Mark Kozelek Album Reviews

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Rock 'n' Roll Singer EP (2000)
What's Next to the Moon (2001)

Rock 'n' Roll Singer (EP) (2000)

7

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

Rock'n Roll Singer Please allow me to introduce the unluckiest person in the world… Well no, bad start, allegedly Kozelek’s a charming dude who’s quite funny and talkative during his solo performances (a bit more concentrated when he plays with The Red House Painters), but a quick glance over his resume will tell you different things: he’d already kicked a drug habit in his early teens, his lyrics show him to be a prophet of loss and spiritual decay, while his music is eerily monotonous at first listen (meaning that he constantly seems to wallow in the same introvert atmosphere). On top of that, his band’s latest album’s release was postponed for more than three years because of a clash with 4AD’s chief Ivo Watts-Russell. During the legal battle, The Red House Painters weren’t allowed to record and release as a unit, so Kozelek started working on some solo material. Both stylistically and lyrically, it’s close to the Painters’ generally ultra-slow, mega-homogenous and introvert folk-rock (the term “sadcore” seems to have been invented just because people didn’t know what to do with this band), but a few unexpected covers (one by John Denver and no less than three by brash Australian hard rock crew AC/DC) certainly made some eyebrows raise.

When I heard Kozelek’s take on AC/DC for the first time (when I bought the full-length What’s Next to the Moon), I was in awe of his (appropriately) spare, but completely unrecognisable versions of a series of booze & women-anthems by a band that’s usually considered dumb, misogynist and stupid, while hip stuff like The Painters is, like, the opposite (refined, subtle, classy, P.C., etc.). Anyway, gradually I became a bit less enamored by them, as I realized Kozelek doesn’t really transform them into anything new (like he did with songs by Yes, The Cars and McCartney on The Painter’s Songs for a Blue Guitar), but turns them into Kozelek songs. Recently, other artists such as Mark Lanegan (I’ll Take Care of You) and Johnny Cash (the four American-albums) also did that, but whereas they managed to infest the core of the originals with their own, personal style and identity, Kozelek completely abandons the AC/DC-isms and presents these songs as if they’re his own, which is quite weird if you listen closely. In his hands, the bratty “Bad Boy Boogie” becomes a bit of a weird song, especially when lyrics like “I’ve known more pretty women than most men had, so all you women come along with me” enter the picture. Similarly, the self-confident macho-anthem “You Ain’t Got a Hold on Me” is turned into a plaintive, falsetto-sung track that’s close to Elliott Smith’s lush pop, but robs the song off its fun factor. However, even though Kozelek’s interpretations left many people – myself included – clueless, they do work as Kozelek-songs, especially “Rock ‘n’ Roll Singer,” which – because of the presence of subtle drum and bass-flourishes – finds a nice balance between simple rock and tranquil folk. As for his own songs, and that’s what most of the fans were actually waiting for (who cares about those Australian clap monkeys anyway?), opener “Find Me, Ruben Olivares” is an impressive declaration of optimism in Kozelek’s canon, as the mysterious search implies an ending with a loving reunion. “Metropol 47” follows the classic Painters formula: plaintive and evokingly suggestive, almost unreal images, it’s the kind of song you’ll find yourself enjoying after midnight, as it exudes a late night-atmosphere few bands can muster that skilfully. However, it’s the final track that steals the show, in my opinion. As far as I can tell, it’s a chillingly touching monologue from an old woman, lying on her deathbed in a nursing home, reflecting on past loves and hopes and her current life (feeling worthless, purposeless and getting drugged). It’s quite depressing and one of the most touching songs Kozelek has ever written, which is kinda ironic, as the majority of his material seems to deal with his own, personal soul-cleansing. Anyway, Rock ‘n’ Roll Singer is a fine EP if you’re into the man’s quite unique cosmos, plus – at 28 minutes – you get some value for your money. Nick Drake’s last full-length was shorter than this.

What's next to the Moon (2001)

7

Up to My Neck in You / Love at First Feel / Love Hungry Man / Bad Boy Boogie / What’s Next to the Moon / Walk All Over You / You Ain’t Got a Hold on Me / If You Want Blood / Rock ‘n’ Roll Singer

What's Next to the Moon A mere year after Rock ‘n’ Roll Singer, the emperor of Californian downer music strikes back with his first full-length release, an all AC/DC-songs album, and he’s done it thoroughly, picking at least one song from each album the band ever did with Bon Scott on vocals*. This time around, it’s a true solo album, which implies it’s just Kozelek, his instantly recognizable voice and his acoustic guitar (both sometimes multi-tracked). The good thing about his voice is that it - although its emphatic quality is ideally suited for his pensive/introspective blend of music - rarely wallows in too much pathos or cheap tricks. He may turn the prehistoric cock-rock into sweet-sounding folk-rock, but fortunately he tries to avoid clichés or all too sugary melodies. On the other hand, what you do get is a revamped and de-contextualized AC/DC: it’s not really frustrating or offensive that he leaves out a verse once in a while (“Rock ‘n’ Roll Singer,” “Love Hungry Man”), or changes a word here and there (in “Riff Raff,” the line “never shot nobody” becomes “never hurt nobody,” while the “dirty women” of “Bad Boy Boogie” suddenly become “pretty women”), but it’s quite weird when self-satisfied odes to bein’ baaad and happenin’ suddenly become the aural versions of semi-narcoleptic lullabies.

Given the fairly drugged and monotonous versions gathered here, it’s smart reasoning of the man to keep most of these songs really short (even though a lot of AC/DC-songs were lengthy, more than half of the songs here are under three minutes). A 70-minute album containing 15 of these similar-sounding dirges would be too much, but in this 30-minute format they’re diverse enough to hold the listener’s attention. Maybe because they don’t have anything in common anymore with the originals: “Love Hungry Man,” once such a funky song with a hugely danceable bass-line is developed into a short, yearning meditation with subtly multi-tracked vocals, while High Voltage’s hard-rocking “Rock ‘n’ Roll Singer” is wrapped up in tasty acoustic finger-picking. Those who suddenly came up with theories about why AC/DC’s lyrics were much deeper/thoughtful/lasting than we’d taken for granted are, to stay in the same register, full of bollocks. Their lyrics have always been perfectly suited for the genre – while smarter and funnier than average – but it’s Kozelek’s context that makes them seem so much more meaningful (the tormented poet and his significance-crammed writing!), and if you have a vocalist like him, one who phrases his lines careful enough to suggest he wants to stress the result of several years of hard labor and lonely nights in dark under-lit rooms, new theories are born. Anyway, while some of these re-workings, like the lengthy “Bad Boy Boogie” with its all too dragging chorus, and the unremarkable “Walk All Over You” (while many people probably suggest Kozelek’s exploration of his higher register is among the highlights), are usually skipped at Peters Towers, some of them certainly left their mark. The solo-version of “Rock ‘n’ Roll Singer” is, much like the more elaborate version on the EP, a winner here, a song that really could have been written by Kozelek, and the gentle falsetto and layers of vocals of “You Ain’t Got a Hold Me” suddenly struck me as a beautiful bonus. The ones I usually turn to, though, are the clipped “Love Hungry Man” and the dissimilar “What’s Next to the Moon.” “Dissimilar”, because it’s much more rhythm-heavy and bluesy than the other tracks and that’s why it’s such a welcome surprise halfway the album. As with the previous release, What’s Next to the Moon will also appeal more to fans of sadcore/slowcore/whatevercore (Low, Radar Bros., Smog, etc.) than AC/DC-fans (although I’d like to see a mullet-ed worshipper’s reaction to this), but it might work as a soothing sedative in general. It works with me. Sometimes. I’m off to bed now. Good night.

* For the completists and chronology-freaks among us: “Rock ‘n’ Roll Singer” from High Voltage, “Love at First Feel” from Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, “Bad Boy Boogie” from Let There Be Rock, “What’s Next to the Moon,” “Up to My Neck in You” and “Riff Raff” from Powerage, “Walk All Over You,” “If You Want Blood” and “Love Hungry Man” from Highway to Hell, and “You Ain’t Got a Hold on Me” from ’74 Jailbreak.