This came out in 1999 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
If Lou Reed’s wrist-slash opus Berlin is your idea of make-out music, then Red House Painters’ Mark Kozelek is your Barry White.
This dramatic, downbeat San Francisco singer-songwriter could make Kurt Cobain seem happy-go-lucky; he’s spent his career languishing in KC’s Leonard Cohen afterworld, so he can sigh eternally. This two-CD retrospective gathers together the beautifully dark gems of his band’s first four discs, along with outtakes, demos and live cuts. My (and your soon-to-be) favourite: A cover of Ace Frehley’s Shock Me, drained of all power and reduced to a bleak dirge. Talk about the Kiss of death.
