Songs for a Blue Guitar
| Songs for a Blue Guitar | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by Red House Painters | ||||
| Released | July 23, 1996 (See release history) |
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| Recorded | 1995–1996 | |||
| Genre | Folk rock, sadcore | |||
| Length | 70:28 | |||
| Label | Supreme Recordings | |||
| Producer | Mark Kozelek | |||
| Red House Painters chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    |
| Pitchfork | 9.0/10 |
| Rolling Stone | |
Songs for a Blue Guitar is an album by Red House Painters, released on July 22, 1996 in the UK, and a day later in the US. It is effectively a Mark Kozelek solo album, since no other members of the band are listed in the liner notes. The album introduced heavier, electric guitar driven rock to their sound in songs like "Make Like Paper", and Kozelek's cover of Paul McCartney & Wings' "Silly Love Songs".
Recorded while still under contract to the Painters' original label, 4AD, the label chose not to release the album and released the band from their contract. There have been many rumors over the years about the band's departure from the label. The most popular theory claims the band were dropped because label president Ivo Watts-Russell was unhappy with the lengthy guitar solos in "Make Like Paper" and "Silly Love Songs."
Another more probable scenario is that Kozelek was having strained relations with 4AD's American branch, controlled by Warner Bros. Records at the time. (Many other 4AD artists of the time, including His Name Is Alive's Warren Defever complained of the US management, while maintaining praise for Ivo.) It has also been said that Kozelek offered to release the album as a solo effort if the label didn't think it was a "true Red House Painters" recording, but this offer was also rebuffed. In the end, the album was released shortly after the band signed with Supreme Recordings, a new label owned by filmmaker John Hughes and distributed by Island Records.
Watts-Russell later informally claimed that dropping Red House Painters was the worst decision that 4AD ever took.
The move to a more corporate label proved to be disastrous for the band, who became stuck in limbo during the major-label mergers of the late 1990s. Many alternative rock bands who had been signed in the wake of Nirvana's success were either dropped, or had their recordings held up without the ability to take them elsewhere. The band's next album, Old Ramon, was ready for release on Supreme in early 1998, but was kept in the label's vaults until Kozelek was able to purchase it back and have it released by Sub Pop in 2001.
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