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Reviews

What Happened?

The Lone Sharks

Nine Lives

Steve Winwood

Moneyland

Various Artists

I'm Not There (Original Soundtrack)

Various Artists

Home Before Dark

Neil Diamond

Toby Keith's 35 BIGGEST Hits

Toby Keith

It's A Shame About Ray (Collector's Edition)

The Lemonheads

About a Son

Otis Blue (Collector's Edition)

Otis Redding

Wood Brothers

Heartbreaker

Ryan Adams

Factions of the New York press have been less than kind to Ryan Adams ever since he went solo, and this album might be the primary reason for their griping. Somehow, Adams was lauded as the ‘next big thing’ around these parts, but there is precious little evidence here to understand why, or how, that happened. It’s not that the album is bad, it’s just that it isn’t particularly good. After some ridiculously unnecessary banter about a Morrissey track @ something that might have seemed like a good idea at the time but is ultimately annoying as all hell, especially after repeated listenings @ the album kicks off rather promisingly. “To Be Young (Is to Be Sad, Is to Be High)” strangles some new life out of Blonde On Blonde-era Dylan, and the next few tracks hold up well also. “Amy” toys with orchestration rather nicely, and Emmylou Harris’ assist on “Oh My Sweet Carolina” salvages the song, and perhaps even makes it sound special. From that point on, things drift downhill.

I say ‘drift’ because the album hardly shows enough life to do so under its own momentum. Heartbreaker suffers from an excess of dirge-like material. From track 6 through track 11, the pace slows to a crawl, and there is hardly a memorable song in the batch. The album starts losing its pulse as it progresses, until by midpoint it sounds in need of life support. “Shakedown on 9th Street” (track 12) attempts resuscitation, but it’s too little, too late. By the time the album dawdles its way to the finish, I start thinking that maybe Euthanasia wouldn’t be such a bad thing. Add in poetic insights like “I’m as calm as a fruit stand in New York, and maybe as strange” and you might understand the perspective of N.Y. critics. In a nutshell, Heartbreaker is an album that promises much more than it delivers.
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