Customer Reviews

What's Next to the Moon

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Mark Kozelek's debut solo LP is a superb rendering of 10 lesser-known (to these sensitive ears at least) Bon Scott-era AC/DC songs. Kozelek extracts every last drop of the macho hard-rock-isms that originally infected these tracks and transforms them with his acoustic guitar into gentile, Sunday-morning folk songs of the highest order. The standouts "Up to My Neck in You" and "Bad Boy Boogie" rank with his best work. This is not pastiche, Kozelek clearly loves this material and treats it with respect and grace. To avid Red House Painters pundits this is hardly new ground that he is breaking. Kozelek has on previous records tackled other MOR/Hard Rock figureheads such as Kiss, Yes, The Cars, Paul Simon and Paul McCartney. It's just that here he does it for an entire album and he does it better. His interpretative skills are so accomplished that even an entire album of Backstreet Boys' covers would probably turn out OK! Or am I going to far?

Whichever way you look at it this is a surprisingly good CD. Mark Kozelek, normally "not very happy" at the front of the Red House Painters, has made a whole CD covering the songs of metal pranksters AC/DC and, without question, it's a success on several levels. If your youth was like mine then you may well have seen AC/DC live, or even owned a record or two, then at least some of this CD will seem familiar, but not in a way you could ever have anticipated. The performance is stripped down to the bare bones of acoustic guitar and voice. In style terms, we are in the territory of pre Oscars Elliot Smith. It's a strange thing that the difference in style gives the songs a totally different emotional feel and appeal from the originals. Meanings of lyrics are transformed from AC/DC's typical crass adolescent chauvinism to heartfelt yearning and an air of lonely desperation, the word "Feel" in "Love at First Feel" for example is transformed from meaning a manhandling to a pull on the heartstrings. None of this however should be taken as a criticism of Angus Young and crew, the songs were obviously very well structured in the first place, (I remember from those gigs that the band could play) such that they can be broken down from bluesy metal rifferama to what could even be loosely be described as folk, and still work remarkably well. Although you would have to say Mark Kozelek's arrangements also deserve praise here. My particular favourites are "Love Hungry Man" which has a longing in Mark's voice that is poignant in the extreme, and "Walk All Over You" which has an air of revenge and hurt about it. So whether you know the originals or not does not really matter, it's a hugely enjoyable collection either way, if rather short at only 30 minutes.

I bought this cd because i like the red house painters... and i came into the knowledge that these were ac/dc covers later, after looking at the songwriting credits. admittedly, i had never given bon scott-era ad/dc much of a chance... and the lyrics here take on a completely new feeling as delivered by mark kozelek. in fact, they are melancholy, somber, and often moving.
i now listen to early ac/dc (the 2003 epic remasters in digipak are exceptional) and strangely enough my listening experience with those albums has been somewhat informed by this album of covers.
you could say i came into things a little backwards, but for me that's what makes this album brilliant... i've played this album for a few people who aren't the least bit familiar with early ac/dc and they loved it...
so don't give me this crap about artistic wankery. its genius when someone can reinterpret and recontextualize songs to such a degree that they take on completely new meanings and moods.
so kudos to kozelek. give this a listen. its beautiful.

AC/DC with Bon Scott were awesome. They wrote rock'n'roll songs more or less by the book on how rock'n'roll's suppose to sound, but yet, with a very personal touch. AC/DC sounds like no other band, and no one sounds like AC/DC. I think Mark Kozelek interpret their songs briliant! Bon Scott is hugely underrated as a songwriter, his lyrics are often clever, some very humourus and ironic, yet very soulful. That shines through very clear in Marks versions I think. Hopefully this record will make some people understand Bon Scott and AD/DC's greatness. And also make some AC/DC fans discover Mark Kozelek, not only as a great AC/DC interpreter, but also as an excellent singer/songwriter on his own. I highly recomend this album!

Mark Kozelek has been putting out great music for a long time, from the early Red House Painters' output all the way to his recent "Ghosts of the Great Highway" under his new band's banner, Sun Kil Moon.
This effort is one of two solo albums he recorded after RHP disbanded, and probably the quirkiest and most ambitious of both albums. Every song here is an AC-DC cover, and when you think of the high Heavy Rock energy of the original versions, contrasted with Kozelek's laid back and melancholy sound signature, the results are wondrous.
Not being a fan of AC-DC, I did not bring any prior love of this material to justify potentially mediocre renditions. Even further I was somewhat skeptical about Kozelek's left-of-field repertoire choice.
The final product of this venture could not be more pleasing in its realization nor surprising as far as the new depths of feeling he's brought out from these tunes.
It takes a talent and modesty like Kozelek's to sense the essential beauty in these songs, strip the sound to its bare truth, and come out with such personal reading of such unlikely material.
If in addition to your respect for Kozelek you also dig AC-DC, this may be even more rewarding for you that has already been for me. If Kozelek's own writing has already moved you, you may prefer to check his other acoustic album out, Rock and Roll Singer.
Either one is bound to fulfill the proper expectations.

Since there's no amazon review for the CD, here goes. Mark Kozelek is the lead singer for Red House Painters (they've been quiet since 19996-until last week-due to contractual/legal dispute, I think). This is his second solo release (and he has 6 with RHP, I think).

This CD is comprised of covers of Bon Scott-era AC/DC songs all in a simple but effective, and affective style (like Nick Drake and Elliot Smith). Ian Creamer's review describes the style well. It is very impressive to hear these AC/DC songs performed this way-it appears that they are as literate as Leonard Cohen (as concert-goers have suggested according to MK in recent interviews). Three of the songs can also be found on his other solo release (Rock'n'Roll Singer) and this CD is only 30 minutes long. It's a great (5 stars) 30 minutes but is costly (value 3 or 4 stars).

If you like his covers, try RHP - Songs for a Blue Guitar (Wings' Silly Love Songs, Yes' Long Distance Runaround); Shanti Project (Genesis' Follow You, Follow Me; Stills/Young-Midnight on the Bay) and Mark Kozelek's Rock'n'Roll Singer (John Denver's Around and Around). He also writes good (but not happy) songs.

I am a huge fan of catchy, quiet folk music with insightful lyrics. If you enjoy this album then I strongly recommend that you check out the following:
1) Ghosts Of The Great Highway by Sun Kil Moon
2) Kings Avenue Joe Kile
3) Subtitulo by Josh Rouse

the Red House Painters were a band I heard of MANY times but never actually listened to. It was in winter 2001 when I heard "Mistress" on an old 1993 CD compilation. After getting hooked on the RHP right away, a friend recomended "Rock and Roll Singer" and "What's Next To The Moon", but for some reason I never picked them up. What a big mistake. I still Don't have Rock and Roll Singer but I just got a hold of What's Next To The Moon and I absolutely love this CD. All AC/DC songs done acoustic and mellow. I would HIGHLY recomend this CD to any fan of the RHP. Honestly, I think this CD blows away ANYTHING that Mark has done in the past.

Mark Kozelek has a talent for rearranging songs written by other people into his signature style. He had done it before with the Red House Painters on Silly Love Songs, I'm A Rock, etc. However he really outdid himself here. Who would have thunk that Bon Scott era AC/DC had so much going on behind the power chords? I had to recheck the songwriting credits to be sure that they were indeed written by AC/DC. Very listenable, good stuff. Also check out Kozelek's limited edition White Christmas Live cd. It was limited to 5,000 copies so it may be hard to find, but it is well worth the effort.

Mark's gift for evoking sentimental feelings are hampered on this album only by the fact that these songs are not his own. However, this album is still a must have for any Kozelek fan. I just saw him play in Seattle, and whatever Mark Eitzel said about Kozelek not being "accountable" just doesn't make sense. Eitzel must be running out of material. I think he envious of the thing Mark Kozelek has captured, the human experience. Mark (Kozelek) is an artist that will be reflected on as someone who's songs were his own, in an age of compromise. Thanks Mark.