REVIEW: "Prisoner" by Ryan Adams

On Prisoner Ryan Adams

Misses Her Like Candy

     In reading some reviews of Ryan Adams’ new album, Prisoner, released last month on, I saw one writer describe the cover as a self-portrait. Could be. But, really, I see two people embracing, one face-forward, one back, with an emotional finality.

    These songs were written in the aftermath of Adams’ marriage to actress and singer Mandy Moore. If Ryan Adams, released in 2014, postulated on the circumstances that inevitably lead to their divorce, then Prisoner sees Adams in the empty, discolored days of solitude after the case was closed. Here he takes on the stages of grief song by song.

    Prisoner opens up with the just-add-water classic first single, "Do You Still Love Me?" a song only Ryan Adams could muster with such perfection. An organ leaks into the track like sunlight across a windshield and leads to a three-hammer jab of  disgruntled guitar. The song is jolted each time it hits. The chorus finds Adams pleading desperately with the title’s question. He’s hoping against hope for a positive answer, but knows there are none. There could be no better way to start an album primarily focused on the separation of wife and husband.

     There is a clouded Eighties lens over the sounds of these songs. The drums sound 25-feet in diameter. The guitarwork twangs like Johnny Marr and pasted in the background are thick "Streets of Philadelphia"-era Springsteen organs. Adams switches between an electric and an acoustic guitar. The harmonica takes its seat in the front for "Doomsday," a rambling look back at a finished relationship. The drums are big and roll through with echoes.

     Adams’ mumble buzz heavy on “Haunted House” as he paces the place where love once lived. The acoustic guitar strums with kitchen reverberation. “My friends all disappeared / They all got lost,” he sings. On "Shiver and Shake" Adams starts to regretfully accept his circumstances. His fingers barely drag across the guitar. The organ matches the tremble in his voice as he tries, woefully, to drag himself forward. “I miss you so much / I shiver and I shake,” he sings. "I've been waiting here like a dog at the door / You used to throw me scraps / You don't do that anymore."

     On the sixth song, "To Be Without You," at the halfway point of the album, Adams begins to make amends with the pain of his separation and starts to confront his new reality. The second half of the album continues with Adams lifting himself up with song. “Anything I Say To You Now,” “Breakdown” and “Tightrope,” with its streetlight saxophone moping along, are the best of these.

     In Prisoner Ryan Adams has given the world another classic album to reach for in times of intense heartbreak (‘cause there’s never been a shortage of demand). He gets down the raw, misguided emotions that come when those feelings turn. Prisoner will heal anyone in distress as I’m sure it’s already been cried on by the millions.

Key Tracks: "Do You Still Love Me?," "Shiver And Shake," "Breakdown," "Tightrope"

source: http://imp

REVIEW: "Ryan Adams" by Ryan Adams

Ryan Adams Welcomes

Back Ryan Adams

   The Man with the Golden Temper Tantrum returns. The fourteenth album by Ryan Adams is the most appropriate one to be self-titled. On Ryan Adams we hear the convergence of Country Ryan and Metal Ryan for his best album since 2005's 29.

   The follow-up to 2011's mostly yawn-inducing Ashes & Fire is an album of stark, minimalist, pure-hearted rock'n'roll. The guitars are lean, stripped bare and fall in line with the rhythm section. The melodies are catchy and each song follows a basic verse-chorus-verse structure.

   Adams wades into territory just slightly left of his usual countrified sound. Gone is the country twang from his work with the Cardinals. His voice is more subdued, mushier. There is a spookiness to the sound, a slight reverb on every guitar lick and howling background vocals (by Johnny Depp!) and creeping organ. It comes right in time for the onset of fall.

   Throughout the album Adams sounds vulnerable and paranoid, like he's singing to you from a dark room. Who knew sharing a life with Mandy Moore could get you so down in the dumps?

   On "Kim" Adams deals with the sight of an old flame moving on with somebody else. "As the autumn leaves begin to fall," he sings, "walking down the streets where we used to walk / I see him." The guitars latch onto the constant pounding of a snare and each line is bittersweet. Other times he sounds dejected and spiteful. "I don't love you anymore," he sings on "Am I Safe, "I just want to sit here and watch you burn."

   "My Wrecking Ball" is the quiet folk tune Adams perfected on Heartbreaker and Gold over a decade ago. Adams' narrative asks to be knocked down by the big wrecking ball, the person to fix his life. He's beaten down and in need of a total rebuild. "You're my wrecking ball, won't you come and maybe knock me down," he sings over the calm acoustic strum.

   The album is filled with straight-forward, plainspoken lyrics (to greater and lesser degree). Most of the time Adams' sings about having nothing to say, which after the second song makes you wonder, why even sing? Other times the simplicity of the lyrics leave open much to meaning. "Your name is like a false alarm ringing in my head, " he emotes on "Kim."

   Ryan Adams was recorded at Adams' home studio, PAX AM. It's his first album to fully self-produce. On "Gimme Something Good" there is a disquieting desperation in Adams' voice, not unlike Morrissey on "Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want." The repetitive pleaded refrain, with all its deadpan, somehow catches in the mind and gets stuck on a loop. It's been a few years, but Ryan Adams has finally given us something good.

Key Tracks: "My Wrecking Ball," "Feels Like Fire," "Shadows," "Kim," "Gimme Something Good"

source: http://imp