Ghosts of the Great Highway

Ghosts of the Great Highway is the 2003 debut album by San Francisco quartet Sun Kil Moon, led by Red House Painters' founder Mark Kozelek, who composed all of the lyrics and music on this album. The other members are Anthony Koutsos (former drummer for Red House Painters), Geoff Stanfield, and Tim Mooney.

Ghosts of the Great Highway received positive reviews from the music press and its success paved the way for the release of two further Sun Kil Moon albums, Tiny Cities (2005), a collection of Modest Mouse cover versions, and the entirely self-composed April (2008).

Three of the album's songs are named after boxers, following on from "Find Me, Ruben Olivares" from Kozelek's debut solo EP Rock 'n' Roll Singer. The band name is also a pun on the Korean boxer Sung-Kil Moon. The opening number is named after Judas Priest guitarist, Glenn Tipton.

Ghosts of the Great Highway was re-issued as a double CD on February 6, 2007 on Kozelek's own label, Caldo Verde Records. The second disc features 6 bonus tracks, including two versions of Leonard Bernstein's "Somewhere," and the instrumental track "Arrival," which was originally recorded for the movie The Girl Next Door. The songs "Carry Me Ohio" and "Lily and Parrots" were featured in the film Shopgirl, where Kozelek also co-starred.

The song "Carry Me Ohio" was listed at #462 on Pitchfork Media's Top 500 Songs of the 2000s list.

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Mark Kozelek, except where noted. 

Singles

• "Duk Koo Kim" (Mark Kozelek solo) (September 15, 2003)
  • Limited edition 10" vinyl single (limited to 2,000 copies worldwide), features acoustic studio version and live version.

External links

• The official Sun Kil Moon website
• Unofficial Sun Kil Moon website
• Jetset Records