This came out in 2001 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I wrote back then (with some minor editing):
Mark Kozelek doesn’t cover tunes — he recovers them.
With his mope-rock outfit Red House Painters, he’s done narcoleptic versions of everyone from KISS (Shock Me) to Yes (Long Distance Runaround). On his first solo CD, he downshifted three AC/DC tunes. Here, he takes that concept to the max with an entire album of classic AC/DC cuts converted to dreamy acoustic guitar ballads. I are no kidding — and neither is Kozelek. Choosing only songs from the Bon Scott era — full marks there — Kozelek reworks them from the ground up, stripping away the metal trappings and revamping them into achingly beautiful (and barely recognizable) laments that make Scott’s party-hearty rhymes seem like Gordon Lightfoot laments. Put on Bad Boy Boogie, If You Want Blood, Up to My Neck in You or Love at First Feel for the AC/DC fan in your circle and just wait for their eyes to widen in recognition at Kozelek’s low-voltage magnificence. Exceptional, unforgettable and truly one of the most distinctive tribute discs in recent memory.
