{"product_id":"old-ramon","title":"Old Ramon","description":"\u003cp\u003eOld Ramon, the sixth Red House Painters album, recorded in the\rfall of 1997 through the spring of 1998, was intended for release\rthat summer. But the mega-major label merger catastrophe that\rleft hundreds of bands homeless spared few. Red House Painters\rlooked for a brief moment like survivors, but subsequent delays\reventually turned into permanent layoff. \u003ci\u003eOld Ramon\u003c\/i\u003e sat in limbo\rand grew into legend as another great, lost album only the\rprivileged few would ever properly hear. They’ve unintentionally\rput the wait back into the term “long-awaited.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSinger Mark Kozelek kept busy with a series of other projects. He\rserved as producer for Take Me Home: A Tribute to John Denver.\rAs archivist for the 4AD Red House Painters Retrospective album,\rassembling rarities and live tracks. As solo artist with several\rtracks on the Shanti Project album, and two albums Rock ‘n’ Roll\rSinger and What’s Next to the Moon, a collection of AC\/DC songs\rreinterpreted. As live performer, touring the United States, United\rKingdom, Spain, Sweden and his first ever shows in South Korea.\rAs film scorer for the independent film Last Ball. And, finally, as\ractor in Cameron Crowe’s critically acclaimed Almost Famous.\u003cbr\u003e\rBut while playing a musician in a movie—Kozelek appears as the\rbassist of Stillwater in Almost Famous—was an exciting diversion,\rit also pointed out the absurdity and irony of the situation. He’d\rbeen writing and performing his own music since the 1980s, with\rRed House Painters since the early 1990s. He was a musician, not\rjust someone who might play one on TV.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\rWith \u003ci\u003eOld Ramon \u003c\/i\u003esitting on the shelf, it was like reading a book\rwith a chapter missing. Kozelek had written most of the album\rthroughout 1996 and 1997. There were “Between Days” and\r“Wop-a-din-din,” written during the months he stayed in Oaxaca,\rMexico about his time there and his cat waiting at home in San\rFrancisco; “Cruiser” written on an airplane ride from Los Angeles\rto San Francisco about a friend he’d met during the John Cale\rtour; and “Golden,” a song in tribute to John Denver, written and\rrecorded in a single day during December of 1997, just a few\rmonths after Denver’s tragic death. “Michigan” and “River” had\rbeen road-tested on the band’s previous tour.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\rThe album, in fact, had come together with a good feeling, reunit-\ring the band with their old friend and engineer Billy Anderson,\rwho’d worked on their earlier records \u003ci\u003eDown Colorful Hill\u003c\/i\u003e and the\rtwo self-titled releases (\u003ci\u003eRollercoaster\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eBridge\u003c\/i\u003e by their covers).\rSessions in San Francisco, Mendocino, California and Austin,\rTexas resulted in several hours’ worth of music being recorded.\rThe band had spread out and worked up various arrangements for\ra majority of the tunes. Sadly, a twenty-minute version of “Michi-\rgan” fell to the cutting room floor.\u003cbr\u003e\r\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBut the ten songs packed onto \u003ci\u003eOld Ramon\u003c\/i\u003e (the title comes from a\rSpanish children’s book that caught Kozelek’s fancy) well\rrepresent the band that will take to the road for the first time in\rseveral years with extensive touring throughout the United States\rand Europe. Once freed from their major label commitments,\rreputable independent labels bid for the band’s services. This,\rhowever, is the album exactly as it was intended—untouched—three years to the month of its completion. Good news:\rThe wait is officially over.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Red House Painters","offers":[{"title":"LP","offer_id":56177365090596,"sku":"clk1788117197402","price":16.8,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":56177365123364,"sku":"dbf1788117197403","price":7.9,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":56177365156132,"sku":"vag1788117197404","price":6.1,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0965\/1263\/9268\/files\/old-ramon_1.jpg?v=1788117202","url":"https:\/\/gowearus.shop\/products\/old-ramon","provider":"My Store","version":"1.0","type":"link"}