Red House Painters - Old Ramon

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Free Music Notes for Old Ramon

Free Music Review: Excellent - worth the long wait
Hit: 5 Stars

As I am not a huge fan of "Blue Guitar" I wasn't too worried about the band continuing in that direction. I thought that album was too airy, and the rockier songs were pretty much a waste of time. Give me a "Katy Song" fade out anytime. And lets face it, "Blue Guitar" was a RHP album in name only - none of the other band members appear on it, only Mark Kozelek. So what we really should be comparing "Old Ramon" to is "Ocean Beach".

Plain and simply, I love it. "Wop-a-din-din" is a great opener, reminding me of Cat (no pun intended) Stevens. "Byrd Joel" is an interesting sounding song, following the same structure as "Priest Alley Song". Where the album really starts getting good is "Void", the third song in. Here we have it all - long running time, great guitar interplay, and that beautiful atmospheric sound that makes RHP the most unique band in the world.

This mood follows with "Cruiser", for me the best song on the album. The lyrics here are amazing (one wishes Kozelek would publish his lyrics) and we finally get something approching the languid moods of "Dragonflies" or "Drop". Great, great stuff.

"Michigan" for me displays the only weak point of the album; not so bad in a skip-to-the-next-song kind of way, just not as good as what has gone before. Moving on, "River" is the "Mother" of this album, fairly harrowing and drawn out, yet welcome.

I loved the "Smokey" demo; and was not expecting the same version again - therefore I like the album version here just as much. It takes the song to a new level, and adds a deeper layer that the demo didn't have. The closer, "Kavita", is a nice way to end the album: laid back, sleepy, and certainly funny (favourite line: "My friends think you're stupid / but I think you're cute").

So for me "Old Ramon" was worth the wait. A great album, up there with "Ocean Beach" and "RHP (rollercoaster)". Looking forward to the next one already.

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