In 1994, I was 18. I was just outta high school, lookin' for a cool job in my desired profession: music store clerk. And I found one. Workin' for a place in Golden Valley, Minnesota embarrasingly named Down in the Valley. The store was established way back in 1972 by a guy who, I assume, used to be pretty cool... uh, twenty years ago. Down in the Valley catered to the stoner. We had every Grateful Dead- related item on Earth. And a head shop in back.

The manager at that time was this girl, Phoebe, who was probably about 25. Truly an indie girl to the core. When I was just discovering the Pixies, Sonic Youth, Aphex Twin and PJ Harvey, she was already deeply immersed in self- pitying gloom- rockers like American Music Club, Nick Drake, the Afghan Whigs, and Red House Painters. It was late August when she brought in her freshly- purchased copy of Rollercoaster. I remembered hearing Red House Painters' cover of "I am a Rock" on the local college radio station the year before. I'd really loved the song, but working at the record store didn't exactly supply me with the funds to buy many records. When I finally got around to scooping up Ocean Beach a year later, I was hooked. I was stricken with Kozelek's disease, on the floor, intoxicated by my own rampant teenage need for excessive drama.

Since 1996, Red House Painters have been tied down under contractual obligations that prevent them from releasing their now two-year-old album, Old Ramon. Frontman Mark Kozelek has since mentioned that he doesn't foresee it being released before the end of the millennium. So, that brings us to 4AD's recent capitalization on the band's material, the two-disc retrospective, Red Perspective. It contains a disc's worth of some of Kozelek's most marked compositions and an incredible compilation of the band's demo tapes.

Here's the problem with the package: the first disc is definitely for starters. It's for people who haven't experienced much in the way of Kozelek's moody childhood memories and wistful, poetic lyrics. It covers some of the greatest tracks in the band's entire catalog, and gives a general feel for how their sound has progressed since their 1992 debut, Down Colorful Hill. Disc Two, on the other hand, is targeted specifically at the hardcore Red House Painters fanbase. These early chronologically-sequenced demos are a fascinating listen for any fan that's interested in, if only for archival reasons, the embryos of some of their favorite tracks (and the two fantasmoid previously unreleased cuts). Sadly, these two discs don't really reach the same market-- the newcomer will not be quite prepared to listen to a disc's worth of demos; the diehard fan will already own all the songs on the first disc. But wait! 4AD's got you there, son-- you get both discs for the price of one.

Ultimately, though, as a fan, I'll rarely listen to the first disc. I'd rather listen to the original albums-- these are records that are meant to be listened to as a whole, after all. And in all truth, I probably won't throw on the disc of demos too often, either, though it's great to hear the long, rambling parts and bonus lyrics that Kozelek later cut out of some of these songs. But it is worth sitting down with and recollecting all the good times you and the Red House Painters have shared together. Y'know, like when you cried to it in 1994.

-Ryan Schreiber