Songs for a Blue Guitar | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | July 22, 1996 | |||
Recorded | 1995–1996 | |||
Studio |
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Genre | Folk rock, slowcore | |||
Length | 70:42 | |||
Label | Supreme Recordings | |||
Producer | Mark Kozelek | |||
Red House Painters chronology | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [1] |
Pitchfork | 9.0/10 [2] |
Rolling Stone | [3] |
Songs for a Blue Guitar is the fifth studio album by Red House Painters, released on July 22, 1996 in the UK, and a day later in the US. It is effectively a Mark Kozelek solo album, since no other members of the band are listed in the liner notes. The album introduced heavier, electric guitar driven rock to their sound in songs like "Make Like Paper", and Kozelek's cover of Paul McCartney & Wings' "Silly Love Songs".
Recorded while still under contract to the Painters' original label, 4AD, the label chose not to release the album and released the band from their contract. There have been many rumors over the years about the band's departure from the label. The most popular theory claims the band were dropped because label president Ivo Watts-Russell was unhappy with the lengthy guitar solos in "Make Like Paper" and "Silly Love Songs."
Another more probable scenario is that Kozelek was having strained relations with 4AD's American branch, controlled by Warner Bros. Records at the time. Many other 4AD artists of the time, including His Name Is Alive's Warren Defever, complained of the US management while maintaining praise for Ivo. It has also been said that Kozelek offered to release the album as a solo effort if the label didn't think it was a "true Red House Painters" recording, but this offer was also rebuffed. In the end, the album was released shortly after the band signed with Supreme Recordings, a new label owned by filmmaker John Hughes and distributed by Island Records.
Watts-Russell later informally claimed that dropping Red House Painters was the worst decision that 4AD ever took.[ citation needed ]
The move to a more corporate label proved to be disastrous for the band, who became stuck in limbo during the major-label mergers of the late 1990s. Many alternative rock bands who had been signed in the wake of Nirvana's success were either dropped, or had their recordings held up without the ability to take them elsewhere. The band's next album, Old Ramon , was ready for release on Supreme in early 1998, but was kept in the label's vaults until Kozelek was able to purchase it back and have it released by Sub Pop in 2001.
The album features a cover of Yes' 1971 hit "Long Distance Runaround". RHP's version on this album is a different recording from the one found on the double 10" vinyl pressing of the Painters' previous album Ocean Beach .
A music video, directed by Phil Harder, was produced for the song "All Mixed Up". The video features all four members of Red House Painters—Mark Kozelek on lead guitar, Phil Carney on guitar, Jerry Vessel on banjo, and Anthony Koutsos on drums.
Nearly 13 years after its initial release, Plain Recordings issued Songs for a Blue Guitar on double 12" heavyweight vinyl for the first time in June 2009. [4] A limited number of 500 copies pressed on heavyweight blue-colored vinyl were made available exclusively to Aural Exploits. [5]
All tracks are written by Mark Kozelek, except where noted.
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Have You Forgotten" | 6:13 | |
2. | "Song for a Blue Guitar" | 5:59 | |
3. | "Make Like Paper" | 12:03 | |
4. | "Priest Alley Song" | 4:34 | |
5. | "Trailways" | 6:41 | |
6. | "I Feel the Rain Fall" | 2:35 | |
7. | "Long Distance Runaround" | Jon Anderson | 4:41 |
8. | "All Mixed Up" | Ric Ocasek | 5:50 |
9. | "Revelation Big Sur" | 5:48 | |
10. | "Silly Love Songs" | Paul McCartney | 11:11 |
11. | "Another Song for a Blue Guitar" | 5:07 |
Country | Date | Label | Format | Catalogue # |
---|---|---|---|---|
United Kingdom | July 22, 1996 | Supreme Recordings/Island Independent | CD | 524 268-2/CID 8050 |
United States | July 23, 1996 | 162-531 061-2 | ||
June 16, 2009 | Plain Recordings | Double LP | plain145 | |
Worldwide | August 14, 2015 | Island/UMe | Double LP reissue | 2346001 |
Although no commercial singles were ever released from the album, two promotional-only CD singles were issued for "All Mixed Up" in July 1996, and for "Make Like Paper" in February 1997. "All Mixed Up" was also featured in the 1997 film Excess Baggage , and a promo single was issued featuring a clip from the film as its artwork. [7]
Supreme Recordings/Island Records, PRCD 7354-2 (alternately titled Red House Painters Sampler):
Supreme Recordings/Island Records, PRCD-7459-2:
Supreme Recordings/Island Records, PRCD 7642-2:
The Jayhawks are an American alternative country and country rock band that emerged from the Twin Cities music scene in the mid-1980s. Led by vocalists/guitarists/songwriters Gary Louris and Mark Olson, their country rock sound was influential on many bands who played the Twin Cities circuit during the 1980s and 1990s, such as Uncle Tupelo, the Gear Daddies and the Honeydogs. They have released eleven studio albums, with and without Olson, including five on the American Recordings label. After going on hiatus from 2005 to 2009, the 1995 lineup of the band reunited and released the album Mockingbird Time in September 2011; Olson left the band for the second time after the tour to promote the album. After another hiatus in 2013, the 1997 lineup led by Louris reunited to play shows in 2014 to support the reissue of three albums originally released between 1997 and 2003. Since then, the band has continued to tour and record, releasing the albums Live at The Belly Up in 2015; Paging Mr. Proust, co-produced by Peter Buck, in 2016; Back Roads and Abandoned Motels in 2018; and XOXO in 2020.
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Sun Kil Moon is an American folk rock act from San Francisco, California, founded in 2002. Initially a continuation of the defunct indie rock band Red House Painters, Sun Kil Moon is now the primary recording moniker of vocalist and guitarist Mark Kozelek. The project is named after the Korean super flyweight boxer Sung-Kil Moon.
Mark Edward Kozelek is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, record producer, and occasional actor. He is known as the vocalist and primary recording artist of the indie folk act Sun Kil Moon and founding member of the indie rock band Red House Painters, with whom he recorded six studio albums from 1989 until 2001.
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Red House Painters is the second album by the group Red House Painters, released on May 24, 1993 by 4AD. A double album, Red House Painters features fourteen songs culled from bandleader Mark Kozelek's back-catalog, and received highly positive reviews from critics upon release.
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Blue Foundation is a Danish band. Their cinematic dream pop, shoegaze and electronics inspired compositions are known for being featured in films such as Twilight, Miami Vice and on TV shows including CSI: Miami and The Vampire Diaries.
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Caldo Verde Records is a San Francisco-based indie rock and folk record label founded by Red House Painters and Sun Kil Moon frontman Mark Kozelek in 2005. The label primarily features releases by Kozelek and Sun Kil Moon, but has also released albums by Jesu, Corrina Repp, Retribution Gospel Choir, and Kath Bloom. Photographer Nyree Watts is the commissioned artist for Caldo Verde, as almost all of the releases on the label feature her photography.
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Retrospective is a double-disc compilation of Red House Painters' songs from the band's 4AD era. The compilation was released in July 1999. Disc one is a collection of definitive Red House Painters tracks culled from their debut album Down Colorful Hill through 1995's Ocean Beach, as picked by 4AD label owner Ivo Watts-Russell. Disc two, subtitled Demos, Outtakes, Live (1989-1995), is a collection of unreleased demos and live recordings from their 4AD years. The essay inside the booklet was written by Rob O'Connor in April 1999. A working title for this collection was Red Perspective.
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Over the years, Mark Kozelek of Sun Kil Moon and his earlier band, Red House Painters, has gained well deserved praise for his extraordinary songwriting. At the same time, he has developed a parallel reputation for his unique covers of other people's material. Many of these tracks were recorded for tribute albums that are now unavailable. Caldo Verde Records has now collected them in a cohesive, 10-song CD titled The Finally LP.
Red House Painters were an American rock band, formed in San Francisco, California in 1988. They were one of the most prominent acts associated with the slowcore/sadcore subgenre. Fronted by primary songwriter Mark Kozelek, the band also included drummer Anthony Koutsos and bass guitarist Jerry Vessel. Guitarists Gorden Mack and Phil Carney both performed with the band during separate six-year tenures.
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