Album Reviews: Self-titled (Rollercoaster) and Ocean Beach vinyl reissues by Red House Painters
Well imagine my surprise that I ended up ordering two of the
four recently reissued Red House Painters LPs—specifically after my big to-doabout “peak vinyl,” and how much the Stars of The Lid reissues were going to cost, and how I didn’t really need more shit in my home.
As it turns out, the Red House Painters albums—specifically
the “Rollercoaster” self-titled effort, and Ocean
Beach, were both rather affordable. Surprisingly affordable for what they
are, actually. And after I realized that they were records that actually
existed, and weren’t pushed back on their release dates because of peak vinyl
production delays, I opted to move forward with the order.
These reissues, courtesy of 4AD (the band’s original label)
are a nice slice of peak vinyl, however, and a prime example of how Record
Store Day really fucks you over. This whole Red House Painters reissue campaign
was announced in the spring, with a boxed set of their three full lengths and
an EP for the label being packaged as a boxed set, limited to 1,000 copies,
available only in the UK for RSD.
Some of the copies were made available online via the 4AD
webstore, but sold out before the email blast had even been sent out to the
list subscribers.
To curb the fury of the Kozelek fanboys and apologists, a
second run of the reissues was announced, sold individually, slated for release
in August.
4AD as a label is pretty notorious for botching vinyl
reissue release dates, so I kind of didn’t believe that these were actually
going to be a real, tangible thing until I started reading online that people
had received their copies.
Of the four available 4AD albums, I chose the first
self-titled and Ocean Beach primarily
because of their content, as well as the sentimental attachment I have to some
of their songs. The second self-titled album, often referred to as the “Bridge”
LP, is thought of as a bit of the less popular sibling or weird cousin to its
much-preferred counterpart. And the Down
Colorful Hill EP? While it was the band’s first release, it’s a bit slow,
even by the standards of how slowly the band was playing at this point in its
career, and I think I have those songs on the 4AD retrospective collection
released well after their relationship with the label folded I the mid 1990s.
I have to admit that after the last year that Mark Kozelek has had, I was very hesitant to give him any more of my money. In fact, the
last Kozelek related thing I actually paid cash money for was the 2010 Sun Kil
Moon album, Admiral Fell Promises, a
record I regretted buying after hearing maybe the third or fourth track.
The truth is that despite what a fucking piece of shit Mark Kozelek has become (and has always been, really) I am desperately trying not to
let that ruin my love of the first three Sun Kil Moon albums, and the Red House
Painter’s canon—albums that I absolutely adore and have held very dear to me
since college.
Although, given his misogynistic behavior in 2015, it’s easy
to hear that misogyny in his early lyrics on both the “Rollercoaster” album and
on Ocean Beach. However, that
misogyny and “poor pitiful me” attitude was dressed up in ambiguous, melancholy
metaphors that were much, much easier on the ears than anything Kozelek is
pumping out now.
So what I’m saying is that it’s palatable still. But just
barely.
These are pretty no-frills reissues, and that’s okay I
guess. Not everything has to be on white or clear vinyl with expanded liner
notes and special packaging. The “Rollercoaster” album comes as a 2xLP in a
standard sleeve; Ocean Beach is in a
double gatefold, and is sequence across three sides of vinyl with the fourth
and final side being dedicated to the inessential Shock Me EP—containing two versions of the oddball KISS cover.
On both albums, Kozelek sound incredibly young—his voice not
growing into its strongest until Songs
For a Blue Guitar, and even possibly after the dawning of the 2000s. On
“Rollercoaster,” he sounds unsure of himself still in many songs, but the band
is already incredibly tight practically right out of the gate. Originally
released in 1993, the Wikipedia for this first self-titled album mentions the
anxiety and pressure Kozele felt after being signed by 4AD; and that tension is
palpable in the guitar freak out on “Funhouse” and the endless reverb that
swallows the coda to the infamous “Katy Song”; on the feedback blasts of
“Mother” and the desperation and triumph of “Strawberry Hill.”
The album is comprised of 14 tracks, and an additional eight
from the recording sessions were held over for the companion album with the bridge
on the front cover, released mere months later. Many of the songs here, as well
as throughout Kozelek’s career up until April
in 2008 were inspired by Katy herself—the love that got away, the one that
broke his heart—who passed away from cancer.
But the Kozelek of today does inform the Kozelek of the past—is it
really him (and is it really her) he sings of hitting with his still stinging
hand on “Down Through” or is it a character?
This vinyl reissue marks the very first time that the
“Rollercoaster” album was made available on wax in the states—it was originally
only released here on CD. The then-shoegaze and slowcore influence on the
band’s sound comes off relatively well when presented on vinyl—the power chord
crunch of the full-band, rollicking version of “Mistress” makes things sound a
little crackly on my turntable, but everything else has a rich warmth to it;
presumably how it was intended to be heard.
Interestingly enough, when revisiting the “Rollercoaster”
album, you realize that while Kozelek came to the table with this amass of
songs, sometimes they seem a little like sketches—that really comes through in
the way the songs are paired together on each side of the record—like the way
“Dragonflies” hits its angry, aggressive shoegaze stride, then just stops
completely and segues into the piano version (and much preferred version) of
“Mistress.”
Two years later, the group released Ocean Beach, also being reissued for the first time on vinyl in the
US—and also for the first time on 12” vinyl; originally being pressed in a very
limited edition 10” version in the UK that included a cover of Yes’ “Long
Distance Runaround.”
Ocean Beach marks
a strong departure from the shoegaze aesthetics and the frozen in time slow
motion playing of the band’s first two albums. You can hear the group loosening
up slightly—I hesitate to say Ocean Beach
is more “freewheeling” of a record, but with its focus on acoustic guitars,
it is exponentially less ominous and dissonant than its predecessors.
In a sense, it’s a transitional record, capturing the space
between where the band was coming from, and then the direction they heading in
1997 with Songs for A Blue Guitar. It
backslides into noise (peep that outro on “Moments”!) and occasionally finds
itself in the long shadow of Kozelek’s slowcore gloom.
Ocean Beach,
despite its sunny sounding title and more relaxed sounding instrumentation,
does boast some of the meanest songs Kozelek has written—including “Shadows,”
which appears here in its stripped down piano version, and the stunning
nine-minute closing track, “Drop,” that despite its hurtful lyrics, remains one
of the band’s crowning achievements.
It also is the sound of Kozelek becoming a more confident
frontman, as well as the band itself becoming better musicians. There are a lot
of reasons to listen to these two reissues back to back, and if you do, note
the growth between the two records, and only two years time in between them.
Not to be outdone by these 4AD reissues, apparently Island
Records (the label that original released it) has opted to reissue (again) the
band’s seminal 1996 effort, Songs For A
Blue Guitar as a 2XLP. The album was first reissued on vinyl six years ago
by Plain Recordings, but has since gone out of print (like everything.)
Both Ocean Beach,
then later, Songs, you can begin to
get a real sense of Kozelek’s ego. There are many songs that are sparsely
arranged—containing few members of the band. The band’s original guitarist left
shortly after the record was released, and Songs
was actually recorded with John Hiatt’s backing band. His ego would only
continue to grow as he released proper solo albums, toured alone, and would put
out rhythm section free records under the latter day Sun Kil Moon moniker.
Despite my difficulties listening to old Red House Painters
material now, given all that has occurred with Mark Kozelek as a person, and
despite my reservations about shelling out the money for at least two of these
reissues—the second the needle hits the vinyl, you realize just how essential
of listens they are. Red House Painters,
the “Rollercoaster” LP is a flawed and fragile look at the untapped greatness
still to come, and Ocean Beach is a
juxtaposed as a stark yet relaxed portrait of a group and a singer, just
beginning to come into their own.
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