One breaks my body and the other breaks my soul
This one is a recent purchase for me . Although released in 2001 I picked it up second hand only a few months back.
Putting on the opening track, ¨New York, New York¨, makes you feel like getting in the car and cruising down the highway. Semi-acoustic guitar, coupled with rhythm and gusto that inspires to move things along. Ryan Adams has a great voice with a guttural sound that matches well with the gusto of the song.
A great opener for the cd. In researching the song I found out it had an interesting history as well but I will leave you to research that one.
When I heard the second track, ¨Firecracker¨, I almost took the cd out of the player. Harmonica!! Surely only Bob Dylan or Neil Young play harmonica on their music. How dare someone else try that on me.
But….. I grew to like it and now it is one of my favourite tracks on ¨Gold¨. It comes in under three minutes but somehow it still manages to fit in a bridge before the last harmonica piece. Great!
And of course, the obligatory ballads ¨La Cienega Just Smiled¨ and ¨Sylvia Plath¨,together with Ryan’s voice tuned down to a smokey crawl really sealed the deal on this album for me.
Playing through the tracks many ranges and styles are scattered throughout. Gospel, Rock, Country and blues are styles that can be recognised after successive listens.
My recommendation, as mentioned above, is to put this CD while in the car on a long drive and put it up loud.
Then, take it home late one night and give it another listen and its almost like two different albums when you do this. Most impressive and recommended.