I know I am a bit late to this party, but with a good friend's recommendation, I bought a copy of "Rock N Roll" by Ryan Adams. This album has done pretty well with the critics, but for whatever reason, I had never given Adams much of a chance. As it turns out, Adams is not only good, but he forces me to break my own rules. He has a song on "Rock N Roll" called "Wish You Were Here" which I had officially put a moratorium on as a title after Incubus called one of their songs that a couple years ago. The fact is the only "Wish You Were Here" is by Pink Floyd. Strangely enough, after hearing Adams' unoriginally titled song, I don't feel too bad about the name.

This album is just straight up rock, reminiscent of Paul Westerberg solo stuff, but it definitely has more of an emotional edge, and never reaches the pop heights that Westerberg did. "This is It" is a good opener, and has a Foo Fighter-esque ending, in my opinion. I don't know if that is appropriate in the chicken or the egg sense, but to me it makes the most sense. Adams gets playful with songs like "Note to Self: Don't Die" and "Do Miss America" but the album is made with the less sarcastic tracks.

The highlights of the album are "So Alive" which reaches the greatest melodic and emotional heights on the album and the title track "Rock N Roll." On "So Alive" Adams voice is possibly reminiscent of Joshua Tree era Bono. The thing is that it doesn't sound forced or like an impression or anything. "Rock N Roll" is a two-minute low-fi track, which catalogs all the various lows, which might be felt. It doesn't come off like a laundry list, and at two minutes with a sample of a girl saying the same thing over and over to finish the track, I can't figure out quite why it is so powerful to me.

Anyway, check out this album. It is solid from beginning to end, and has made me a Ryan Adams fan. I will be checking out the Love is Hell EP's shortly.

To be continued...