Adam Again - Ten Songs By Adam Again
1988, Broken
1. Tree House
2. Beat Peculiar
3. Who Can Hold Us?
4. Babylon
5. I've Seen Dominoes
6. Trouble With Lies
7. Ain't No Sunshine
8. Eyes Wide Open
9. Every Word I Say
10. The Tenth Song
I first started listening to Adam Again with Dig, so this album has been out for a LONG time! The dance/funk/jazz style here is a far cry from the meloncholy alt-rock that came later. Personally, I just can't get into this. It's not really the style change though. I think I have a hard time with this disc because the hooks just aren't that apparent to me. I got bored. The songs are long too... a little too long I think. "Beat Peculiar" comes in at over 8 minutes! There just isn't anything that really grabs ahold of me. The songs themselves are alright and I love Gene's voice as much as I always have but this is a total miss for me even though many fans consider it a classic. Eh... maybe it will grow on me. Oh, and good luck finding a copy because it's way out of print and goes for upwards of $50 online.
Useless Fact: Rap group SFC sampled "Beat Peculiar" on A Saved Man (In The Jungle) for the song "Peculiar."
This is still my favorite Adam Again album. But then, I started listening to them with "In A New World Of Time" instead of going backward.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'm the same way -- I just cannot get into this (and I've tried). I had it on cassette years ago; and I downloaded it recently (just to refresh my memory), but soon deleted it when the memory proved beyond refreshing. The songs do tend to be tooooo loooonnng. And there does seem to be something lacking that's hard to put one's finger on.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, there are some artists that are such critic's darlings that everything they do is hailed as a classic or masterpiece (The 77s, Adam Again, Daniel Amos (and nearly any Terry Taylor project), the Choir, Mark Heard, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, et al). I like most of the aforementioned artists, but none of them are as perfect as the critics often imply.
I know much of musical taste is subjective -- but I wonder how many potential fans never took a chance on Homeboys or Dig because some fauning critic's review of one of these early albums so oversold it that the potential fan never trusted another glowing review of an Adam Again album?
Of course, I could be wrong. Maybe this really is... naaaaaahhh!!!