If the dictionary employed sounds to define words rather than written descriptions the music of Ryan Adams would feature repeatedly, most likely next to entries for heartbreak, pain and most of their downbeat derivatives.
Singer, songwriter and eternal soldier of love, Adams is never better than when he’s grieving via the medium of song. So, bearing in mind that ‘Prisoner’ is an intense dissection of his divorce from actress Mandy Moore, you know his misery deserves your company.
The end of that relationship shines fresh light on his most recent work and gives ‘Prisoner’ added contextual significance. Now, his 2014 self-titled record resembles a deceptively sad record where arena-rock anthemics belie the fact his marriage was crumbling around him. And following it with a head-scratching, song-for-song cover of Taylor Swift’s ‘1989’ now appears more therapeutic necessity than ill-judged fanboy exercise.
So ‘Prisoner’ arrives as something of a final chapter and post mortem, with Adams still wading through the emotional debris but distant enough to view it with a sense of perspective. There’s a mellifluous helplessness to the title track, crooned with the bleary eyed numbness of Rufus Wainwright as he sings of being incarcerated by his lost love and “waiting on parole”. To Be Without You juxtaposes a sprightly acoustic motif a la Sweet Home Alabama beneath nihilistic lyrics that casually repeat “nothing really matters any more”, leaving you in no doubt how damaged he was.
Every emotional and mental battle is exorcised through deeply personal and mature tracks that owe a huge debt to Bruce Springsteen’s divorce album ‘Tunnel of Love’. Haunted House’s melancholic beauty is the Boss in all but name and the shimmering desolation of Shiver and Shake – “I close my eyes, I see you with some guy, laughing like you never even knew I was alive.” – could be the sad postscript to I’m On Fire’s illicit affair. Smile’s wistful saxophone solo, meanwhile, sounds like Clarence Clemons empathising from beyond the grave.
‘Prisoner’ largely continues the 1980s heartland guitar rock and classic Americana of ‘Ryan Adams’ and, like that record, often finds Adams’ influences so prominent they threaten to overshadow his own musical identity. It’s human nature to find comfort in the familiar during troubled times, but Anything I Say To You Now is too close to the Smiths for comfort and could distract from the storytelling. Ultimately, his skill at using said touchstones to deepen the songs’ emotional resonance wins out and, although walking a tightrope between artistically sage pastiche and obsessive imitation, when the results are as superb and passionately executed as the chest pounding AOR of Do You Still Love Me? he just – just – keeps his balance.
That high wire act also applies to consistently tortured lyrics that could easily descend into dreary repetition. By utilising subtle stylistic nuances, enchanting melodies and wonderful guitar work that often sounds like Johnny Marr caressing Tom Petty’s 12-string Rickenbacker, Adams hurdles that potential obstacle. Besides, his intense focus echoes real life. True heartbreak is revisited day after excruciating day from every imaginable angle as the sufferer tries to answer an unsolvable emotional riddle, with every bittersweet memory a dagger-shaped reminder.
It may not match the idiosyncratic, artistic authenticity of ‘Heartbreaker’ or ‘Love Is Hell’, but ‘Prisoner’ is Adams close to the top of his game and, for all its darkness, represents a successful journey towards acceptance. “You deserve a future and you know I’ll never change,” he sings on closer We Disappear. Like the rest of this album, that final line is music to our ears.
Ryan Adams Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows
Fri September 08 2017 - BELFAST Ulster Hall Belfast
Sat September 09 2017 - CORK Opera House
Mon September 11 2017 - DUBLIN Olympia
Tue September 12 2017 - DUBLIN Olympia
Thu September 14 2017 - MANCHESTER O2 Apollo
Fri September 15 2017 - EDINBURGH Usher Hall
Sun September 17 2017 - GATESHEAD Sage Gateshead
Mon September 18 2017 - LEEDS O2 Academy Leeds
Fri September 22 2017 - LONDON Royal Albert Hall
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