Reviews
Adam Green
Jacket Full of Danger
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Add to del.ico.us.Review Date: 2006-05-30
When I first started working at the call centre, the girl I became closest with was named Nikki. She was a few years older, extremely confident and seemingly infinitely wiser than me. Soon we started walking home together, getting hammered together and eventually getting high together. Then something happened; like many before her, she literally broke down during a call centre shift and left, and soon thereafter I stopped hearing from here. I still don't know what happened.
Any how, why did I tell that story? Well, Nikki had some of the most peculiar taste in music that I had ever came across. It just seemed so random and the majority of it I either thought was cheesy or didn't like. Odd really, considering that she was dating the owner of the best indie record shop in London. One band she was really into were The Moldy Peaches, who were led by Kimya Dawson and Adam Green. The music was weird, and I couldn't tell if it was meant to be funny or if it just was funny because it was bad. Nikki adored it and seemed to think it was a really great joke that only her and a few select others could appreciate.
Here we are in 2006; Adam Green released Jacket Full of Danger on April 24 and Kimya Dawson's Remember That I Love You dropped on May 7. I haven't had a chance to hear the latter, but out of curiosity I got my hands on Adam Green's record. I'd always read about his solo career and it sounded like he had established a bizarre but intriguing career path for himself. At worst you might call it Richard Cheese without a gimmick, and at best you might say he is a younger version of a legend like Neil Diamond. Or you might just think he is awful, and a simple Google search of reviews of his past albums will reveal that plenty of people do.
Jacket Full of Danger is a lot of things, but what it isn't is boring or overdone. Let's face it: Neil Diamond and those of his ilk aren't going to be around forever, and there will always be people who can appreciate that style of music. Green uses all the tricks, cruising through lounge, country, cabaret, organs; all the time, he does it sounding like an over-confident trashy musician who you would expect to find in a run down bar opening for an Elvis impersonator.
You go through stages listening to the album; at first your jaw just drops as you try to fathom what you are listening to, and then if you get past that you start to appreciate the irony, and if Green is really lucky you'll buy into the experience. Green sings about drugs (often), prostitutes, hairy women, guilty consciences and so much more. All the while his tongue is planted firmly in-cheek -- or is it? That is part of what makes it so fascinating. You laugh hearing Green sing absurdly about his love for narcotics on "Drugs," but part of you wonders just how much of it is a joke. It's probably less than you think. As Green croons you swear he is about to sing about his lost love, but he isn't singing a ballad about her. It is about drugs, which is rather hilarious because any former pothead like myself can relate.
Here is a sample: "I like to do drugs/ I like to have drugs/ I like to hold a cigarette full of grass in my hand/ Until one morning, that ugly morning when the bread got stabbed and the cat got drunk/ Oh my baby couldn't shave me that day/ When my lady threw my drugs away/ Hey I almost thought she'd need me to know/ I like drugs!/ I love them so!/ I like drugs!"
On "Party Line" Adam Green walks between annoying cheese and delicious fun and comes out on the side of fun, thankfully. He even goes as far as finishing his sentences and then adding on another word or vocal effect just to truly emphasize that he is the true modern lounge lizard. Richard Cheese, eat your heart out. Oh and by the way this song is about a prostitute who will do anything with any john but still has one rule she refuses to break; "Those guys stay up on the party line/ They make you cry in every way that you can/ Those guys have money for you anytime/ But you never make out with them." The way it is delivered brings a smirk to your face. but when you really get used to the lyrics underneath it isn't as hilarious as it seems. Music with layers, what a great idea!
Album opener "Pay The Toll" makes me think that if Elvis Presley had lived long enough and survived through what he was putting himself through, he might have ended up in a lounge somewhere singing this instead of Green. Green asks the excellent question "How many drugs does it take to find something to do?" He even incorporates a bloody string section into his lounge act here! How fucked do you have to be to decide to try and pull this off? And how insane is it that it actually works fairly well?
I have to take a step back for a moment and deliver a breath of reality. I am rather fond of Jacket Full of Danger and it is somewhat of a palate cleanser if you will in contrast to all the "indie" music I have been listening to. And that is all well and good, but there are a few duds mixed in with the many solid tracks on the disc. Stay clear of the rather boring "Hey Dude," misguided tribal lounge track "C Birds," and "Animal Dreams," which isn't horrible but is neither absurd enough to stand out or traditional enough to shine.
Thankfully, songs like the first few I mentioned and the marvellous "Cast A Shadow" easily compensate for the few shortcomings. Green is rather cunning in that he keeps these songs concise and avoids -- for the most part -- straying too far from his gimmick. "Cast a Shadow" is less cheese and has a more sincere feel to it. The alliteration on this song screams superiority. (You like what I did there? I had to!) Listening to Green makes you think it is okay to go for something cheesy like that.
So in the end, I guess I did buy into the Adam Green experience and I am happy that I didn't just write it off after my first head-scratching listen. Kudos to you, Green, for doing something nobody else is doing and forging a career out of in spite of the hate. Now if only one of these songs could become a "Sweet Caroline," he'll be set for life.
Tracks to Hear: "Drugs," "Pay the Toll," "Cast a Shadow," "Party Line," "Hairy Women," "Novotel"
Score: 7.9
- Dan