Red House Painters is the second album by American band Red House Painters, released on May 24, 1993 by 4AD. The album is often referred to as Rollercoaster or Red House Painters I to distinguish it from the band's second eponymous album, often referred to as Bridge.
A double album, Red House Painters features fourteen songs culled from bandleader Mark Kozelek's back-catalog. The album received highly positive reviews from critics upon release, with praise directed at the album's melancholic instrumentation and emotional depth.
Background
The album follows Red House Painters' 1992 debut Down Colorful Hill, and the recording sessions spawned twenty-three songs culled from leader/producer Mark Kozelek's back-catalog, fourteen of which comprised the Rollercoaster album.
| rev2 = Pitchfork
| rev2score = 9.0/10
| rev3 = Q
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| rev5 = The Rolling Stone Album Guide
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| rev6 = Uncut
| rev6score = 8/10
In a contemporary review, James Greer of Spin wrote that Red House Painters "rewards patient listening with a rare and sublime ecstasy." The album peaked at number 63 upon its initial release on the UK Albums Chart in 1993.
Marc Hawthorne of The A.V. Club later cited Red House Painters as Mark Kozelek's "crowning achievement in a discography that has placed him alongside the greatest songwriters of all time". In a 5-star review, Jason Ankeny of AllMusic hailed the album as a "sprawling, remarkable set distinguished by Mark Kozelek's continuing maturation as a songwriter" and concluded that "the songs resonate with depth and poignancy, and rank as Kozelek's most fully realized collection of compositions."
Track listing
Release history
{|class="wikitable"
! width="150px"|Country
! width="130px"|Date
! width="120px"|Label
! Format
! Catalogue #
! Notes
|-
| rowspan="3"|United Kingdom
| rowspan="2"|May 24, 1993
| rowspan="3"|4AD
| CD
| DAD 3008 CD
|rowspan="5"|
|-
| Double LP
| DAD 3008
|-
| July 6, 1998
| CD (reissue)
| GAD 3008 CD
|-
| rowspan="2"|United States
| May 25, 1993
| Warner Bros. Records
| CD
| 9 45256-2
|-
| November 2, 1999
| rowspan="3"|4AD
| CD (reissue)
| GAD 3008 CD
|-
| rowspan="2"|Worldwide
| April 18, 2015
| rowspan="2"|Double LP
| rowspan="2"|CAD 3409
| Bronze-coloured vinyl, as part of the Red House Painters box set
|-
| August 14, 2015
| Black vinyl, released individually
|}
Personnel
- Images by W.K.V.L.
Though no other credits are printed on the release, the following is a de facto list of the performers on the album:
;Red House Painters
- Mark Kozelek – vocals, guitar, piano
- Gorden Mack – guitar
- Jerry Vessel – bass
- Anthony Koutsos – drums
"Mistress" single
Although no commercial singles were ever released from the album, a promotional-only CD was issued for "Mistress" in the US in 1993. The single features a different mix of "Mistress" as well as the piano version, along with the album version of "Grace Cathedral Park". While the sleeve lists "Strawberry Hill" as the album version, it is in fact an edit, which removes roughly 50 seconds of guitar noise in the beginning of the song.
Warner Bros./4AD, PRO-CD-6108:
- "Mistress" (Remix) – 4:03
- "Grace Cathedral Park" – 3:51
- "Strawberry Hill" [Edit] – 6:44
- "Mistress" (Piano Version) – 4:31