Somehow I missed this one in the summer of 2014, and I wish that hadn\u2019t been the case, because Adams\u2019 newest studio album (and first in three years, quite a break for the prolific artist) is a moody, bluesy, heartland rock record that\u2019s his best work in a while.<\/p>\n
The Grammy-nominated \u201cGimme Something Good\u201d kicks off the disc haze of smoke, its confident, loping rhythm belying an unsettling vocal performance and some chunky, burning guitar. \u201cTrouble\u201d is in the same vein but with more of an emphasis on melody instead of hormonal heat, while \u201cKim\u201d features a sublimely passionate vocal performance and guitar fills that work around the stabbing snare drum, the whole package sounding yearning and quietly intense. <\/p>\n
\u201cTrouble\u201d and \u201cWrecking Ball\u201d bring \u201880s-era Springsteen to mind in both songwriting and Adams\u2019 singing, with hints of Tom Petty and perhaps late-period Eagles coloring the rest of the disc. But even if the music is a little more settled than past Adams records, it never stoops to audience baiting or arena\/heartland rock clich\u00e9s. There is a blue blaze burning through all 11 tracks, with lyrics about lost love and needing to be saved from\u2026something. <\/p>\n
\u201cShadows\u201d is a late-disc highlight that rides on a simple, insistent snare drum, with muted guitar squalls and colorful yet singular organ tones. The song sneaks up on you and works into your soul; it\u2019s the sort of song that Whiskeytown probably could never have recorded, or at least imbued with as much soul, back when Adams was a wild child given to the occasional tantrum. And yes, one could throw around rock and roll curse words like \u201cmaturity\u201d and \u201crestraint\u201d to describe this now, but it\u2019s not that far removed from the country flavors of Adams\u2019 early music. Besides, restraint also can be interpreted as command and control, and Adams is firmly in control here, knowing when to flex, when to pull back, how to make the songs really breathe with meaning. <\/p>\n
If the second half of the disc (sans \u201cShadows\u201d) is a bit plodding, it\u2019s only because the first half sets the bar high. Adams fans who prefer a certain disc may or may not be interested in this, but in its winning mix of heartfelt rock, meaningful lyrics and an intensity that comes with age and experience, Ryan Adams <\/i>is a fine album.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":32308,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[8705],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-44061","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-ryan-adams","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/44061","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\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44061"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/44061\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=44061"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=44061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}