Search - Sun Kil Moon :: Ghosts of the Great Highway

John C. (cornetto) from RALEIGH, NC
Reviewed on 6/17/2006...

Ghosts of the Great Highway takes me to a place somewhere between now and then. It immerses me into a nostalgic location. Somehow gone, but still remembered. I'm reminded of the vagueness of the past, both beautiful and melancholy, but also how it haunts the present.

Favorite moments: the transition between song 4 and 5 - Last Tide and Floating - is a thing of beauty. Its like coming out of water for a fresh breath of air. However it's a slow and gradual transition versus an abrupt gasp. I can't say enough about those two songs and how the collaborate. I also love Si Paloma - track 9. I'm a sucker for instrumentals. Very lively and uplifting...wonderful. Carry Me Ohio is always a crowd pleaser.

To conclude, I believe the album is best if listened to in its entirety and taken for its overall experience (headphones are a plus). Not enough artists strive for such elegance and precision anymore. It's a shame. Thanks Mark, and thanks to all of Sun Kil Moon for a wonderful archive of great music.

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Album of the Year

Stephen Silberman | SF, CA USA | 11/05/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"With his early '90s band, the Red House Painters, San Francisco's Mark Kozelek struck a chord of disquiet and bohemian poignancy that made that band the darling of the scribbling-poems-to-the-pretty-barista-who-will-never-know-my-name set. With lovely, unadorned melodies and Kozelek's angst-ridden tributes to disillusionment, the Red House Painters influenced a score of later bands who lacked his rich melodic imagination and incisive lyrics -- Low is a good example -- resulting in Kozelek himself being typecast as the maestro of "mopecore." Then he did something unforgivable in the minds of some of his fans: he evolved.Without rehashing the epic travails and record-biz nightmares that caused RHP's fine album "Old Ramon" to be delayed in release for years after it was finished, the good news is that "Ghosts of the Great Highway" not only continues the evolutionary path Kozelek took on later RHP work like "Songs for a Blue Guitar" and his solo album "Rock and Roll Singer," it's a masterpiece on its own terms, and the most magnificent rock album of 2003.If you thought they didn't make albums like Neil Young's "Everybody Knows This is Nowhere" anymore, cue up "Ghosts of the Great Highway," and marvel over the fact that Kozelek and company are able to cross-pollinate folk, country, punk, and psychedelic influences without sounding the least bit retro, stealing the purifying flame of Crazy Horse meltdowns like "Cortez the Killer" while sounding like no one but themselves. If you're a Nick Drake fan warming your hands over the ashes of "Pink Moon," consider the fact that at least one song on this album, "Duk Koo Kim," is as beautiful and otherwordly as anything in Drake's oeuvre (particularly the acoustic version, released on a limited edition EP last year), and consider the possibility that Kozelek is as unfairly ignored and marginalized in our time as Drake was in his."Glenn Tipton," "Duk Koo Kim," "Carry Me Ohio" and "Gentle Moon" are all instant classics, full of heart, understated grace, and authentic yearning, while avoiding the art-school sentimentality of Kozelek's early work. "Duk Koo Kim" is especially worthy of note, reinvented here as a 14-minute folk-punk-psychedelic apocalypse, with backwards guitars, Portuguese guitars, and bells swirling around Kozelek's aching voice. (I can't praise this track enough, other than to say that if I was a very bright teenager with a set of headphones and a bong, I'd probably decide to become a musician after hearing this song alone.) It's one of the most terrifying love songs ever written, as emotionally naked as the songs on Joni Mitchell's "Blue." (Like several of the songs on this album, "Duk Koo Kim" is the tale of a hero who died young -- in this case, a Korean boxer killed in the ring.) The only misstep on the record is Kozelek's formula-grunge treatment of his gorgeous tune "Lily and Parrots," which appeared as a hidden acoustic track on his "White Christmas Live." At his best, Kozelek writes and sings like an oracle, and plays feedback-drenched electric guitar with as much intensity as his punk and heavy metal heroes while never descending into mere chaos and noise. If you're a music critic or record reviewer (I happen to be an editor of Wired magazine, and have no connection to Kozelek), entertain the notion that instead of hyping the latest skinny-tie buzz band that no one will care about in 3 years, you might consider running a piece on Kozelek and this album. If you're a music fan who enjoys Wilco, Iron and Wine, and other forward-looking traditionally-influenced bands, give this a listen. It's far beyond what almost everyone is doing these days."

All hope for music is not lost...

A. Patel | Motown, MI, USA | 01/03/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Truly brilliant piece of work from M. Kozelek. From the get-go, the beautifully crafted melodies hit you. And of course, his seemingly effortless lyrics can make the most mundane of topics appear uplifting and redeeming. As a member of "gen X", I must say Mark always knows how to drop little tidbits from our youth into his lyrics. Anyone catch the reference to Glenn Tipton and KK Downing, Judas Priest's dueling guitarists, in the opening track?!His lilting voice during the chorus of "Gentle Moon" makes that little chill go down your spine. And "Duk Koo Kim" is a wonderful meandering epic referring to the Korean boxer (the one whose death made Howard Cosell quit covering boxing), and lost love/life. And yes, I am a sucker for when Mark plugs in the guitars and cranks it up a bit, as he does on "Lily and Parrots".Along with Manitoba's 'Up In Flames', Pernice Brothers' 'Yours, Mine and Ours' and Sufjan Stevens' 'Greetings From Michigan', this is a MUST-have CD for 2003.Download all the Britney Spears you want, but support these artists!!"