This EP is the solo debut of Mark Kozelek, mastermind of California's Red House Painters, who quickly moved from lower-case American Music Club status to kings of the mope-rock roost. As evidenced by some of his previous artistic choices, Kozelek has a knack for carefully placed perversity and expertly veiled irony, and he continues that trend here.
As in the past, Kozelek makes some willfully bizarre choices of cover tunes, tackling no less than three AC/DC tunes and one by John Denver. The master stroke here is that when he applies his mournful Nick Drake-via-Tim Hardin voice and elegantly picked acoustic guitar to these songs, they sound completely at home in his repertoire. The three original tunes are fully up to the level of Kozelek's Red House Painters work, full of casual beauty, gracefully presented sadness, and artful fragility.
Professional Reviews
Rolling Stone (8/3/00, p.58) - 3.5 stars out of 5 - "...[He's] been prettying up classic-rock songs for years...but his style works particularly well with the AC/DC tunes....he fulfills the promise of this album's title, even if he's winking a little."
Q (10/00, p.120) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...Surprisingly compelling..."
Magnet (8-9/00, pp.81-2) - "...As breathtaking as [his] early work....you may have heard the song before...but it's never been quite so soothing."
CMJ (8/21/00, p.22) - "...Signature Mark Kozelek. His acoustic interpretations...are vulnerable, most sincere, and of course, affecting..."
Mojo (Publisher) (11/00, p.101) - "...Continues his love affair with the dead singer-songwriter John Denver...before cheating on him with AC/DC....This will warm a melancholist's heart..."
NME (Magazine) (8/26/00, p.61) - 7 out of 10 - "...[He] has the kind of genuinely textured but fragile voice that you can never tire of hearing....a warm, blanketing downer..."
