- Audio Cassette (23 July 1996)
- Format: Import
- Label: Polygram Records
- ASIN: B000001EJ5
- Other Editions: Audio CD | Vinyl
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
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Product details
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Track Listings
| 1. Have You Forgotten |
| 2. Song for a Blue Guitar |
| 3. Make Like Paper |
| 4. Priest Alley Song |
| 5. Trailways |
| 6. I Feel the Rain Fall |
| 7. Long Distance Runaround |
| 8. All Mixed Up |
| 9. Revelation Big Sur |
| 10. Silly Love Songs |
| 11. Another Song for a Blue Guitar |
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
At first glance, Songs for a Blue Guitar appears much like previous Red House Painters albums, meandering and largely self-indulgent. Eight of the album's 11 songs stray over the five-minute mark (with two more than twice that length), and there are the covers of Yes's "Long Distance Runaround", Ric Ocasek's "All Mixed Up", and Paul McCartney's "Silly Love Songs". Kozelek may have strange taste when it comes to picking out covers ("Silly Love Songs"?), but on this album he's also showing a commitment and sense of deliberate purpose that hasn't always been evident. Even in the album's centrepiece, the more than 12-minute long "Make Like Paper" that contains a guitar solo that supposedly is responsible for the Painters' separation from record label 4AD, there's not a false move. The song unfolds gently, revealing more facets of itself than the spare instrumentation would seem to allow, though the guitar's absolutely delicious Neil Young/Robert Quine/Richard Lloyd crunch doesn't hurt, either. That crunch shows up again in "Long Distance Runaround" and "Silly Love Songs", but the rest of the album is built around a gently arresting acoustic guitar that mirrors the soft-voiced Kozelek. --Randy Silver
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Being a fairly new convert to the RHP, my first RHP album was Ocean Beach, and it remains my favourite - perhaps for that reason. Songs for a Blue Guitar was a more recent acquisition – I’ve only had it about two years... and it’s still growing on me.
I love the haunting nature of much of Mark Kozeleks work, the way he can make you pine for something elusive or unknown. Many of his songs are simultaneously sad and yet uplifting. It’s the quality and tone of his voice I guess – and he does a great job of getting this across on this album. For me, the key tracks are Have You Forgotten, Songs for a Blue Guitar, All Mixed Up, Revelation Big Sur, Silly Love Songs, and Another Song for a Blue Guitar. Make Like Paper is obviously a favourite for many also (based on how the crowd reacted at the Islington gig in June 2005).
Overall, I guess I rate this album nearly as highly as Ocean Beach - and it's up there next to the Sun Kil Moon (Ghosts of the Great Highway).
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
the red house painters don't embrace joy very well. these collection of tracks seem to inspire melancholy and pain but they are deeply affecting non the less. an eclectic mixture of blues, complaint rock and mark kozelek's sour voice, songs for a blue guitar is most succesful in its cover version - have you forgotten and all mixed up. both songs leave me drained and elated and oddly moved... much like the album itself and the emotions it evokes.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
37 reviews
15 of 17 people found the following review helpful
have you forgotten?
24 Jan 2002
Format:Audio CD
ok, this is basically a mark kozelek solo album. the slow, meandering, acoustic ballads that RHP fans expect are still here, but they are interspersed with a duet(the title track), some disorienting squeal(make like paper),and some interesting covers(long distance run around, silly love songs, all mixed up). the opening track will give you some clue as to whether or not your destined to become a RHP fan; "have you forgotten" is the defining mark kozelek moment: sweet acoustic strumming, melancholy lyrics, and the saddest and smoothest voice that popular music ever produced. "song for a blue guitar" is a quiet ballad that will remind you of mazzy star's "fade into you". "make like paper" is a musician having his moment to push his limits a little, and it fails in a way that works well within the context of the album. (make sense? no? it's true, though.) the other stand outs on the album are the cover of the Car's "all mixed up" and "revelation big sur", which together alone are worth the price of the album. let these songs play back to back while you're out on a date... trust me.
there are seven commercially released RHP albums; i'm recommending you buy this first. if you like this, go on to no. 2 on my list OCEAN BEACH.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Kozelek's even impressive at his very most main-stream
5 Jun 2005
Format:Audio CD
Whereas on the early RHP albums you can fully soak up in sorrow and melt away in atmospheric, reverb-sustaining instrumentation with long guitar jams and independent production, "Songs For A Blue Guitar" was the first rather mainstream release of Mark Kozelek's songs on Island records and so has to lose a bit of a magnificent audiophile experience. The songs rather go into rock than independent, guitars have a warm distortion that reminds a lot of the Neil Young/Crazy Horse 1975 masterpiece "Zuma" parted up with some fine acoustic western/country songs in a traditionally fresh manner. The songs are melancholic but not as touchingly sad and of rebellious art as on earlier realeases (Down Colorful Hill, "Rollercoaster", "Bridge" or the intimate Ocean Beach).
The whole atmosphere on the Blue Guitar seems more mature and hopeful. Rather surprisingly is the up-beat country song "I Feel The Rain Fall", which is definitely one of the most positive tracks Mark has ever done, but on the other side carries you back to his reality with its sarcastic lyrics.
Especially the reverb on the voice has been reduced, and goes on where Ocean Beach has left off.
The poetry to be found on the record is still excellent, there is no trace of losing intensity despite the musical changes. Special moments on the sentimental "Have You Forgotten" (that should later be re-recorded in a mesmerizing full-band version for Cameron Crow's movie "Vanilla Sky") or, the also musically high-lighting track, "All Mixed Up", a majestically arranged Cars cover. Beautifully intimate is the last song "Another Song For A Blue Guitar". Another musical gem is the long distorted howling jam "Make Like Paper" that could be mid-tempo epic Smashing Pumpkins' classic! Kozelek also starts making discoveries in covering classic songs that inspired his songwriting, a talent that should later be expanded on his solo releases, besides the Cars' cover, Paul McCartney's "Silly Love Songs" and the Yes song "Long Distance Runaround"
get remodelled in Red House Painters' unmistakable uniqueness (such metamorphosis had been done before to Paul Simon's "I Am A Rock" on the so-called "Bridge" album).
Summing-up I must say the record is no disappointment at all - but for those who are interested in how Red House Painters started up, and how they sounded raw and really "original", I'd suggest the "Rollercoaster"-album. But "Songs For A Blue Guitar" rather opens the door for fans of all other genres, not necessarily melancholy-approved.
Five stars. No doubt! Grandiosely administered step to a broader audience.
The whole atmosphere on the Blue Guitar seems more mature and hopeful. Rather surprisingly is the up-beat country song "I Feel The Rain Fall", which is definitely one of the most positive tracks Mark has ever done, but on the other side carries you back to his reality with its sarcastic lyrics.
Especially the reverb on the voice has been reduced, and goes on where Ocean Beach has left off.
The poetry to be found on the record is still excellent, there is no trace of losing intensity despite the musical changes. Special moments on the sentimental "Have You Forgotten" (that should later be re-recorded in a mesmerizing full-band version for Cameron Crow's movie "Vanilla Sky") or, the also musically high-lighting track, "All Mixed Up", a majestically arranged Cars cover. Beautifully intimate is the last song "Another Song For A Blue Guitar". Another musical gem is the long distorted howling jam "Make Like Paper" that could be mid-tempo epic Smashing Pumpkins' classic! Kozelek also starts making discoveries in covering classic songs that inspired his songwriting, a talent that should later be expanded on his solo releases, besides the Cars' cover, Paul McCartney's "Silly Love Songs" and the Yes song "Long Distance Runaround"
get remodelled in Red House Painters' unmistakable uniqueness (such metamorphosis had been done before to Paul Simon's "I Am A Rock" on the so-called "Bridge" album).
Summing-up I must say the record is no disappointment at all - but for those who are interested in how Red House Painters started up, and how they sounded raw and really "original", I'd suggest the "Rollercoaster"-album. But "Songs For A Blue Guitar" rather opens the door for fans of all other genres, not necessarily melancholy-approved.
Five stars. No doubt! Grandiosely administered step to a broader audience.
8 of 11 people found the following review helpful
one of my favorite albums ever
28 Nov 2005
Format:Audio CD
I've been a big fan of the Red House Painters ever since hearing their self-titled 1993 release. At the time, I was a huge 4AD fan and since I still hadn't heard the group with the awesome sepia-toned cover art, I decided to take a chance. After having purchased all of the albums that the group has released, I can honestly say that they are one of the most consistent ones out their. The backbone of the group (and main player on Songs For A Blue Guitar) has always been San Francisco dweller Mark Kozelek and I'm amazed that he doesn't have a larger following by now.
Songs For A Blue Guitar is actually kind of interesting in that it's the first release by the group (or man, whatever you prefer) that isn't on the 4AD label. Apparently, when Kozelek turned in his tapes of the music for the album to the label, they didn't like the style and he decided to go elsewhere with it. Really, I can't see what they saw wrong with it. While it does break in tradition a bit with the slow-core releases of old RHP, it's just as amazing as any of the past releases and probably even better.
The disc starts out with "Have You Forgotten," and the song is the epitomy of what is so great about the group. Although it's just Kozelek and an acoustic guitar, it's catchier and more interesting than a great majority of songs out their today. The lyrics are both instantly identifiable and the simple guitar instrumentation provides the perfect backing. The second song ("Songs For A Blue Guitar") breaks with tradition somewhat in its use of a slide guitar and the duet on vocals with a female singer. Things get even a little more strange on the 12-minute epic "Make Like Paper" where Kozelek uses an electric guitar (and dare I say, rocks?). Once again, though, it doesn't at all feel like it's stretching at all.
Like almost all of his albums, this disc has a couple of cover tracks, and like usual they end up sounding much better than the originals. The best of these is the amazing "All Mixed Up" by Ric Ocasek (who probably could have never realized that he wrote such a beautiful song). The Cars version simply cannot compare to the delicate, yet powerful version that Kozelek has put together. Paul McCartney gets a complete overhaul as well, as his "Silly Love Songs" is turned into the almost 11-minute electric-guitar fueled piece that manages to carry about 10 times the weight of the original.
Basically, if I had to throw out all my CDs except for 5, this would most definitely make the cut. As a group, the Red House Painters have never let me down with an album, and this one only raises the bar a little more. I've played it for several other people in the time that I've owned it and all of them (I'm not kidding) went out and personally bought a copy for themselves after hearing it. It falls somewhere between rock, folk, and country, but also is really in a category all it's own. One of the highest recommendations I can give.
(from almost cool music reviews)
Songs For A Blue Guitar is actually kind of interesting in that it's the first release by the group (or man, whatever you prefer) that isn't on the 4AD label. Apparently, when Kozelek turned in his tapes of the music for the album to the label, they didn't like the style and he decided to go elsewhere with it. Really, I can't see what they saw wrong with it. While it does break in tradition a bit with the slow-core releases of old RHP, it's just as amazing as any of the past releases and probably even better.
The disc starts out with "Have You Forgotten," and the song is the epitomy of what is so great about the group. Although it's just Kozelek and an acoustic guitar, it's catchier and more interesting than a great majority of songs out their today. The lyrics are both instantly identifiable and the simple guitar instrumentation provides the perfect backing. The second song ("Songs For A Blue Guitar") breaks with tradition somewhat in its use of a slide guitar and the duet on vocals with a female singer. Things get even a little more strange on the 12-minute epic "Make Like Paper" where Kozelek uses an electric guitar (and dare I say, rocks?). Once again, though, it doesn't at all feel like it's stretching at all.
Like almost all of his albums, this disc has a couple of cover tracks, and like usual they end up sounding much better than the originals. The best of these is the amazing "All Mixed Up" by Ric Ocasek (who probably could have never realized that he wrote such a beautiful song). The Cars version simply cannot compare to the delicate, yet powerful version that Kozelek has put together. Paul McCartney gets a complete overhaul as well, as his "Silly Love Songs" is turned into the almost 11-minute electric-guitar fueled piece that manages to carry about 10 times the weight of the original.
Basically, if I had to throw out all my CDs except for 5, this would most definitely make the cut. As a group, the Red House Painters have never let me down with an album, and this one only raises the bar a little more. I've played it for several other people in the time that I've owned it and all of them (I'm not kidding) went out and personally bought a copy for themselves after hearing it. It falls somewhere between rock, folk, and country, but also is really in a category all it's own. One of the highest recommendations I can give.
(from almost cool music reviews)
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