Songs for a Blue Guitar

by

Red House Painters

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ok, this is basically a mark kozelek solo album. the slow, meandering, acoustic ballads that RHP fans expect are still here, but they are interspersed with a duet(the title track), some disorienting squeal(make like paper),and some interesting covers(long distance run around, silly love songs, all mixed up). the opening track will give you some clue as to whether or not your destined to become a RHP fan; "have you forgotten" is the defining mark kozelek moment: sweet acoustic strumming, melancholy lyrics, and the saddest and smoothest voice that popular music ever produced. "song for a blue guitar" is a quiet ballad that will remind you of mazzy star's "fade into you". "make like paper" is a musician having his moment to push his limits a little, and it fails in a way that works well within the context of the album. (make sense? no? it's true, though.) the other stand outs on the album are the cover of the Car's "all mixed up" and "revelation big sur", which together alone are worth the price of the album. let these songs play back to back while you're out on a date... trust me.

there are seven commercially released RHP albums; i'm recommending you buy this first. if you like this, go on to no. 2 on my list OCEAN BEACH.

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.