The Spinning Room
By Rob Browning

Ryan Adams
Gold
Lost Highway Records
I knew something was up at last year’s Bloodshot BBQ at Brownies. The place was packed at two in the afternoon to hear Ryan Adams, when three months previously at Mercury it was empty. Maybe it was writing an album about his tempestuous relationship with a staffer at hipster management firm Nasty Little Man, but the publicity engine is burning nitro and people can’t shut up about Ryan and this record. Makes you wonder what they’d do if this was actually one of his better records.

Last year’s Heartbreaker was the product of his time in Nashville, but Gold is straight up Los Angeles. He’s evidently been sleeping with Winona Ryder, and fellow Los Angeles songwriter casualty Adam Duritz pops up in the proceedings, too. Elton John plays Rocket Man with him on his encores, for chrissakes!! Not a good sign. This is a man in need of a producer that can keep him on track and get him to focus on one set of songs, rather than the song that he just wrote over coffee. Gold is record that is frankly, the portrait of an artist who is firmly up his own ass. Ryan’s shows recently have really suffered from his tendency to serve up half-baked songs as chocolate layer cake. Heartbreaker had one good song, and there are less than that on Gold. The songs have promise, and reflect his influences at the time, but aren’t really all there melodically or lyrically. Rhett Miller’s new stuff may be poppy, but at least it’s polished.

Gold has song after song of second rate Neil Young by way of Bob Dylan rock that sounds the same and is pretty boring to boot. Were he not coasting on the notoriety of Whiskeytown, no one would care about this record. Plus it’s far, far too long. There’s even a two record version with more songs that sound indistinguishable from the ones of on the single version. Why? Because someone is trying to get a new Elliott Smith and "shift some units". Someone get Don Was on the line and Alejandro Escoveda back in the fold, this is a fool’s Gold.

Dismemberment Plan
Change
Desoto Records
The Dismemberment Plan had a brief affair with Interscope Records a couple years ago that didn’t do them much harm save for the fact that they had been playing the songs live for a year before the record actually came out. Then they started playing the songs from Change live for eight months prior to it coming out. In both instances, you got so used to hearing the songs live that it was a shock hearing them all prettied up in the studio.

Personally, it’s the vocals that are the most striking. Songs like Time Bomb and Ellen and Ben has been popping up in live shows for a long time, and hearing them with the vocal processing invokes 70s prog rock in a big way, especially Peter Gabriel’s tenure with Genesis. Sonically, Change is some serious ear candy, once again the result of their long time production team of J. Robbins and Chad Clark. Fusing the Plan’s prog-rock tendencies with their love of contemporary dance music is no easy task to capture, but these two make it look easy. That’s due in no small part to the drumming of Joe Easley, who you might surmise has an extra arm by the way he churns out ridiculously fast drum and bass influenced rhythms. These boys have played together for a long time, and it shows.

Despite the record’s name, there’s not a lot of change in the Dismemberment Plan’s sound. They sound more mature, but I think the change lies more in them personally then the music. There are few bands that can be said to be truly original, and the Dismemberment Plan are one of them. Change your habits and pick up Change.

Drive By Truckers
Southern Rock Opera
Soul Dump Records
Well this is what my Dad would call "an ambitious endeavor". Patterson Hood, singer and main songwriter of the Drive By Truckers is a proud son of Alabama. His Dad David was co-owner of Muscle Shoals studio and house bassist to boot, giving Patterson unique insight to the Southern music of the time. One of those bands was Lynyrd Skynyrd, who fostered a Southern Rock epiphany for Patterson and prompted him to consider writing a rock opera about growing up in the South in the 70s and how Skynyrd was an integral part of it. Lest you think this was just a drunken weekend indulgence, the Drive By Truckers morphed into a bona-fide three guitar threat, the better to approximate the power and bombast of the band. The record was written in the guise of a fictional band called Betamax Guillotine, after the legend that Skynyrd singer Ronnie Van Zandt was killed in the infamous plane crash by the Betamax mounted behind his seat. Disagree with the title, but you can’t argue with the attention to detail, much of which was provided by Skynyrd intimate Dick Cooper.

So is this a Southern Rock Kid A, you ask, all concept and no substance? Blessedly no. While it’s a tad long, its also has some of the best Drive By Truckers songs yet in Let There Be Rock and Ronnie and Neil. While the concept is Patterson’s, his best friend, co-guitarist and band stroker ace Mike Cooley really steps up to the plate, too, weighing in with some of the album’s best songs. Canadian chanteuse Kelly Hogan also guests in the role of Cassie Gaines, background singer and brother of Skynyrd guitarist Steve Gaines. It’s not everyday that you get a record with great songs and learn something, too. Buy it for the rock, appreciate for the history, but get off your Yankee ass and buy yourself the South Rock Opera.

Hey Mercedes
Everynight Fire Works
Vagrant Records
So you probably know that Hey Mercedes is * of deceased Midwest rockers Braid. I guess the loss of remaining * Chris Broach is our gain. Despite it’ s silly title, Everynight Fire Works is a great record. I want to be around 20 years from now when the guys who give their albums silly titles have to explain them to their children. Singer Bob Nanna has really flourished now that he’s the only writer in the franchise. We saw the progression through the last Braid record, Frame and Canvas through the first EP. Everynight Fire Works is the document of a band that is hitting their stride. It’s not all that far of a stretch to compare Bob Nanna with a young Michael Stipe, not necessarily in lyrical content but definitely artistically. Mark my words. Our Weekend Starts On Wednesday is the type of gem that would have torn up 120 Minutes 10 years ago. You won’t see them on MTV, and for all the benefits of being on Vagrant, I had a hell of a time finding it in stores but these Fireworks are well worth seeking out.