Just Don't Call Him Bryan

I wanted to hate Ryan Adams' new album. I really did. But, God help me, "Rock N Roll" (I mean, how can you not hate someone pretentious enough to name their new LP "Rock N Roll?") is very, very good. It starts out decent enough, with a couple good head-bobbing, finger-drumming numbers, some ups, some downs. Then, with what at first seems an abrupt change until you give it a couple listens and realize it was there all along, the album morphs into the best mix tape of late-80's alt-rock that you never heard, as Ryan alternately channels Morrissey, Robert Smith, Paul Westerberg, and that guy from Dinosaur Jr., often all at the same time, with a nice dash of the dear, departed Whiskeytown thrown in for good measure. I mean, just listen to "So Alive," the fifth track: it sounds like it was pulled from a John Hughes soundtrack. Okay, that album title's a bit tough to swallow, but that arrogant bastard somehow manages to live up to it. Great stuff.