| CD REVIEW (This review has also been published at www.701.com) |
| GOLD - RYAN ADAMS |
| Looking like a cross between Paul Fenton and Ron Sexsmith, this former member of Whiskeytown has indeed come up with numerous gold nuggets on this CD! Although this effort was reduced to a mere 16 tracks (plus a bonus five tracks on a "Side 4" disc), it's a wonderful rollercoaster of musical styles, quite a few of which follow the tradition of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, the Eagles and the Doobie Brothers. No doubt, this is owed to the participation of Chris Stills, who was obviously tutored well by his guitarist father (Stephen Stills). Transplanted to Los Angeles via New York (the birthplace of his solo d�but CD, "Heartbreaker"), Ryan originally hails from North Carolina. At least where songwriting is concerned, Ryan could well stake his place as the Bob Dylan or Leonard Cohen of his own generation. The unusual flow of his lyrics appears to be highly influenced by Alanis Morrissette, whom he mentions several times in the liner notes. Although there were numerous different players on the CD, he is heavily assisted by Richard Causon on piano work recalling early Elton John, Jennifer Condos and Milos de Cruz alternating on bass guitar, as well as Ethan Johns demonstrating his proficiency on a wide variety of instruments, but most notably providing a secular texture on Hammond B3. Not content to limit himself to their talents, Ryan also borrows keyboardist Benmouth Tench (Tom Petty) and Adam Duritz (Counting Crows vocalist). Quite a few of the tracks, when woven together, provide a wonderfully interesting and poetic tapestry of the "carnival" side of life - drunks, hookers, junkies, and other assorted "lost" and deluded characters. An excellent example is 'Tina Toledo's Street Walkin' Blues', a bombshell of a blues-rocker sounding a lot like a Rolling Stones or Georgia Satellites track, complete with slide guitar, boogie-woogie piano, and featuring C.C. White on wildcat background and solo vocals. Although he makes no mention of being influenced by Leon Russell or Tom Waits, I was reminded of their work on 'Goodnight, Hollywood Boulevard' and 'The Bar is a Beautiful Place'. Outstanding tracks were the very timely opener 'New York, New York', 'Gonna Make You Love Me', a funky and exciting guitar masterpiece similar to Larry "Rhino" Reinhardt's (Captain Beyond) 'Sufficiently Breathless', 'The Fools We Are as Men', and 'Harder Now That It's Over' filled out with mandolins, accordion and steel guitar, not to mention the great chorus "You're free...free with a history". While I consider the 16 tracks on the official CD itself to be more suited to those with a more eclectic taste in rhythm patterns and lyrics, not to mention Ryan's versatile vocal abilities, the bonus tracks contained on "Side 4" (there is no Side 3) are more geared to straight-ahead rockers with more conventional melodies, jangly rhythms, harmonies and loads of commercial appeal without compromising a thing. A great way to while away a couple of hours! |
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