Mitch Ryder remains an enigma to me. At the time I’m writing
\nthis, I’ve reviewed two of Ryder’s albums, and have see-sawed
\nbetween declaring them absolute trash and significant improvements.<\/p>\n
Smart Ass<\/i>, Ryder’s 1982 release, meets those worlds half-way
\n– though the sodomy images off
\nHow I Spent My Vacation<\/i> are thankfully left in the past.
\n(Sorry, Mitch, but one doesn’t just wash away such a mental image
\neasily.)<\/p>\n
On one hand, Ryder’s stripped-down production of this disc
\n(which he explains on J-Bird Records’s web site was due to limited
\nfunds) hampers his ability to get his musical point across – yet at
\ntimes this sparse sound works to the music’s advantage. Some of
\nthese tracks are almost immediately forgettable, yet others are
\nones you won’t forget for a while. If it sounds like I’m creating
\nparadoxes, then you are beginning to understand
\nSmart Ass<\/i>, an album which is a paradox in and of itself.<\/p>\n
On the one hand, there’s some material on this disc which shows
\njust how talented a songwriter Ryder is and how much of an
\ninfluence he could have been on the music scene had people in the
\nStates been willing to listen back then. “One Room World” is a
\nlovely yet disturbing ode to the horror we all eventually face –
\nnamely, growing old – and the possibility of having to face that
\nhorror alone. “Hands High” could well be seen as autobiographical,
\ndocumenting Ryder’s return to the musical scene after a
\nself-imposed hiatus back in the ’70s and how he wants to enjoy the
\nexperience this time. “Berlin” could well have been a foretelling
\nof the eventual fall of the Berlin Wall, and is a song that cries
\nout against violence which tears people (who are otherwise similar
\nin many ways) apart.<\/p>\n
Yet there is material on
\nSmart Ass<\/i> which seems to counteract the good intentions of
\nRyder. “Hot House” and “You Better Stop It” do sound like they were
\nvictims of a budget crunch, having neither the solid songwriting
\nnor the musical crispness to them that would otherwise make them
\npotential stand-outs on this disc. Either drummer Al Wotton played
\nlike he was doing a “Space Invaders” imitation, or the impression
\nof sparse trap work is because he wasn’t turned high up enough in
\nthe mix.<\/p>\n
\nSmart Ass<\/i> is a relatively short listen and does highlight
\nsome very solid work from Ryder. But it also showed his weaknesses,
\nand those tracks should be approached with some sense of caution.
\nStill, it’s worthwhile to check out, if only to hear what the voice
\nbehind “Devil With The Blue Dress On” was tackling in the early
\n’80s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28091,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[6479],"rating":[5614],"class_list":["post-39485","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-mitch-ryder","rating-rating-c-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39485\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39485"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}