Retrospective

Four albums and one EP comprise the beautiful, slow, hypnotic, and powerful sounds of San Francisco's Red House Painters. This double-CD set features a retrospective CD of the band's years with 4AD and a second CD of demos, outtakes, and live versions. More than make the case for Kozelek as one of the great singer/songwriters of his generation. The first disc covers LP tracks and includes such jaw-droppers as "Grace Cathedral Park," "New Jersey," "Medicine Bottle," Kozelek's painful ode to dying love, and "Michael," a gorgeous song about the memory of an old friend. The second disc consists of rarities. Standouts include the sinewy and uneasy "Waterkill," an in-studio radio show version of "Mistress," and an extraordinary live solo rendition of "Japanese To English" that instills such lyrics as "a million miles away from home / and 15 from a pay phone" with even more isolation into than one might have thought possible.