Ryan Adams: Prisoner
Ryan Adams
Prisoner
(Blue Note)
The swirling organ on âDo You Still Love Meâ flows into spiky power chords as Ryan Adams wails about his lover, for the opener of his latest, Prisoner. Supposedly whittling down 8o songs into the 12 here on his 16th solo record, Adams presents his top-notch songsmithing once again in an album made up of songs that came to Ryan during his divorce from Mandy Moore. A harmonica leads âDoomsdayâ to a driving, haunting chorus. Ryanâs vocal delivery is heartbreaking and bare; heâs singing at the top end of his emotion throughout. âShiver and Shakeâ sees Ryan mumbling around a strummed electric, another in an example of producer Don Was and Ryan building these songs simply with instruments slipping in just the right amount of atmosphere. âBreakdown,â a song built around Ryanâs acoustic picking, is very stark, maybe a bit too much actually, with the aforementioned honesty of Adamsâ voice here. You can hear a Tom Petty influence too. I loved the studied lay-of-the-land of this tune, the instruments perfectly placed in the mix and the song just flowing through that plaintive wail. Itâs one of the best tracks here. Prisoner ends with a snappy âWe Disappear.â Adams sings at the top of his range in many points, the big splashy beat chunks us along, not to any place particularly, but itâs a strong tune, especially when the overdriven electric comes slicing in. You need be in a loving-lost frame of mind for the overall lyrics Ryan Adams hits us with on Prisoner, but the production and playing are top rate and he once again shows what a great songwriter and honest singer he is.