Red House Painters - Old Ramon
|
Our Price: $11.98 Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $2.75 (click here) Category: Music CD See more new music releases 
|
|---|
Canadian Music Store
Free Music Notes for Old Ramon
Free Music Review: Worth the wait--buy this now.
Hit: 5 Stars
I am not one to write many words, but I heard this CD a couple of months ago thanks to Seboots Inc early release copy... and fell in love with it immediately. I have been a RHP fan from the early days, seeing them in small SF clubs, and want to ensure any old fans or newly interested that this is a phenomenal album. Recording is top notch, the guitars are perfectly balanced, etc. and of course Kozelek's song writing couldn't be stronger. The band seems to be the strongest line up I have heard on record. I don't subscribe to the "progression" concept of an artists output. This is simply beautiful music regardless of when it was recorded or released. Buy this now.
Free Music Review: Missing Spark
Hit: 3 Stars
i got this cd in yesterday and i've listened to it about 5 times, it still hasn't really stood out for me. i've been a long time RHP fan, and OLD RAMON doesn't really hold a candle to anything Mark has done previously. It's a case of more of the same, only less. while his voice will always sound like an old friend to me, here he sounds a tad tired, and none of the songs really standout. there ARE some nice songs, but i think they would have benefited from better production. for some reason, it lacks the resonant clarity of SONGS FOR A BLUE GUITAR. but a minor RHP work is still better than most dreck put out these days. who knows, it might grow on me later...Free Music Review: Excellent - worth the long wait
Hit: 5 Stars
I'm going to go out on a limb here, and say that I think this album is brilliant. It might be too early to tell, but it could be one of their best! 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.
Free Music Review: A long listen
Hit: 4 Stars
I've never understood the postmodern crush of distorted guitars that is a Red House Painters trademark. You will find on virtually every RHP album (perhaps not Ocean Beach) at least one song which cascades into this god-forsaken nimbus. Some might argue that the sound simply reflects, or is an extension of, MK's tortured soul, but I don't buy it. For a band, and singer, that is defined by the beautiful, it is always hard to deal with these moments of exceedingly ugly. Excepting these several moments on Old Ramon, the album is excellent. It seems evident to me that MK is attempting here to construct a landscape, one which resonates with beauty, sadness, loss, lonliness, love, and, yes, ugliness. An ideal situtation for listening to this album, in fact, might be on a long flight over the continent, whether leaving a love behind or going to one.
A small complaint is that i wish the lyrics were a bit more clear at times. I have no problem with MK's phrasing which, like his guitar, is idiosyncratic in all the best ways. And i can appreciate the preference for the emotionally-loaded art-work over lyrics on his cd jackets. My wife accuses me of being a "strange" listener, however, so maybe my quandary over several lyrics is my issue alone.
A final remark--the cd took me three days to get through. When I first buy a cd that I really think I'm going to like I'll listen to it on my portable cd player in bed before going to sleep. Although the shortcomings of this strategy are obvious for an album such as Old Ramon, where virtually every song tends toward the epic, it is still, in my opinion, the best way to experience an album.
A final, FINAL remark--the true test of a great album is if you feel like you want to buy copies for all of your friends after listening to it. To Old Ramon's credit, I felt this way through most of this album. When all is said and done, however, it is an album that works best as a private meditation, not only because it takes just the right kind of persn to love this stuff, but because I have a feeling that that's how MK would prefer it.
Free Music Review: Nice Discovery
Hit: 5 Stars
Oh my, it's nice to discover something that stirs the wonder as much as this music does. These quiet guitar licks are matched only by the quality of this guy's voice. Tracks 3 thru 9 stack up to ANYTHING. And that's after my first listen. What's next?