RYAN ADAMS Prisoner
( Pax Americana)
On his 16th(!) album, Prisoner, Ryan Adams wears his heartache on his sleeve. A quick perusal of the track titles(“ Do You Still Love Me?,”“ To Be Without You,”“ Breakdown”) leaves little doubt that the mood here is decidedly maudlin. In fact, Adams makes no effort to mask the considerable toll his recent divorce has exacted. The 12 songs here rarely encroach mid-tempo, playing out in headache grey tones that refuse to let in any sunlight. The complexity and depth of the subject matter is amplified by the simplicity of the arrangements. There is simply nowhere for the sorrow to hide. When Adams pulls himself from the wreckage of the beautifully painful line“ I close my eyes, I see you with some guy / Laughing like you never even knew I was alive”(“ Shiver and Shake”) without coughing up blood, it somehow feels like the most morbid of victories. Throughout, Prisoner is unapologetically in love with its sadness. After a break-up this devastating, it is seemingly the only possession – debilitating as it is – that Adams has left.
– Curt Baran
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DEF LEPPARD And There Will Be A Next Time Live From Detroit( CD / DVD)( Eagle Rock)
With the exception of the Viva Hysteria shows celebrating the diamond-selling album that shares the same name, Def Leppard hasn’ t filmed a proper concert tour in nearly 30 years. Available on Bluray and DVD( both of which come bundled with a double CD soundtrack), And There Will Be A Next Time … Live From
24 illinoisentertainer. com march 2017
Detroit finally gives fans a career-spanning update beyond the Live: In The Round, In Your Face VHS, and surprisingly, the guys sound pretty close to how they did in those days. As a result, the newer kick-off track“ Let’ s Go” and“ Dangerous”( both of which return in
music video format as bonus features alongside“ Man Enough” and“ We Belong”) sound like they were plucked directly out of the‘ 80s and fall right in line with melodic rockers“ Animal” and“ Pour Some Sugar On Me.” Of course, Def Leppard also delivers all the other key hits along the way, wisely skipping any distracting special effects or interview interruptions for a lean, no-frills format. Even so, And There Wil Be A Next Time … is never short on clichés, but if the audience participation level is any indication, the cookie-cutter choruses and hair band bravado only amplify everyone’ s“ Hysteria.” In fact, it’ s those longtime listeners and the millions of others out there that this release is intended to please, and right up through the encores“ Rock Of Ages” and“ Photograph,” that straightforward mission is clearly accomplished.
– Andy Argyrakis Appearing with Poison and Tesla on 6 / 24 at Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre, Tinley Park
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DAN HICKS & THE HOT LICKS Greatest Licks- I Feel Like Singing
( Surfdog)
When Dan Hicks passed away one year ago, the world lost an idiosyncratic musical treasure. He was beloved, but probably not beloved enough. This collection of studio cuts, new tion of studio cuts, new arrangements and great-sounding live cuts is a fine introduction to Hicks’ good-natured but wry worldview and his infectious blend of pop, jazz, cabaret, roots music and swing. Many‘ 80s kids learned about Hicks through Thomas Dolby’ s moody and brooding piano-based cover of“ I Scare Myself,” originally released on Hicks’ 1969 debut Original Recordings and reprised on 1972’ s Striking it Rich. The version included here blends New Orleans instrumentation and a heavy drum sample with the song’ s original samba rhythm, amplifying the sexual tension with call-and-response between Hicks and one of his Hot Licks vocalists. A concert recording of“ Where’ s the Money” is followed by Hicks’ hilarious send-up of an audience cat-caller with an impromptu parody of“ Don’ t Get Around Much Anymore.” During the contrarian“ I Don’ t Want Love,” Hicks names all the culinary favorites he’ s unwilling to give up for romance. Hicks toys further with affairs of the heart and uncorks his bona fide yodeling chops during the two-stepper“ How Can I Miss You When You Won ' t Go Away?” He cracks up during an impression of Tom Waits before trying out a folkjazz cha-cha arrangement of Waits’“ The Piano Has Been Drinkin’.”“ It’ s hard to think with a lot on your mind,” chirp the Hot Licks on“ Hey Bartender.” The recording catalog of Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks spans 44 years. The group’ s fine later material is represented by the tongue-twisting scat singing of the title track from 2009’ s Tangled Tales and a bonus cut of the album’ s forlorn flapper-styled“ The Blues My Naughty Baby Gave to Me.”“ On my dying day I will explain to the world how lucky they have been to be alive the same time as me,” said Hicks in 2013. He was more inclined to self-effacing humor than braggadocio, but listening to this collection supports the point.
– Jeff Elbel
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DREADZONE Dread Times
( Dubweiser)
Dreadzone brings together members of Mick Jones ' rhythm section from Big Audio Dynamite and assorted DJs and musicians from the B. A. D. family universe. While operating in the same electro-dub reggae zone as their contemporaries, Dub Pistols, the band has primarily flown under the radar in the States, but Dreadzone ' s early sponsors included John Peel and Creation Records ' Alan McGee. Now on their 8th album, it was obvious to those early champions that Dreadzone had the chops for a long career. 25 years later and the one-two punch of " Rootsman " and " Mountain " will be the best ambient reggae vibes you ' ll hear all year. The former is heartened by massive hooks and MC Spee ' s Yello-style flow that demand to be played on repeat. The chilling " 16 Hole " could be a soundtrack to Chicago ' s senseless gun violence in 2017. Beneath a galloping d & b-reggae vibe, it warns " rude boys don ' t take your guns to town." " Black Deus " yolks straight electrocore beats with samples of MLK and Malcom X vocal drops. Hopefully somebody is listening, and taking dread advice to heart. Like a few other songs from this West London band, Dreadzone gets a little too laid back and repetitive for for its own good. " Music Army " suffers with its ragganursery rhymes that might be better left for a remix album. Considering the political turmoil in the U. K. and the U. S., for a brief moment, Dread Times lets us forget all about it, and that ' s no small feat.
– John Vernon
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COLIN HAY Fierce Mercy
( Compass)
Colin Hay left Men at Work behind with his 1987 solo debut, Looking for Jack. By all accounts it was an optimistic time. How could the frontman for one of the‘ 80s biggest smash successes fail? Hay spent some wilderness years after that solo spark failed to ignite. 30 years later, however, Hay’ s legacy has grown toward richlydeserved acclaim – one song, album, and wise-cracking one-man show at a time. 2015’ s Next Year People was a tower of song that centered upon its title track, a tale of folk who had lost every good thing but kept striving toward slim hope for a better tomorrow.“ The Last to Know” from Hay’ s lucky 13th solo album Fierce Mercy suggests that gut-wrenching experiences of different kinds might even be good for you, if you’ ll at least slow down and absorb whatever wisdom they offer. Like the old saying goes,“ Whatever doesn’ t kill me …”“ Come Tumblin’ Down” is Nashvillemeets-New Orleans folk-rock to celebrate your personal apocalypse, and encouragement to have the heart to care about the essentials when life dishes out too much gloom and destruction.“ I dropped a coin in the wishing well, but it’ s a long time dry,” Hay begins. Later, he surveys glittering towers brought low.“ It’ s not worth all that much,” he concludes. It’ s better, then, to keep on dancing. At 63, Hay’ s voice remains paradoxically youthful and strong, hitting keening high notes that once sent shivers through“ Overkill” and applying them to heart-tugging, emotive melodies. If there’ s any track here that draws a thread to Men at Work, it’ s“ Secret Love,” sharing wisps of the Spanish flair running through the tragic tale of“ Maria” from Two Hearts. More often, though, we hear from the deep
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