Most of the songs can be found on other Red House Painters albums. All of Down Colorful Hill (4AD, 1992) is here, which was slightly cleaned up for the album (and is a whole other monster in itself). Some other gems are in demo form that would surface on the second and third eponymous Red House Painters albums.
"21" has for some reason never seen the light of day other than here. It is as poignant as “24” and as vibrant as “Lord Kill the Pain” from Down Colorful Hill. Kozelek sings in the refrain, "21 should mean having fun / there's no life in you / 21 and nothing hanging over you / I want nothing else" ranks with the best of Kozelek's brilliant whinny coming of age songs. If you have never heard “21”, take 5 minutes and revisit Kozelek in his early 20s and listen to his brilliant confessional lyrics that move to even greater heights with his deeply powerful nostalgic voice.
Comments