Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Ryan Adams - Ryan Adams (2014)

We start our review of 2014 with one of the 12 albums Ryan Adams releases every year.

Clearly that's an exaggeration, but not really by much; he's steadily released 2-4 albums a year this century... and even going back into last.  I do like his stuff, but really tend to pay more attention to his larger commercial releases in general.  He's known as alt-country; my favorite album of his remains 2003's Rock N Roll, which is less country and more, well, rock n roll.  (As you might have surmised from the title).

His self-titled release has got elements of both country and rock, including an old-school keyboard organ that serves "Gimme Something Good" well indeed.

Ryan Adams - "Gimme Something Good" (borderline NSFW)

The album is very competent musically, but lacks a little energy; there's more pulse in these songs in live sessions -- "Am I Safe" comes to mind in particular.  It's still a very (very) good album, but there's a slight emotional disconnect that I can't quite get around on this one.

CD Placement Rating:  Portable CD Case.

- Snilch

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