|
| |
Ryan Adams
Easy Tiger
(Lost Highway)
First Appeared in The Music Box, August 2007, Volume 14, #8
Written by John Metzger
Artists are notoriously restless spirits, and, in many ways, Ryan Adams has
become their poster child. Initially, this manifested itself as recalcitrance,
and his erratic behavior caused numerous shifts in Whiskeytown’s line-up. Since
going solo — and, thus, putting even more of himself on the line — however,
Adams mostly has channeled his energy into his music. Over the course of the
past seven years, he has released nine studio efforts, each of which has
emphasized a different aspect of his persona. Unwilling to be tied to any
particular niche, he ambitiously has oscillated from the roots-y Cold Roses
to the hardcore country of Jacksonville City Nights and from the bluster
of Rock N Roll to the mope-y Love Is Hell. Although he has taken a
singular approach to each endeavor, the sum total, when viewed from afar,
appears to be scattered and incoherent.
Always full of surprises, Adams naturally traversed a different path in
concocting his latest effort Easy Tiger, but rather than veering off on
yet another tangent, he opted instead to deliver a set that was strikingly more
conservative. In effect, Easy Tiger is designed to tie up all of the
loose ends that he has left strewn about, and into its 12 tracks he has folded
aspects of everything that he has accomplished to date. His garage-rock
aspirations filter through the ridiculous but irresistible Halloweenhead,
while the warble in his voice as he begins singing Goodnight Rose alludes
to his recent work with Willie Nelson on Songbird. The latter tune also
plucks a series of chord changes from Neil Young, whose influence is equally
pervasive on Off Broadway and I Taught Myself How to Grow Old,
while Tears of Gold is as straight an alt-country tune as Adams has
concocted in years, though it takes a tone that is flavored more by The Jayhawks
than it is by Whiskeytown.
Still, taking fewer risks doesn’t come without a tradeoff. On the one hand,
Adams has never sounded so mature. Not only has his cocksure bravado given way
to convincing, self-assured maturity, but he also has penned a batch of truly
terrific material. By contrast, Easy Tiger is so stuffed with mid-tempo
fare that portions of it slip by almost too effortlessly. Nevertheless, when he
does connect — on the angst-filled The Sun Also Sets or the
bluegrass-tinged Pearls on a String, for example — the results are deeply
moving and highly revelatory.
Most artists pursuing the sort of strategy that Adams opted to employ for Easy Tiger are in the later stages of their careers. The tactic is meant to
reinvigorate interest in once-important stars who long ago lost their way.
Considering that he only recently turned 32, it’s a little alarming that Adams
already has had to resort to this trick. Given the ground he has covered,
however, it increasingly has become necessary for him not only to take stock of
where he has been so that he can plot his next move, but also to solidify his
base of fans in order to pique the interest of those who have found him too
unfocused to tolerate. In the end, Easy Tiger might not contain the best
or the boldest work of Adams’ career, but it is precisely the album that he
needed to make.  ½
Easy Tiger is available from Amazon.com.
To order, Click Here!
For Canadian orders, please
Click Here!
For UK orders, please
Click Here!
Ratings
1 Star: Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!
Copyright © 2007 The Music Box
|
