Ocean Beach / Shock Me (LP)

Red House Painters has always been Mark Kozelek's project, but Ocean Beach represents the first record that is almost entirely a solo project. Not that that distinction has made a great change in the music -- Ocean Beach is a spare, gentle, nearly painfully introspective folk-rock album that draws more from Simon & Garfunkel than Bob Dylan. Kozelek reigns in the droning, experimental tendencies of the group's first full-length album, yet he is more generous with his melodies and arrangements than the band's second untitled record. While Red House Painters remains very arty and self-conscious, Ocean Beach shows the singer/songwriter breaking out of his shell ever so slightly, bringing more fully developed songs and melodies with him. - AllMusic

Despite having a title track by Kiss, this mid-career EP displays a confident, introspective Red House Painters seemingly influenced by a parallel world where Nick Drake shoegazed it up with Ride or Chapterhouse. Somehow, it's quietly splendid. Both "Sundays and Holidays" and "Three-Legged Cat" take the plaintive, solo-acoustic work of a haunted troubadour without once sounding folksy or trite. Even the cover title track sounds just bridled enough to stun fans of both Kiss and Red House Painters alike (Mark Kozelek would later repeat this strategy on his debut album, Rock 'N Roll Singer). Most EPs are nugatory, contract-stalling diversions, yet this mini-release is simply essential -- in both senses of the words. - AllMusic