| Gold
will only heighten Ryan Adam's current role as one of
the great voices in the genre of alternative country.
But like all great art, Gold should also serve
to surprise and confuse the expectations of those who've
been quick to place labels on the extremely talented
and prolific former leader of the now-legendary Whiskeytown,
arguably the greatest post-Gram alt-country band to
come down the musical pike.
Heartbreaker,
Adams' critically-acclaimed debut solo LP for the
Chicago-based Bloodshot indie label, and Pneumonia,
Whiskeytown's long-delayed, much-bootlegged third
LP swansong, were often introspective, more downbeat
affairs. But all it takes is one listen to the Pete
Townshend-like power chords and '60s soul organ that
dominate the album's opening track, "New York,
New York" -- or the happy-go-lucky, take-no-prisoner
harmonica on "Firecracker" with its "Let
me be your baby tonight" chorus -- to alert the
listener to the fact that Gold is going to
be anything but a sad affair.
"I
just think it happened that way," he says. "It
wasn't a bad idea, considering I already made a really
bummer record. But I was on my way to making another
bummer record, and it just didn't come out like that."
Even the ballads on Gold, like "Sylvia
Plath", have a decidedly Neil Young-ish quality
to them.
The album's title could refer to all the eclectic
classic styles that have made their way onto Gold,
as well as that archetypal golden jukebox of rock
songs that have most influenced Adams. Not to mention
the literary ambitions his English teacher mom instilled
in her son who dropped out of school in the 10th grade
to form the punk band the Patti Duke Syndrome
Of
course, Gold has a myriad of meanings -- and
Adams also likes to point out that Gold is "what
the buildings and streets look like in L.A. when the
sun goes down." And, indeed, if Heartbreaker
was Ryan Adams' New York album, dealing with a lost
love there, then Gold is certainly the North
Carolina native's take on Los Angeles; opening with
a song called "New York, New York," concluding
with "Goodnight Hollywood Boulevard," with
songs like "La Cienega Just Smiled" in-between,
certainly makes that apparent. "I don't really
live anywhere; I'm just sort of transient right now,"
he says of the city he's recently adopted as home.
"But for all intensive purposes, I guess I'm
in L.A. for now. It's where I fly back to when I'm
done touring or working."
Adam's entered Hollywood's Sound Factory late last
spring with friend and Heartbreaker producer Ethan
Johns (who also drums and plays rhythm guitar -- "He
and I are one hot, nasty rhythm section without a
bassist" -- on Gold). The only other consistent
through most of the 16 tracks are Jen Condos and Milos
DeCruz (sp?) trading bass duties, and Chris Stills,
a talented singer-songwriter in his own right (and
the son of Stephen Stills), who contributes lead guitar
and "fills in the blanks." Other than that,
it was a hodgepodge of guests who made their way onto
the album, including Tom Petty keyboardist Benmont
Tench, singer CeeCee White and Counting Crows leader
Adam Duritz, among others. "If you happened to
be in the studio, you played," he laughs.
Although
Adams recently confessed to the New York Times that
Gold is meant as an open letter for me and
this one other person in the entire world, who shall
go unnamed; the record's for her, not that she cares,"
he says he prefers to let the songs on Gold
just speak for themselves. "I want people to
come up with their own ideas and interpretations,"
he says. "It's too personal for me to talk about
what they mean. I'm luckily in a situation where as
soon as I'm done creating something, I'm usually onto
making something else. So I'm not spending that much
time self-analyzing these days.
"I
do think the process of forgiving myself is really
evident on this one. The songs aren't self-loathing
or self-destructive. This record is more about making
amends with things and really facing them. And it's
more upbeat because I think I'm giving myself some
air to breathe. I'm giving myself a chance to look
at everything around me and not just be the victim.
A lot of the subject matter is more of me describing
things as trying to make sense of them as opposed
to just talking about what goes down and the emotions
I feel.
"But
I do have two new rules. One is not to analyze what
I write. The second is not to read my own press. I
just want to make it and not fuss about it. No excuses
for it. Just make it and there it is. That way, the
process is more pure. And even if people hate it,
well, it doesn't matter. Because I'm just doing it
to do it."
And
in the process, Ryan Adams is making musical gold.
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