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Customer Reviews of Rock N Roll

Introducing this side of Ryan Adams
Ryan Adams has thrown off the alt-country label for real this time. Rock N Roll is as far from Ryan's Whiskeytown days as he could possibly get. Not that that's a bad thing, it's just very different. Ryan's greatest asset, in my humble opinion, is his voice. I miss hearing it on this album. It's there but you have to listen very hard on most songs to hear it. The catchiest track is "Wish You Were Here", but it is full of profanity which means you shouldn't play it around young kids, or on your computer at work. I suppose that Ryan Adams is trying to make a point, but I hope he's not purposely trying to alienate his long time fans. I'm sure he'll gain legions of new ones. Buy this album, it will become a classic and you'll be glad you have it in your collection. Listen to it a few times and you'll probably grow to love it, just don't expect to on the first listen.

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Ryan's at it Again
Okay so the great Ryan Adams is once again blessing us with pretty much 2 new albums except one is broken up and will be released a 2 EPs. So I'll start with "Rock N'Roll". This is definatley not "Heartbreaker" and in my opinion that's good. Not that I didn't like Heartbreaker but I'm glad to see that Ryan isn't gonna release album after ablum that sound the same. Rock N Roll is definatley that Rock N Roll. I wouldn't say this is Ryan's best work (I think that's yet to come) but it's definately a fresh new sound and some of the songs are very catchy. Songs like "Wish You Were Here", "Burning Photographs", and "Note to Self. Dont Die". Okay now "Love is Hell". This EP is more like Heartbreaker with elements of Gold. Lyrically I think it's a new direction it's not all about Heart break and Loss of Love. Stand out tracks "Political Scientist", "This House is not for Sale", and Avalanche. If you love everything Ryan Adams does you'll love both CDs but if not you may have to adjust to both albums

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An Able Ape
At this point, Ryan Adams must be wondering what it's going to take to establish himself as a mainstream artist. He's dated several movie stars (Winona Ryder and Parker Posey), written a song inextricably linked with a major event in our nation's history ("New York, New York"), and released an album of relentlessly accessible rock songs (Rock N Roll). Still, Adams remains relatively ignored except by music critics and his cult of devoted followers. Since I have no intention of scrutinizing his dalliances with waifish actresses or offering social commentary on post-9/11 America, I'll focus on the third topic - Adams' recent rock album, Rock N Roll.

For an album that contains myriad potential radio hits, Rock N Roll sold rather poorly. Familiar, catchy hooks from the 1970s and 80s lurk within almost every song and perhaps therein lies the problem. By so ably aping his predecessors, Adams fails to establish his own voice as a rock musician. At times, Rock N Roll practically becomes Adams singing karaoke. "So Alive" is a great lost U2 song and Adams does a fine job singing it. Nevertheless, it's a guaranteed number one single with Bono hitting those high notes instead of Adams. "Anybody Wanna Take Me Home" is straight out of the Smiths' songbook, but Adams is less suited to providing vocals here - the song practically begs for Adams to concentrate on his guitar-playing and let Morrissey take over on lead vocals. "Shallow" is a not unpleasant hybrid of T Rex's "Bang a Gong" and the Hollies' "Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress", but doesn't exactly scream originality. Most of the songs are good, but few can be considered great. Not surprisingly, the great ones are the songs that don't obviously recall another artist - "Luminol", "Note to Self: Don't Die", "Wish You Were Here".

With his tendency towards the prolific and fondness for media coverage, Adams may yet attain the mainstream popularity he desires. As far as I can tell, he has two options. On the one hand, he could make a concerted effort to follow his more original musical instincts. The other option would be to start dressing stylishly while continuing to churn out mostly derivative tunes. The latter approach worked like a charm for another band, that is only half as good as Adams is, but of which Adams is inexplicably fond. The next time Adams decrees "This Is It", I want him to be telling the truth.