|
Red House Painters
|
| Price: |
10 new or used available from £6.49
Average customer review:
Track Listing
- Grace Cathedral Park
- Down Through
- Katy Song
- Mistress
- Things Mean A Lot
- Fun House
- Take Me Out
- Rollercoaster
- New Jersey
- Dragonflies
- Mistress (Piano Version]
- Mother
- Strawberry Hill
- Brown Eyes
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #86494 in Music
- Released on: 1993-05-27
- Number of discs: 1
Customer Reviews
Beatifully Imperfect
Dearly loved by a devoted following of fans for their beautiful, soulful, semi-acoustic brand of melancholic Americana, Mark Kozelek's Red House Painters were frustratingly just short of delivering that one killer album, but this sprawling 75-minute double (often known as the `Rollercoaster Album' to distinguish it from the band's second self-titled release) may well be their best effort.
Kozelek's rich voice has never sounded better here and the musicianship is excellent throughout. The lyrics, often intensely personal on tracks like `Katy Song' and `Grace Cathedral Park', describe the acute pain of failed relationships but also evoke a sepia-tinged nostalgia on songs such as the gorgeously wistful `Rollercoaster'.
All of those songs just mentioned are amongst the finest in RHP's canon, but there are many more beauties here, like the lovely `Things Mean a Lot' and the acoustic `Take Me Out'.
The highly personal nature of Kozelek's songwriting probably makes a surfeit of self-indulgence inevitable, but do we really need two versions of `Mistress' (fine song though it is)? Also, I defy any RHP fan not to admit that `Funhouse' is painfully turgid.
Minor criticisms though, in the context of the record overall, which I loved as a callow youth upon its release and still really enjoy now.
AN ABSOLUTE GEM OF A RECORD!
The Red House Painters are one of my favourite bands. They are one of those bands that few people seem to know but when I introduce their records they want to hear everything by them. This, the second album was originally a double lp on vinyl, it takes a few listens but the rewards are massive. Definitely a record for bright Sunday mornings, the atmosphere created is immense and the songs are superb. To me, the band seem to be influenced by artists like Simon & Garfunkel or Nick Drake. Their records, in my opinion, will always have a shelf life and the band deserve much much more recognition than they are getting at the moment.
Assured
An assured album, but a profiundly depressing one. High- (or low?)-lights are Katy's Song and Mistress. Individually, lots of great songs - as a whole, however, it's a very montonous album, and as such near to unlistenable.
