I have been a big fan of Red House Painters for nigh on two years now having first heard them (bizarrely enough) on the Vanilla Sky soundtrack album, which featured, what I later discovered to be, an alternative version of the beautiful and haunting song "Have You Forgotten". The song blew me away and I found myself playing it constantly. I decided to check out more and so I tracked down (with some difficulty!!) the Songs For A Blue Guitar album, which I loved.
I went on to purchase several other albums ( Retrospective, Ocean Beach, Old Ramon etc.) and dug them too. So, on hearing of Mark Kozelec's new project Sun Kil Moon I didn't hesitate before ordering a copy. I approached it with high hopes, but to say that I was NOT disappointed is an understatement!!
Whilst it is similar in almost every way to the Red House Painters (especially later) work this does not detract in any way from it's brilliance. It is indeed RHP..... only better!!
Although I enjoyed RHP's albums it's hard to deny that they all contained moments of incredible beauty, interspersed with some "filler". This album however has none of the latter and PLENTY of the former. It's consistency is such that it is difficult to single out particular tracks for specific praise, but "Ohio", "Last Ride"/"Floating" and the 14+ minute epic (there's always one isn't there?!!) "Duk Koo Kim" are outstanding.
To any RHP fans who may hesitate before purchasing this album all I can say is..... DON'T, you won't be disappointed. Ghosts Of The Great Highway is a stone classic, and it's easily Kozelek's best and most consisdent work to date.