Mark Kozelek - Rock N Roll Singer
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CD Details
Artist: Mark KozelekEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2000-08-15
Music Label: Badman Records
Soundtracks:
- Find Me, Ruben Olivares
- Rock n' Roll Singer
- You Ain't Got a Hold On Me
- Metropol 47
- Around and Around
- Bad Boy Boogie
- Ruth Marie
Music reviews of Rock N Roll Singer
Music Review: Even more songs for a blue guitar?
Rating: 5 Stars
Mark Kozelek keeps up the good work that he started on the Red House Painters album "Songs for a Blue Guitar." While the odd covers thing is bordering on schtick- he pulls it off so well that I can't criticize him for it. The three originals here are great, too. I especially like "Find Me, Ruben Olivares" (which already appeared on the Shanti project compilation) and "Metropol 47" which features a nice soundboard tap beat. AC/DC's "Rock n' Roll Singer" is the only electric track here, and sounds a lot like his cover of "Silly Love Songs." It's not the best thing he's done, but not so awful as to detract from the overall quality of this brief record. "You Ain't Got a Hold On Me" is another AC/DC cover, this time sung in a falsetto I've never heard Kozelek use before. I love it I love it I love it. This is a perfect, painfully liberating song. "Around and Around" is a John Denver tune that is touching and (dare I say it?) confessional in a way that balances the bitterness of some of the other songs. As always, Kozelek's guitar playing is great: never settling for tired chord progressions, and varied enough to stay interesting. Like Neil Young, I've felt that Kozelek tends to repeat himself (recycling tunes for different lyrics), but that's avoided here. Mark Kozelek has developed a sound that's gorgeous and eloquent. Maybe the man doesn't fit the music (I remember watching him on stage with a black flying-v heavy metal guitar in utter horror) but this is absolutely great music. RIYL: Nick Drake, Ida, His Name Is Alive, Damien Jurado, etc.
Description of Rock N Roll Singer
As the beating heart of the criminally overlooked Red House Painters, Mark Kozelek occasionally indulged in deconstructed cover versions of unlikely songs in which the source material was almost (and beautifully) unrecognizable. On his first solo album, he covers three AC/DC songs and a John Denver gem, throwing in a handful of his own compositions for balance. A Badman Records release.As the beating heart of the criminally overlooked Red House Painters, Mark Kozelek occasionally indulged in deconstructed cover versions of unlikely songs in which the source material was almost (and beautifully) unrecognizable. On his first solo album, he covers three AC/DC songs and a John Denver gem, throwing in a handful of his own compositions for balance. Kozelek's genius lies in uncovering a secret song hidden within the one we recognize: he highlights a hidden sub-melody on Denver's "Around and Around" and morphs the AC/DC anthems into tender folk studies, all delivered in his deep and expressive olive-oil voice. His own compositions are no less beautifully and uniquely rendered, making Rock 'n' Roll Singer a small, necessary masterpiece from an unparalleled artist. --Tod Nelson
It was only a matter of time before Red House Painters leader Mark Kozelek struck out on his own for a stretch. Awaiting the release of an already recorded sixth RHP album, Old Ramon, Kozelek decided to show his playful side with a loose collection of tunes that range from three AC/DC covers to a John Denver cut to several acoustic numbers that showcase his dexterous finger-picking and warm-as-the-summer-sun voice. "Ruth Marie"--a touching remembrance of a friend's grandmother withering away in a nursing home--is the obvious standout. But surprisingly, Kozelek also wrings genuine pathos from the three AC/DC tunes as well. The title track is armed with drums and distorted guitars, but the melody is rewritten and the tune slowed to a crawl, transforming from a braggadocio anthem ("Gonna be a rock 'n' roll singer / Gonna be a rock n' roll star") to a wistful bedroom dream. "Bad Boy Boogie" and especially "You Ain't Got a Hold on Me" become earnest folk songs meant for the ages. Weird but essential. --Rob O'Connor
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