Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Album: Ryan Adams, Ashes & Fire (Columbia)

 

Andy Gill
Friday 07 October 2011 00:00 BST
Comments

Ryan Adams's career continues to meander through a doldrums sharply at odds with the verve exhibited on his early Heartbreaker and Gold albums.

Here, despite reverting to his core country-rock mode, he fails to rouse much interest, Glyn Johns's production lending a honeyed sheen to songs that frankly don't deserve it. There's an air of bogus tenderness about both the material and Adams's delivery, the general "poor pitiful me" attitude crystallised on tracks such as "Save Me" and "Chains of Love"; and although he might employ imagery of "stars exploding" in "Dirty Rain", he manages to make it sound about as interesting as accountancy. "Ashes & Fire" itself has the genially rollicking tone of his old Whiskeytown stuff, and the elemental metaphors of "Rocks" are pleasantly underscored with strings; but there's barely a shred of truly memorable content here.

DOWNLOAD THIS: Ashes & Fire; Rocks

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in