutes between two tracks. He is letting himself completely out here, an incredible release of the repressed and hopeless man so nakedly apparent on Down Colorful Hill.
His lyrics too are becoming more accessible. While I won’t say a single bad word against the words of his debut effort, I will admit that those are occasionally offbeat, even just in random lines here and there. Lyrically the effort here much more defines who he is as a person at the time of the album's release. It almost seems that as if we once had the past, and now we see the present Kozelek, someone who, if I may say so, has had a bit of an improvement of life since the events of the previous album. Yet the memories are all here, and from what I understand most of the songs are still autobiographical (others I'm not too sure about). Yet the human face of depression lets out a harsh cry here, in such tracks as "Strawberry Hill" there is a deep sense of yearning for something to take the pain away, as opposed to reflections on that pain. In short, this is an album where it seems as though he is actually making all attempts to do something about his state, make something out of who he is.
Not only do the lyrics reflect this, but the music itself is much more pulled into place and defined as Red House Painters. Within the epic songs here (most of them anyway) marks the debut of the style of extended endings that would appear on every subsequent release. And these endings are not always a necessary part of the song (on a technical level -- they always contribute to the overall effect): "Mother", the longest Painters track at just a hair over thirteen minutes (not to mention likely as the band's second best tune) even has a bit of a pause between the instrumental coda and the main body of the song, but truly having heard them together so many times, I find it difficult to even imagine them separately -- it just contributes that much to the overall effect, not to mention the transition into "Strawberry Hill" (more on that track in a moment), the other half of the aforementioned twenty minute climax. It also provides a nice mid-piece for what can be viewed as a twenty minute track just in itself with three different movements. It does, in fact, almost seem conceptual, especially the way the pleasant "Brown Eyes" contrasts these major epics for a pleasant minute and a half closing.
While this is also a more easily defined listen as Red House Painters, it is not necessarily an easier one. Never mind the fact that the often intense emotional strength of the songs often requires a direct and dedicated listen, it may be difficult to take hold of that intensity in the first place. For example, "Strawberry Hill" used to be one of the only Painters tunes I was completely displeased with, mostly because the verses are, quite simply, Kozelek yelling out over some guitar chords that, quite honestly, is pretty hard to take. I suppose with enough patience, one can acquire an ear for it, or at least I have. Or perhaps I have simply grown to liking Kozelek's endless honesty a little bit too much. Either way, it stands to show that while there are certainly several accessible songs on here (one could almost wonder why "New Jersey" and "Mistress" weren't at least notable radio singles), it can be a difficult release to take as a while. In fact, while I can't say I have read too many reviews of this album, I can certainly imagine people wishing it were a bit less of a massive project, some of those epics shortened, maybe a good half hour cut from it on the whole.
Not that I would take a single second out of this, though. As I said, Red House Painters I is probably my favourite album from this outfit, and to my ears an extremely consistently solid listen, one of the best of the decade. Kozelek has been more optimistic than this, more accessible, more personal, more intimate; he has rocked harder, cried louder, and even laid himself out in a more brutally powerful manner, but on no other Painters release have all these sides of him been so better represented, effortlessly flowing from one track to another, but still in almost a chaotic form, one of those rare listens that can encompass so many different shades of emotion and still ultimately sound like one whole. And for that I give the band a shout of recognition and gratitude.
Grazer's Pick: Album of the Year, 1993
Post your comments / reviews for this album
(reviewed by Robert Grazer)
HIGH POINTS: Uncle Joe, Evil, Bubble, Blindfold. LOW POINTS: The Star-Spangled Banner
The first couple of times I listened to this I was more than convinced that it was by far the worst thing the Painters had ever put out, a bland set of rejects from the material Kozelek had floating around as opposed to the choice material on the other self-titled. And really, if you look at this album at a glance, it does not look like too much more than some scrappy outtakes: it's considerably shorter than the first volume, contains two covers (one of which, "The Star Spangled Banner", still doesn't sit very well with me -- it's patriotism is just too far removed from the personal RHP-style treatment it's given to work even as a joke) and an alternate version of one of the tracks on the first self-titled ("New Jersey"), and once the music itself begins for the first time, it seems even less promising with what at first appear to be a bunch of bland, nearly faceless Painters material. After all, doesn't the painfully dreary ending of "Evil" with its vocal cries sound a wee bit too similar to the majestic "Mother" from the previous album?
Repeated listens have more or less shown me the general flaw of my previous statements, but I do advise that this been among the last Red House Painters purchases for any interested party, since I don't at all see this as too much of a companion piece to the first self-titled (which is a shame, since the very thought of a successful two hour Painters album make this inferior collection seem much more disappointing), but as more of yet another transition between sounds. More reflective than its predecessor, Ocean Beach would be even more so, and neither are nearly as dark as the group's initial effort. Therefore it is my full belief that Red House Painters II can really only show its greatness (which there is indeed plenty of here) to a listener after he has taken the time to see the rest of the band's progression. It sort of slides in like a nice piece of the band's history then, as opposed to what is admittedly a considerably underwhelming listen for those hoping that this will indeed be the sequel and equal to the previous release.
Once all of that has passed, it becomes much easier to appreciate some of the considerably good tunes here, a couple of which are certainly worth singling out. The aforementioned "Evil" is hardly as poor as I made it out to be up there; it just sort of takes some getting used to. Like much of the album, I suppose it just is sort of a piece that takes patience. I'm just rather unused to needing patience myself to appreciate Painters songs. "Uncle Joe" has also become of one of my favourite Painters tunes as well, something I think would have fit nicely alongside the little "climax" from the last album as another heartbreakingly beautifully piece. "Blindfold" is also worth a mention in that it seems to be one of the few places where Kozelek puts a decent and admirable strain on his vocal abilities, really churning out some excellent (if awkward) results.
Red House Painters II, as many repeated listens have taken great pains to fully point out to me, is a more than worthwhile listen, especially for any Painters fan. It may have some rough patches, but those are minor enough to be ignored and generally discarded. However, while I do acknowledge the strength of this album in its own (it probably is one of the finer "sadcore" efforts), I still maintain that within the immortal stretch of Kozelek's first four albums, it merely foreshadows still-coming greatness.
Post your comments / reviews for this album
(reviewed by Robert Grazer)
HIGH POINTS: San Geronimo, Summer Dress, Moments, Drop, Red Carpet, Over My Head. LOW POINTS: None.
Most agree that this is the best starting point for the Painters -- I began here myself. Kozelek says the next one is the better beginning in a quote I can't quite remember presently, but it isn't uncommon for an artist to have somewhat awkward opinions regarding his own work. Actually, I believe that statement was made before the release of Old Ramon, and therefore it might fit into the general belief (or so they say) of artists that their most recent album is their best, perhaps from some deep-rooted desire to be constantly improving. Anyway, this is the Painters starting point if ever there was one, since it manages to encompass nearly as many sides of the frontman as Red House Painters I while still not being quite as difficult a listen. It's a shorter album, so therefore not quite as trying on those less patient, and it isn't nearly as big a downer as the band's first couple of releases. In fact, it is much more a bit of a reflection, far more peaceful and meditative in tone than the earlier depressed and cathartic, this side of Kozelek has been hinted at several times in previous releases, and now comes to full light. Or, taking it the other way around (as if this were the starting point), when looking into the earlier (and even later) albums after this one, there will always be a little bit of familiarity with the sound when starting with Ocean Beach.
The sound, therefore, isn't really a progression in any set direction, not too much of a movement for the band here, so much as an expansion and maturing of previous sounds. Discounting the debut (which as I said is completely unique within the band's catalogue), this would be the first album (I think) to be fully crafted on its own as an album, instead of simply a collection of other tunes that Kozelek had lying around. And since the band sounds a lot more like a single unit with a distinctive personality and sound, it is almost safe to say that this is the first Red House Painters album, as it were. And there you have my justification for calling it the band's best starting point, unless of course, you are in search of the more optimistic views of the following two albums, in which case you are looking for a side of Kozelek that has not emerged yet, but I digress.
Also, don't think that just because this is the easiest place to start with the band that the music and songs themselves are any lesser in quality than the band's near-perfect initial efforts. There are, in fact, quite a many people who still believe this to be the band's overall peak (my brother being one of them), even after hearing the rest of Kozelek's offerings. I would personally say that it is only a small step behind that initial pair, though that small step is more or less unnoticeable when actually playing the listen. This album just has such a warm, inviting atmosphere, another perfect late-night soundtrack, but perhaps more of a summer walk this time around, as the title itself would suggest. And it is that atmosphere that makes this such a satisfying listen. Several of the tracks aren't even truly songs in themselves, just sort of mood pieces that set up and continue the general mood of the album. The opening track "Cabezon", for example, is just sort of a simple acoustic strumming pattern, but already sort of a thoughtful folk-ish piece in itself. Hard to describe the way it subtly sets the general mood and progression of the entirety of Ocean Beach. And midway through the album, both "Red Carpet" and "Brockwell Park" also serve mostly to string along the mood of the album so gently, between the first few songs and the ending epic giants, the second of which, the nine-minute "Drop" is also another slow-moving piece (more of an actual song, though), but listen after it finally finishes, see how much the mood of the album, while still consistent the whole way through, has seemed to progress from one phase to another. While "Cabezon" was sort of an upbeat elevation of sorts into the world of Ocean Beach, "Drop" lets the listener down with another breath of beauty.
And this is only for the mood pieces themselves. There are a few actual tracks on here that could even stand along outside of the overall product. "San Geronimo" is the most noticeable of these, one of the band's most deservedly popular tunes with its heavenly descending riff and haunting verses of memory "Somewhere up fifteen miles". The ending chorus may seem to get repetitious for some, but I've grown to quite enjoy it myself, sort of a fond farewell to the aforementioned memories in favour of another set in the following track, another reach and corner of the often intriguing and almost always moving life of Mark Kozelek.
The greatest pleasure of Ocean Beach is that the listener can revisit it time and time again, and enjoy it while not much finding something new every time. The Red House Painters here capture human emotions and essence in such a way that to hear even the same collection, the same mood and atmosphere, the same communication of humanity is a constantly enriching experience. I know it has been for me, and I have been listening to this album for over a year now, and still find myself coming back again and again to it, maybe even more than any other Painters release, simply to taste the richness of its sounds once more.
Post your comments / reviews for this album
(reviewed by Robert Grazer)
HIGH POINTS: Make Like Paper, Have You Forgotten?, All Mixed Up, Another Song Fro Blue Guitar, Priest Alley Song. LOW POINTS: Long distance Runaround.
Here begins another sort of phase for the Red House Painters, a more uplifting one, and there's no secret about it while listening to Songs For a Blue Guitar. While I will say now that this is not quite up to par with the band's four 4AD releases, perhaps lacking quite the same intimate style that we saw so readily there, in many ways this is a little bit of a breath of relief for the band. Songs For A Blue Guitar is an album full of light, maybe some of the old reflections and pain for beforehand peering through as before, but most of the hard folk-rock here is completely new ground for Kozelek, at least throwing the emphasis on it this much. All of extended epics have heretofore been the most downcast tracks he has ever done, but with a track like "Make Like Paper" he has reached the"kick-ass" sound I mentioned in the intro, and that alone there makes the album worth hearing, just as a matter of curiosity, despite the fact that it is a fairly flawed release.
Another seventy-minute release, I must say that it isn't as deserving of its length as that first self-titled, and several of the songs could in fact have been trimmed a little, some even removed completely. The biggest flaw, I think, is once again the covers, or two of the three of them, of McCartney's "Silly Love Songs" (transformed into a massive eleven minute epic) and Yes' "Long Distance Runaround" (completely Painterised), neither of which are particularly necessary. The former ends up seeming like aimless distorted noodling for quite a few minutes of an intro, and by the end of it I lose interest. While it may be an improvement over the ex-Beatle's goofy pop tune, that does not strike me as a particularly difficult task to pull off. The latter is completely unnecessary, much like "The Star-Spangled Banner" perhaps just a bit of a joke I just don't quite get at all, or maybe I am just much too used to the original version of the song to appreciate the rather irregular treatment it's given here. A few points for taking the time to transform the song into something completely his own, but other than that, it's a failure. Or maybe there just seems to be something completely missing without those driving bass lines.
There's also a sense I get from this album that, while all of the other tracks are to some degree interesting, it just sort of lacks any breathtaking highlights that were so readily present on the other albums. With the possible exception of "Make Like Paper", I don't think that any of these are complete Painters classics, even the better tracks on here, which I'm sure most of the legions of "sensitive" acoustic and modern rock bands of today would kill for, somehow don't quite hit the highs that were seen all over the place beforehand. Then again, this seems to be a bit of an experimental step for the band (even though there is hardly anything here completely weird present here), and so it should be noted that even if the quality of the songs has been slightly sacrificed in favour of tinkering with the overall sound, the actual transition is much less shocking, much more smooth than that of most other bands who make attempts to expand horizons a little bit, and that in itself is admirable.
But the relative highlights are still here. "Make Like Paper" is a major highlight, maybe the only completely stunning track here. It is sort of similar to the considerably less successful "Silly Love Songs" cover in the long noodling guitar solos, and maybe it's because it comes earlier on the album, but it just seems so completely fresh, a new sound completely unlike anything else I have heard from the band or anyone else, for that matter. It is sort of like hearing what used to be a formerly restrained rocking edge to the band set free for twelve minutes. "All Mixed Up" is another cover (I admit not being able to speak for the Cars' original), and perhaps the best one Kozelek has ever come out with, which works its way up to a gorgeous mid-song climax, a sort of a heavenly breath amid the rest of these songs, and certainly one of the strongest tracks on the album.
There are of course some familiar moments here as far as the overall sound, even a few tracks that could have fit on some of the other albums ("Have You Forgotten?", "Song For a Blue Guitar", and "Revolution Big Sur" all cover familiar ground quite well), and this blend is welcome, even though it isn't as coherent as any of the other Painters releases. But hey, at least he is doing something with his band's sound, and while that isn't always successful, it is better than letting the sound itself sit and stagnate release after release. I have read a couple reviews which go so far as to say that this is the best Painters release all around (seems like every one of their albums has at least a small group with pretty good reasons that each album could be the best) simply because it does not require as much out of the listener. I might disagree, but it may be difficult to find any of their other albums that can even come remotely as close to taking home the label of "fun" as this one.
Post your comments / reviews for this album
(reviewed by Robert Grazer)
HIGH POINTS: River, Byrd Joel, Between Days, Kavita, Michigan. LOW POINTS: Void
Somewhere between the last album and this there was a long fight with the record company, during which Kozelek treated Old Ramon much as a hostage until all of the disputes were settled. I believe (though I am uncertain -- these musical legal battles rarely make any sense to me) that the dispute was settled with the Retrospective collection, and so Kozelek then was able to finally let long impatient fans have a look at his latest, and from what I gather, few were disappointed by this. I did once here someone say it was evidence that Kozelek's best days were behind him, but other than being such a long awaited follow-up (after releasing five albums in five years) I actually think that this is a bit of a set up from the last one, and one of the year's finer releases.
Old Ramon continues in the general vein of Songs For A Blue Guitar, that more optimistic and often upbeat tone, but there are more highlights here, a few tracks that rank among the band's finest overall material, while still carrying on in that similar, more hopeful vein than the band began exploring on the last album. In fact, it seems almost impossible to think this the work of the same mind that created Down Colorful Hill nine years before, but as I said in the intro, the Red House Painters' music is a progression, each album showing the progress of the man behind the music itself, and so when something like this finally appears as the band's sixth album, it is quite uplifting to hear (even if some of the songs themselves are still a bit downcast). The Ian Curtis-esque beginning of the man's mind has actually come out with a happier ending, something a bit more cheery into the rock music world. It also goes to show that one does not need to be hopelessly depressed to create fairly moving music -- Kozelek himself is just as powerful a character as he ever was, it's just a bit of a different kind of emotion he brings into his music now.
Yet again the album is nearly seventy minutes, and once more I do think a bit of a trim could be used, even on a couple of the better tracks. Quite a few of them tend to revolve around the same riff for nearly or over eight minutes, so while I may appreciate the laid back style of a track like "Cruiser" I may have to question what precisely makes the song so interesting or what point is within the admittedly pretty yet seemingly overworked lyrics that necessitates such a heft epic tune -- "Katy Song" this ain't, as they say. Plus a good chunk could have been taken out by removing perhaps the only Red House Painters original that I truly loathe, the (nine and a half minute) abomination of "Void", which has both a terrible side guitar line and an almost embarrassingly poor chorus. Plus there's long been some internal debate about "Wop-A-Din-Din" throwing back and forth in my mind. On the one hand it is an undeniably pretty little tune, yet the lyrics themselves (about his cat) are not so much bad as they are completely ridiculous. Perhaps they may hold more for a true feline lover, but I cannot quite count myself among them.
Though the complaints seem many here, this is still an extremely strong album, and the rest of it shows. A lot of the songs have a sound that seems much fuller, more developed than a lot of the minimalistic arrangements in the past. "Byrd Joel" for example just has so much layered onto its sound, both acoustic and electric guitars backed by a much fuller bass sound than the band often uses, and all over one of the most hummable melodies I have ever heard. "Between Days" is another of the repetitious eight-minute tunes that actually deserves the entirety of its length, based around a simple yet completely addictive electric riff, perhaps rocking even harder than "Make Like Paper" as one of the band's absolute best electric tunes. The closing "Kavita" is also worth a mention, a rather lazy yet still enjoyable love tune.
The ultimate highlight here, though, is the eleven-minute epic of "River", which is fully on par with nearly anything else the band has ever done, perhaps stepping down only to "Mother" and "Medicine Bottle". Here, Kozelek revives the old epic structure and extended ending he used back on the band's 4AD albums, and to great effect. He creates a strange, forgotten and mysterious atmosphere to the epic itself, shifting another laid-back intro into a series of beautiful vocal melodies, displaying a longing in his voice that we also have not heard in a while (particularly around six minutes in during the "two yellow eyes" section). I am a little at a loss to describe the overall effect of this song, which draws to a end with a silent completion that I have seldom heard. It also makes a comforting statement that, while Kozelek has pulled himself into a brighter path, he has still not forgotten his past, in spite of finally conquering it (or so much of the music would suggest). As such, it fits very well into an album like Old Ramon, where once more Kozelek presents himself in a likeable and honest manner. I do hope he gives us another string of albums after this, but I wonder how many Red House Painters releases he has left in him. I believe he has a solo album on the way, which may be interesting to hear, in spite of the fact I am completely unfamiliar with the other solo releases he has got. If this were to be the last RHP release, though, it would have been a nice note to stop on.
Post your comments / reviews for this album
Index | Main band / artist reviews page