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The congenial Adams spent so
much energy distancing his solo work from his indie-cherished
Whiskeytown that it was difficult at times to distinguish which
allegiance was strongest. Kicked-back bumpkin tunes or
bleary-eyed, late-night soul searching, Adams burned the
creative candle at both ends. Making some welcomed artistic
amends; his latest Gold collection is keen mixture of his
irreverent, alt-roots experience and street-smart
song-smithing. In his own humble way, Adams
proves that Neil Young’s plaintive verses and Lou Reed’s
erudite cynicism could exist on the same page, especially if
they’re given a sensible dose of Big Star/Badfinger flourishes
to help ease them on down. Which is especially evident in the
back-to-back tracking of the Young-influenced
“Nobody Girl,” with its plodding, fuzz-faced riffage and
filter-tipped chorus. Only to be followed by the austere “Sylvia
Plath,” where the forbidden pleasures of a Velvets-like
novella are embellished
with a solo piano and a few strings. Adams may not be the
hookiest writer (yet), but his varied use of blues, country and
pop-soul idioms always kept me hanging on throughout. Initial
copies include a limited 5-track bonus, “Side Four,” that
includes the honky-tonkish “The Bar Is A Beautiful Place,”
which alone is worth the admission.
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| Artist |
Ryan Adams |
| Title |
Gold |
| Label |
Lost
Highway/ Universal |
| Reviewer |
Richard Proplesch |
| Rating |
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| win stuff |
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