Red House Painters - Red House Painters (CD 1998)

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.