Mark Kozelek - What's Next to the Moon
(Badman)
What's Next to the Moon isn't exactly what I expected from the Red House Painter's singer
and main songwriter Mark Kozelek as a follow up to his debut solo mini-album Rock 'N' Roll
Singer. In fact, short of a Menudo cover album, this might be the most surprising record
he could have released.
I would think that after years of waiting for the Red House Painters' album Old Ramon to
come out (soon to be out on Subpop), after working on and releasing an amazing tribute
album to John Denver, and after releasing his first solo album full of John Denver and
AC/DC covers, Kozelek would be itching to put out stuff that he actually wrote all by
himself (though he does change the arrangements of the AC/DC songs drastically). Instead,
he headed over to his friend and Badman Recording Co. label owner Dylan Magierek's home
studio and layed down 10 more AC/DC covers with only an acoustic guitar.
I don't mean to imply that I am upset or annoyed by his decision to revamp and rework
AC/DC songs. I most certainly am not. I am just surprised he wouldn't have hundreds of
songs that he would want to record after such a long time of hiatus. As I've said a
hundred times before, Kozelek not only makes any cover songs sound like his own, but he
makes even the ugliest unoriginal songs sound beautiful and thought provoking.
The best example of Kozelek's skill in transforming songs can be found in "Bad Boy
Boogie". The original AC/DC version of the song is full of the pride and triumph about
how "bad" they are, and how they have had meaningless sex with more women than they could
even count. But, when Kozelek sings it; "I'll tell you a story, it ain't no lie. I was
born to love until the day I die. So, you line them up and I'll knock them down, until
they all come tumbling down" it turns it into a song from a person seemingly filled with
self-hatred and loathing for what he is or has become.
The best songs on What's Next to the Moon are the ones that Kozelek has translated to
sound exactly like Red House Painter songs, including "Up to my Neck in You," "Love Hungry
Man," and "You Ain't Got a Hold On Me." Though I wish he would get around to recording
some of his own songs, this is a a wonderful album and a must-have for any fan of the Red
House Painters or any fan of beautiful acoustic guitar songwriting.
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