Ghosts of the Great Highway

Sun Kil Moon: Mark Kozelek, Geoff Stanfield, Anthony Koustos, Tim Mooney.
Principally recorded at Toast, Hyde Street Studios, San Francisco, California.
After 2001's OLD RAMON (which had actually been recorded years earlier), singer/songwriter Mark Kozelek retired the Red House Painters name, and his next non-solo outing, 2003's GHOST OF THE GREAT HIGHWAY, was credited to Sun Kil Moon. (Maybe he got tired of being filed next to the Red Hot Chili Peppers in record stores?) While in many ways the album is a continuation of the sound on the Painters' SONGS FOR A BLUE GUITAR, here Kozelek streamlines the material, refraining from extended six-string freak-outs and painfully confessional lyrics, in favor of sharply honed rock-inflected tunes and gorgeous, string-laden tracks. The result is one of the most directly affecting and immediately appealing records of Kozelek's career, and those intrigued by, but wary of, the Red House Painters will likely be pleasantly surprised with Sun Kil Moon's GHOSTS OF THE GREAT HIGHWAY.