1001 Albums Summary

-like a button down shirt had a bad dream and wrote an album about it. -this band had themselves figured out from day 1. A fully formed, unique style in a debut album. -file under "so square it's funky." A truly punk rock approach to r&b. -no skips. -really sounds like NYC in the late 70s, but also so influential you can hear a glimpse of what 80s new wave will be. Many people copied this sound, but no one did it as well. -say what you will about Byrne, but the guy has no inhibitions on his voice. -it would be hard to name a better rhythm section in rock music in the 70s.

The opening dialogue says a couple things about Ryan Adams. 1) this guy is an insufferable record collector who will "well actually..." you in a heartbeat. 2) this guy is like Morrissey: a self-absorbed quasi-literati who is half as clever as his confidence belies. I suppose any redeeming value of this album comes from Ryan Adams's occasional ability to cosplay better musicians. "To Be Young" starts off as a faithful photocopy of Bringing it Back Home/Highway 61 jump blues, then veers into a B section that is a note-for-note lift of "Girl From the North Country." By the time he reaches the bridge, I'm convinced Adams is missing the point of strophic form; he is trying so hard to convince you of his credibility, but it's such a postmodern hodgepodge of dad rock signifiers it reveals the opposite, that he's rooted in no tradition whatsoever. "Damn Sam (I Love a Woman That Rains)" is such an embarrassing rewrite of "Just Like a Woman" it gives me a fully body cringe just typing out the title. I would point out the more obvious and elegant phrasing would be "I love a woman WHO rains," but who am I to argue with someone who would win an Olympic gold medal in objectifying women. We have learned far too much about this guy's atrocious behavior over the past 20+ years to separate this artist from this art. From what I can tell, basically every song is either "I need a woman to take care of me and let me be a bad boy" or "I hate this specific woman" or some combination of both. Maybe this would be a worthwhile listen if you've scraped the bottom of the barrel on every Bob Dylan and Neil Young b-side and outtake you could find and still want more. But I can't understand why you would want Diet Dylan if you can get the full flavor.

I love the Kinks, but they pushed the whimsy faders into the red on this one. Some good songs, but also some weird retvrn-syle English nationalism.

If a middle schooler drew a dick on their notebook and that dick came to life and started a band, it would sound like this.