 |
Released just a few months before this album, Ryan Adams' double CD set "Cold Roses" was a nice change in pace from his more recent, relatively sub-par material (comparing his last few records with his music from Whiskeytown and his first solo release, "Heartbreaker"). On "Cold Roses," Adams presented us, the listeners, to his new backing band, The Cardinals, and although it was still somewhat overproduced, it retained many of the qualities that made Whiskeytown's albums and "Heartbreaker" such good records. So it is not too surprising that the release of "Jacksonville City Nights" (his second of three albums to be released in 2005) is more of a turn toward true country music than what his last release had become. No, "Jacksonville City Nights" still does not completely sound like classic Adams, but is a sure step in the right direction and is easily his best and most enjoyable release since "Heartbreaker." The album starts out by pulling into a run down old truck stop with a very nice, melodic honky-tonk barroom ballad, "A Kiss Before I Go." One of the high points of the album, it gives the listener a pretty decent idea of how the latter part of the album will progress. "The End" is just as fun and clever as the previous tune, and Adams belts the lyrics from his soul. But it is on track three, "Hard Way to Fall," where "Jacksonville City Nights" starts to fall. The strings and piano at times seem to hinder what could be excellent music and feel much too out of place for a traditional country and western record. They do not, however, completely ruin the album's pace and Adams still succeeds to get his lyrical points across to the listeners. I will admit that I miss Ryan's solo acoustic music quite a bit. Sure, "Dear John" (featuring a duet with Norah Jones) is a pleasant, blissful tune, but others like "The Hardest Part" (being as overproduced as it is) ruin the pace of the record significantly. Many tracks like "Silver Bullets" start out wonderfully, consisting of just a piano or acoustic guitar and Adams' earnest singing voice, but these also eventually become much too overbearing with extra, unneeded background noise in expected places. But background noise aside, "Jacksonville City Nights" is still a fun *** country record. Judging by his last few releases, it almost looks as though this will be as close to "Heartbreaker" as we will get. I have a feeling this could have been an astonishingly good record if it wasn't for the cheesy studio effects.Read full review
This lp is one of 3 that Adams released in the year. Songwriting seems to come easy for him. I feel he is one of the most underrated musicial talents of his generation. He cannot be easily catorigized, so therefore radio doesnt really know what to do with him, so he isnt played much on the airwaves. Its a shame really as he has put out some of the best music over the last 10 years or so. This lp has more of a country tinged sound. Maybe fans of Whiskeytown will enjoy this disc as it seems to harken back to that sound
Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- Best Selling in CDs
Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- Save on CDs
Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- You may also like
