Old Ramon, the sixth Red House Painters album, recorded in thefall of 1997 through the spring of 1998, was intended for releasethat summer. But the mega-major label merger catastrophe thatleft hundreds of bands homeless spared few. Red House Painterslooked for a brief moment like survivors, but subsequent delayseventually turned into permanent layoff. Old Ramon sat in limboand grew into legend as another great, lost album only theprivileged few would ever properly hear. They’ve unintentionallyput the wait back into the term “long-awaited.”
Singer Mark Kozelek kept busy with a series of other projects. Heserved as producer for Take Me Home: A Tribute to John Denver.As archivist for the 4AD Red House Painters Retrospective album,assembling rarities and live tracks. As solo artist with severaltracks on the Shanti Project album, and two albums Rock ‘n’ RollSinger and What’s Next to the Moon, a collection of AC/DC songsreinterpreted. As live performer, touring the United States, UnitedKingdom, Spain, Sweden and his first ever shows in South Korea.As film scorer for the independent film Last Ball. And, finally, asactor in Cameron Crowe’s critically acclaimed Almost Famous.
But while playing a musician in a movie—Kozelek appears as thebassist of Stillwater in Almost Famous—was an exciting diversion,it also pointed out the absurdity and irony of the situation. He’dbeen writing and performing his own music since the 1980s, withRed House Painters since the early 1990s. He was a musician, notjust someone who might play one on TV.
With Old Ramon sitting on the shelf, it was like reading a bookwith a chapter missing. Kozelek had written most of the albumthroughout 1996 and 1997. There were “Between Days” and“Wop-a-din-din,” written during the months he stayed in Oaxaca,Mexico about his time there and his cat waiting at home in SanFrancisco; “Cruiser” written on an airplane ride from Los Angelesto San Francisco about a friend he’d met during the John Caletour; and “Golden,” a song in tribute to John Denver, written andrecorded in a single day during December of 1997, just a fewmonths after Denver’s tragic death. “Michigan” and “River” hadbeen road-tested on the band’s previous tour.
The album, in fact, had come together with a good feeling, reunit-ing the band with their old friend and engineer Billy Anderson,who’d worked on their earlier records Down Colorful Hill and thetwo self-titled releases (Rollercoaster and Bridge by their covers).Sessions in San Francisco, Mendocino, California and Austin,Texas resulted in several hours’ worth of music being recorded.The band had spread out and worked up various arrangements fora majority of the tunes. Sadly, a twenty-minute version of “Michi-gan” fell to the cutting room floor.
But the ten songs packed onto Old Ramon (the title comes from aSpanish children’s book that caught Kozelek’s fancy) wellrepresent the band that will take to the road for the first time inseveral years with extensive touring throughout the United Statesand Europe. Once freed from their major label commitments,reputable independent labels bid for the band’s services. This,however, is the album exactly as it was intended—untouched—three years to the month of its completion. Good news:The wait is officially over.
