Saturday, November 15th, 2003

Shallow

As predicted, I was able to find a used copy of Ryan Adams’ love-it-or-hate-it Rock N Roll just a week after release. And you know what? I neither love it nor hate it. It’s a pastiche of rock styles from the late 70s through 80s and some homages work better than others. The T-Rex stomping riff-rockers don’t work so well – no fault of Adams’, really, but it’s tough for anyone not named Marc Bolan to make songs like that sound anything beyond ordinary. He’s more successful with his janglier-sounding numbers, in the vein of The Replacements or U2. Yeah, U2. Maybe a third of this album is what I’d call decent to good material, the rest is pretty disposable. I think Lost Highway screwed up by making this one the full-length and Love Is Hell the EPs, but since we’re getting the whole of Love Is Hell eventually, it doesn’t really matter.

Going to see Liz Phair’s instore at Sunrise Records this afternoon, and then her show with Wheat this evening. Do I go to praise her or bury her? I’m not sure yet. I do feel more ambivalence towards this show than anticipation. I will expand on this after the show. Don’t expect pictures, though – I don’t trust the cam to not get confiscated by The Guvernment’s goonie security chimps.

np – Ryan Adams / Rock N Roll

By : Frank Yang at 11:27 am
Category: Uncategorized
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  1. 11/16/03 10:36 am

     sam says:

    are they gonna release a love is hell comp at some point?

    i want the ep’s but right now my stores don’t have them. oh, wait. i’m going to montreal in two weeks. gonna look it up.

    but my original question still stands, i guess.

  2. 11/16/03 11:07 am

     Frank says:

    I don’t think there’s going to be a comp. The first EP has 8 tracks, clocks in at 35 minutes and was going for $7 at Sunrise on Yonge St. If the second EP is the same, you’re looking at 16 tracks, 70 minutes of music for $14. You can’t beat that with a stick.

    Which makes me wonder about the accounting at Lost Highway… all said and done, the thing will retail for less than a regular new single CD but have double the manufacturing/distribution costs. And record companies complain they’re losing money?

  3. 11/18/03 10:51 am

     sam says:

    yeah well, we’re not gonna tell them that, now, will we?

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