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Rating: "Songs For A Blue Guitar", released in 1996 by Supreme, is, in my humble opinion, the worst album by Red House Painters. So, how to justify the positive judgment you read here? Well, it's simple, folks: we're still talking about Mark Kozelek.
This album, looking at the career of the San Francisco artist up to today, represents a real turning point: if before there was a doubt that RHP was a "one-man-band", now this sensation has become a certainty.
Kozelek writes, plays, arranges, and produces "SFABG" by himself; there is no trace of other musicians in the credits. This self-reliance couldn't help but have a strong impact on the music. The days of the initial slow-core seem distant, as the Ohio native appears definitely oriented toward a more "classic" rock, not denying, among other things, his love for folk and country. It's said that the very distorted guitars and long guitar solos present in some tracks are the reason why 4AD decided to "drop" the group.
There are several unforgettable moments in the album: "Have you forgotten", "Make Like Paper", and "Trailways" are destined to become classics in our artist's repertoire.
What is less convincing is the value of the work considered in its entirety. The notable lack of uniformity in genre and style among the various songs sharpens the suspicion that Kozelek wanted to compare himself with his musical idols from his youth (no less than three out of eleven tracks are covers) and the - at times - precarious balance between homage and citationism, on one side, and originality, on the other, does not benefit the freshness of this work. Moreover, there is a sense of a more enticing, more "radio-friendly" approach from Kozelek (this judgment is necessarily relative to other RHP works and, thus, not absolute in character. We're not talking about Coldplay, after all...); this is evidenced both by the fact that "All Mixed Up" remains the only video intended for music rotation authorized by the group and by a massive plundering of some songs from the album for soundtracks of various kinds, adapted both for cinema and TV series.
In the end, among highlights and shadows, "SFABG" remains a good album, also because Mark Kozelek's talent and class as a songwriter remain undeniable; it's certain that in his career, both before and after this album, he has done much better.
I'm aware, and I don't hesitate to point it out, that this is quite a unique opinion, in the most literal sense of the term; there are several enthusiastic judgments about the work from critics and the public that you can find online, including an (inexplicable) 9.0 from Pitchfork, a quite authoritative voice among webzines.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
05 Trailways (06:41)
How have you been
Caroline?
Living ok?
Home in PA.
See how the color left from our faces
from when, when we were younger.
Just yesterday I was making the reach.
Went for a swim in lover's beach,
and there I met friends and I neared the bay
until I felt sick.
But you were my friend.
Don't you know how I needed you then.
I felt nervous when you shook and cried.
The circles under your eyes
made love til you reached the clouds
through the ceilings and walls that surround.
One time you drove through heat and hard rain
three hundred miles in the roots of your pain.
Things get so far back in your mind
that we don't connect.
But you were my friend
at the turn of my life's events.
I felt weak in the hold of your soul
and your blood-red eyes even more.
But the feelings that stay with you now
get lost over time somehow.
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