RYAN ADAMS – ROCK N ROLL
[LOST HIGHWAY]
Ryan Adams is still sad, but now he’s really pissed off too. Finished recording the follow-up to 2001’s Gold, record execs at Lost Highway told him it sounded too much like The Smiths. Adams replied, "That's a huge fucking compliment. Of course you don't like it. You live in Nashville!". Rejected, Ryan went back and banged out his loudest, angriest record to date, Rock N Roll.
Adams has never rocked like this. The ringing, soaring guitar on the first single, 'So Alive', recall The Edge from U2’s earlier albums. Ryan explores new range vocally, sounding like a resurrected Jeff Buckley on 'So Alive' and 'Anybody Wanna Take Me Home?'. Lyrically, the album still isn’t "happy", but Adams displays the same satirical swagger as his hero, Morrissey. Lines like, “If I had a car I’d drive straight into the window of a bank I owed money to� from 'Burning Photographs' and tracks like 'Note To Self: Don’t Die', 'Do Miss America', 'Luminol' and 'Boys' show Ryan’s manic depressive humour.
Ironically, the one break from the rock is the title track. This beautiful two minutes of piano, Ryan’s defeated voice and an inaudible sample of a woman’s voice will make you breakdown.
4/5
