Ghosts Of The Great Highway

An album as good as Ghosts of the Great Highway should never go out of print. Ghosts continues – even fine-tunes – the work Kozelek did with his former band, Red House Painters. These songs are virtuously stoic Americana – all shimmery guitars, measured tempos, malevolent moods, and wandering melodies. His voice sounds like Neil Young’s, especially in the effortlessness with which he hits the high notes then returns to a lower, earthier texture. Ghosts is a travelogue of sorts, speeding through the Midwest and the West; in this sense, it’s the male equivalent to Lucinda Williams’ Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, especially in the imperfect mirroring of physical terrain and emotional geography. The band Kozelek assembled for Ghosts – Anthony Koutsos (Red House Painters), Tim Mooney (American Music Club), and Geoff Stanfield (Black Lab), along with a few guests – ably but subtly bolster his lyrics and vocals, generating a steady clip that never flags. The result is an album as hypnotic as highway divider lines whizzing past. CD – Caldo Verde celebrates the three year anniversary of Ghosts of the Great Highway with a new edition with re-worked packaging. Also included is a 6-song bonus cd containing two versions of Leonard Bernstein’s Somewhere, alternative versions of Carry Me Ohio and Salvador Sanchez, a radio recording of Gentle Moon recorded in Portugal, and the previously unreleased instrumental Arrival, which was recorded for the movie The Girl Next Door. 2LP – Double Vinyl with extra track Gentle Moon (Acoustic).