Just Chill

This time out we'll go through a very chill collection: another outing from John Adams (this time The Death Of Klinghoffer, Johnny Adams' Johnny Adams Sings Doc Pomus - The Real Me, and Ryan Adams' Heartbreaker


. All in all these make a great listen for a lazy weekend afternoon.  This post also has the grand debut (for my site anyways) of Lala widgets: this site allows you to post full recordings (not just 30 second snippets) to websites as well as stream most or all of an album online (although I think it limits you to somewhere between 1 and 5 listens before asking you to pay) depending on the licensing agreement.  (Lala is no more, sadly).  Personally, I think this could have led to great things for music reviews in new media, no longer does the reader need to rely on just the word of the reviewer or a short snippet of song but they can preview the album for themselves before spending money on it.  A similar method is how I grew much of my collection during college: I would hear a song on a compilation CD and like it so much I went ahead and got the whole album.  This did garner mixed results but with the arrival of the site and other advances in new media the long term future looks rosy for music.  That all being said I will try and post my favorite songs (trying to limit it to 3 or less) of each album I discuss.

 I've always had a trouble understanding opera but shook it off as my inability to understand Italian.  So, you'd think I'd be better able to understand an English opera such as 'The of Klinghoffer' but you'd be wrong, I still had a hard time understanding what was going on, mostly because the singing is at a much higher pitch than I've trained my ears for.  Aside from that, the final result is exquisite, Adams dramatizes the ist hijacking of the cruise ship 'Achille Lauro' which resulted in the of one hostage, Leon Klinghoffer, an American who was sailing with his wife to celebrate an anniversary, and the arrest and extradition of those responsible for his .
    The opera starts off with a couple familiar selections, repeated from Harmoniums: the chorus' of the exiled Palestinians and Jews "contrasting," as one reviewer puts it, "the plight of impoverished Palestinians with the middle class luxury of American Jews". The exiled Jews start with getting out of a taxi and worrying about luggage while the Palestinians start with the loss of a family home.  The opera moves into the actual story with each scene being recounted from the view of different people, including the Captain, one of the ists and Klinghoffer's wife.
    While the subject matter isn't necessarily very relaxing, the music itself is and lends itself greatly to a relaxing day.

Pomus was a songwriter/singer who was responsible for such songs as "This Magic Moment" and "Viva Las Vegas" and "Teenager in Love" usually with a partner; he has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame.  In this selection Johnny Adams performs several of his songs including "My Baby's Quit Me".  Adams been covering Pomus' for years when he approached Pomus to write some new songs resulting in this collection which does work, covering the usual gamut of blues topics from love to heartbreak and unhappiness. Adams' vocals are great, he emotes the yearning and ache of the material superbly.  One example is the more upbeat "My Baby's Quit Me" detailing the shambles the narrators life becomes after his baby leaves him, including the faucets all springing a leak.  This is a stellar addition to the lazy afternoon collection.

Johnny Adams – My Baby's Quit Me

Finally, Ryan Adams closes out our relaxation with 'Heartbreaker'. Adams' debut has it's folk roots near the surface with gritty vocals and scratchy guitars.  Adams covers several styles throughout the album including country, rock, and folk with the folk roots being most evident in "Bartering Line" which has a sound very reminiscent of "16 Tons" in my mind.  He has been polishing his craft for a long time and it shows in this album, now if he just get a decent editor he would probably have great success.

Edit (August 2011):  Unfortunately  Lala is now defunct.  Reset the links to Spotify, some samples available via Amazon widget on the right