This was a birthday present last year, via my Amazon wishlist (see also Pass the Distance and New York Noise) — a surprise since I think it had been languishing in the wishlist for two or three years. I think I first heard of this album via John Peel, who seemed to rediscover AC/DC indirectly towards the end of his life.
The album features ten AC/DC songs performed solo on acoustic guitar with bedsit singer-songwriter arrangements. I quite like such simple conceits taken to ridiculous lengths — for example, I'll defend Gus Van Sant's remake of Psycho, mimicking the original shots, editing and music, or the lipogram novels of Georges Perec — but I don't really need to spell that out for you, do I? The evidence is on your screen as you read this.
You could say the album is a bit of an anti-climax, but that would be to miss the point. The original AC/DC songs were all about climaxes, and double entendres. Kozelek strips all of that away, and even a hellraiser like If You Want Blood… sounds vaguely wistful in his treatment. One comparison would be to Johnny Cash's versions of Nine Inch Nails and Depeche Mode, but I think this is closer to Ballboy's Born in the USA or M.Ward's Let's Dance, covers that highlight lyrical finesses that were obscured in the original productions. (Though I've only heard it once, I might put Patti Smith's bluegrass Smells Like Teen Spirit in same category as it managed to hold my attention for longer than 30 seconds, which the original never could.)
So the "feel" in Love at First Feel has quite a different meaning coming from a 'sensitive' acoustic musician, compared with Bon Scott's familiar and predictable insinuations.
A couple of weeks ago I was on my way back from an (excellent) Electrelane gig and bumped into Guy and Annie at London Bridge station. They were on their way back from see Mark Kozelek, but know next to nothing about him, or his band the Red House Painters, beyond this album. Do you?
MusicBrainz entry for this album |
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