your favorite of the mark kozelek canon

I think the bridge album is the worst. The only decent track is the new version of New Jersey (which stomps all over the rollercoaster version and then puts out back with the trash). But other than that -- dud.

Michael is a great song.

However, judged as a whole, I still stand by my prior statement.

Uncle Joe
Smokey (demo version from the Shanti project disc, NOT the version on Old Ramon)
Ruth Marie
Up To My Neck In You (ac dc cover)

Michael and Katy Song are definitely my favourites.

"I buried my first victim when I was nineteen
Went through her bedroom and the pockets of her jeans
Found her letters that said so many things that really hurt me bad
I'll never breath her name again", etc.

Or do I just have a demented imagination? (apologies on any lyrics I've misheard...of course, that might be the whole problem...)

"Cassius Clay was hated more than Sonny Liston
Some like KK Downing more than Glenn Tipton
Some like Jim Nabors, some Bobby Vinton
I like 'em all"

He's comparing Downing to Tipton, and both were guitarists for Judas Priest. So I assume that's the only Tipton he's referring to in the song. I also read that the Eleanor in the song is an old friend of his.

The pinnacle is still "Medicine Bottle" to me, though "Cruiser" comes very close.

1. The song takes its name from the Priest guitarist, but is not narrated by him

2. The "serial killer" verse is as ambiguous as his relationship with the girl in question. "Buried" and "victim" can be read as metaphors for the ways early romantic love goes wrong, or they could be quite literal. IMHO it's that tension, and the light it casts on the ways of love etc that makes this verse interesting.

Kind of like the tension in "Carry Me Ohio" - can't count all the lovers I've burned through/so why do I still burn for you? vs. sorry that I could never love you back...

Amazing live. go for it.
-- Chris 'Crusty' V (thebing...), May 21st, 2005.

He is amazing live, and it's worth going. But do be prepared to mostly stand around swaying and nodding your head while squinting a bit with that "listening intently" look.

Roll he does; r0x0r he does not.

Go see him! "Mistress" was unbelievable.

My fave individual track is probably still "Katy Song", but I do like the Sun Kil Moon record a lot.

Pretty stoked to see Kozelek in Chicago tonight - but I bet my buddies at the Archers of Loaf reunion show are gonna have more fun!

I'd really like to see him tour with a band. Never saw Red House Painters or Sun Kil Moon...

Katy Song

disappointed me when i heard anecdotes that red house painters were super douches.

grace cathedral park or mistress piano version.

i p much don't like that many of their songs, but the ones i do i fucking love.

yeah it would be nice if he'd tour with a band again. I don' think SKM ever toured as a band; he did one show in SF with a band though, kind of.

although to be honest...I saw RHP a LOT and they could be pretty boring. I mean I adore those albums but sometimes it got kind of dull.

"The only thing I miss about playing with a band is having a guitar tech — a guy that hands me my guitars between songs and is responsible for tuning them. That’s really all I miss."

http://www.sunkilmoon.com/interviewCameronCrowe.html

Really love this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nSuTSyymvU

and I think I re-sold the last Kozelek album I bought/was fairly non-plussed by the last Album Leaf album (though have loved other stuff by them both).

katy song, nothing by kozelek has ever touched me like this slowly blossoming song.

Evil
Down Through
Things Mean A Lot

Bumped ... just because "Perils from the Sea" is so lovely.

It's fantastic, but I find I need to listen to it from start to finish to really appreciate it.

There a definite highlights for me, particularly "Gustavo".

Could easily have missed this as was underwhelmed by the last albums by both Kozelek and Album Leaf.

More new stuff coming up:

http://www.caldoverderecords.com/mkds/index4.html

I must admit that, flicking through his website, I found myself wondering how much Kozelek earns - can he pretty much guarantee decent sales of anything he releases? Do sales of Red House Painters releases chug away in the background? Were they even that "big" anyway?

Regardless, I've missed loads by him.

(Not Kozelek but probably not worth starting a distinct threat: anyone heard the two Lavalle releases since Storytellers?)

not liking perils at all, two songs in, why is his poetic metre exactly the same in everything these days?

If you can give it a few more goes you might find it grows on you; I was underwhelmed by cursory listens on line when it came out, but figured I'd get the CD anyway off the strength of "Caroline". Been on rotation for my commute for the last week now and it's *really* opened up - I think I prefer it to the last couple of Sun Kil Moon albums in fact - I love the non-flashy approach by Lavalle, just let the tracks ebb and flow and give Koz room to work with them.

^ Yes, this.

I initially heard when a friend sent me a cd featuring his two favourite tracks from the album. When I bought the album these two tracks stood out as high points but with repeated plays almost all of it sounds pretty special (but not show-y) now.

The last Sun Kil Moon album was the same for me. At first it sounded like such a let down compared to AFP but it became another favorite right along the rest after repeat listens.

Love "1936", in part because I did the same thing as a six year old, stealing dimes out of a collection my dad had. Nothing as precious as the song's dime, but same theft, and feelings of guilt and regret. "Gustavo" and "Caroline", great tracks, too. Also agree with liking it more than the last few SKM albums.

1936 crept up on me. Beautiful stuff. Seemed to get luke warm reviews, this.

Bubble to me is incredible - those building arpeggios

posted this before, but here are my thoughts on the wonderful Bridge album: http://walkingthelongmileshome.wordpress.com/2013/01/06/and-it-feels-so-wonderful-to-swim-in-our-fear-red-house-painters-bridge-1993-track-by-track/

i am really quite obsessed with By the Time that I Awoke from the latest one.

https://pitchfork.com/news/sun-kil-moon-mark-kozelek-accused-of-sexual-misconduct-by-seven-more-women/

real real bleak stuff

He's a predator with a practiced regimen of luring and raping women less than half his age in city after city all over the world. There are surely more of these stories.

What a repulsive excuse for a human being.

I feel like I need to take a shower after reading about this scumbag.

you can hear the rot from the start on rollercoaster; from grace cathedral park:

Tell me why are you like this? Are you the same with anyone?
Save me from my sickness and tell me why do you treat me like this?
Tell me why are you like this? Are you the same with anyone?
Save me from my sickness and tell me why are you like this?

i think i know the answers to those questions!!

i never want to hear his music again

I've been there for a few years (ever since that weird unilateral feud with War on Drugs), but this really reinforces it x1000.

nels cline 1, koz 0

This I guess is the AITA thread referenced in the Pitchfork article, although the original seems to be gone now.

AITA for feeling weird about my girlfriend talking on the phone with her celebrity hero? https://t.co/rmCeysvTCP pic.twitter.com/UmsxJjldcS

— Am I the Asshole? (@AITA_reddit) October 16, 2019

I happened to hear You Missed My Heart for the first time recently and was briefly thinking what a great (if dark) song it is, and then I remembered again what happened and why I had stopped listening to him. It makes me a little bit sad to lose a good artist in that way, sort of how I felt about Woody Allen -- not only can I not support the person, but the person I can't support bleeds into their art too much for me to ever see it the same way again - in fact, it seems to be the same force that makes them a shitty person that makes the art seem strong. It's sort of hard to accept, but maybe a decent person just isn't going to write a song like that.

you can just listen to the Phoebe Bridgers cover of that song instead