Mark Kozelek 'Lost Verses, Live'

Mark Kozelek continues his quest to become known as the most prolific recording artist around at the moment. Since April last year, he has released, by my count, a studio album, a covers album, FOUR live albums including this one and a book with a live EP. A lot of this stuff has been non-essential and just when you get to the point where you think "why am I still buying all these live LPs', 'Lost Verses' makes everything fall into place.

Recorded live at various venues in the U.S and Europe over the last year, 'Lost Verses' feature Kozelek playing his songs on guitar with only second guitarist Phil Carney accompanying him. The cd packaging bills this as a "greatest hits" set, but it is nothing of the sort, there is only one Red House Painters song and eight of the tracks are from last year's 'April' album. Kozelek 'solo' gigs can be hit and miss affairs and it often depends on the venue. I saw him play the Bar Academy in Islington a few years ago and poor sound combined with an audience who were more interested in ordering drinks than listening to the music combined to make it a poor show, but in more refined surroundings, these shows can be pure gold. This is why Kozelek's show at The Union Chapel in July should be excellent and why these recordings, with some from The First Unitarian Church in Philadelphia and The Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, sound so good.

The songs are clearly recorded and sound so melancholy and stark. Rather than concentrating on individual songs, the record works as one whole piece especially with Kozelek's good humoured (and this isn't always the case when you see him live!) banter between songs. The songs from 'April' work so well like this, 'Heron Blue' is full of tension and 'Harper Road' is warm and homely, sung beautifully by Kozelek. Perhaps best of all is a brief, haunting version of 'Salvadore Sanchez', Kozelek's song about a deceased boxer.

I'm not sure why this album works better than the other live albums he has put out recently, maybe it indicates what a superb record 'April' is, but you'll find yourself playing this again and again and enjoying the flow of the music. It may even be the best introduction to Kozelek's music that there is.

This is music to lose yourself in.

9.0

['Lost Verses' is out now on cd from Caldo Verde, it will be released in June on vinyl with a free EP of bonus tracks. Kozelek plays The Union Chapel in July.]