Down Colorful Hill
Down Colorful Hill is the debut studio album by American slowcore band Red House Painters, released on September 14, 1992 by the record label 4AD.
| Down Colorful Hill | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | September 14, 1992 | |||
| Recorded | 1989–1991 | |||
| Genre | Slowcore | |||
| Length | 43:35 | |||
| Language | English | |||
| Label | 4AD | |||
| Producer | Mark Kozelek | |||
| Red House Painters chronology | ||||
| ||||
Background
As was done with the debuts of previous 4AD artists like Pixies, Lush, and His Name Is Alive, the album is made up of demos that were slightly remixed for general release. In Martin Aston's book Facing the Other Way: The Story of 4AD, Mark Kozelek expressed regret over the reverb- and echo-heavy mixing techniques he employed. The song "Waterkill", which dates from the same sessions but not included here, later appeared on the compilation Retrospective in un-remixed form, giving listeners an idea of the original demos' rawer sound.
A music video was produced for the song "24", directed by Mark Taylor.
The cover artwork for Down Colorful Hill is by Welsh photographer Simon Larbalestier entitled ‘Bed’.
Reception
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
| Entertainment Weekly | B−[2] |
| Pitchfork | 8.2/10[3] |
| Q |  [4] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [5] |
| Select | 4/5[6] |
Down Colorful Hill has generally been well received by critics.
AllMusic wrote "the group has already reached full maturity; these lengthy, ponderous songs are remarkably evocative portraits of a distinctly tortured psyche – Mark Kozelek forgoes the camouflage of metaphor to lay his soul on the line, and the honesty of his craft is both beautiful and disturbing".[1] Stereogum wrote in a 2012 article that the album "sounds dated and immature; the work of a nascent artist who didn't trust his own voice, didn't know his way around a studio and wasn't entirely confident on the guitar. [...] But good lord, what an album."[7]
Track listing
All tracks are written by Mark Kozelek.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "24" | 6:47 |
| 2. | "Medicine Bottle" | 9:49 |
| 3. | "Down Colorful Hill" | 10:51 |
| 4. | "Japanese to English" | 4:42 |
| 5. | "Lord Kill the Pain" | 6:03 |
| 6. | "Michael" | 5:23 |
Release history
| Country | Date | Label | Format | Catalogue # |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | September 14, 1992 | 4AD | CD (first pressings came in a digipak sleeve) | CAD 2014 CD |
| LP | CAD 2014 | |||
| July 6, 1998 | CD (reissue) | GAD 2014 CD | ||
| United States | September 15, 1992 | Warner Bros. Records | CD | 9 45062-2 |
| November 2, 1999 | 4AD | CD (reissue) | GAD 2014 CD |
References
- Ankeny, Jason. "Down Colorful Hill – Red House Painters". AllMusic. Retrieved December 5, 2014.
- Berger, Arion (November 27, 1992). "Down Colorful Hill". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved December 5, 2014.
- Stosuy, Brandon (May 6, 2015). "Red Hot Painters: Box Set". Pitchfork. Retrieved May 6, 2015.
- Mason, Matt (September 2015). "Master Strokes". Q (350): 118–19.
- Seward, Scott (2004). "Red House Painters". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. p. 682. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
- Morrison, Dave (October 1992). "Red House Painters: Down Colorful Hill". Select (28): 78.
- Nelson, Michael (June 12, 2012). "Mark Kozelek Albums from Worst to Best Red House Painters – Down Colorful Hill – Stereogum". Stereogum. Retrieved December 5, 2013.
