A limited edition release.
The past is another country, as L.P. Hartley almost said, and here Glasgow singer and songwriter Chris Adams does his best to prove him right. Adams, a Glasgow beat, hippie, rock star and producer once shared management and label with the likes of Genesis in the seventies.
His band String Driven Thing graced the pages of Rolling Stone and NME and almost made it big time. Since then he has occasionally resurfaced, has been big in Europe and has most recently grabbed history by the collar and revamped his website amid acclaimed re-releases of his back catalogue. Here, on an album suffused with nostalgia, he digs into that past to produce a set that talks to the baby boomer years in much the same way as many of his American contemporaries have been doing as they revisit their own histories. Without the trademark violin sound that characterised the String Driven Thing's heyday this is an album of mature, reflective songs superbly played by a very simpatico band. The sound is warm, bluesy and rootsy with a southern flavour.
One is reminded of recent releases by Gurf Morlix or Colin Linden (of Blackie and the Rodeo Kings). Adams' vocals have an attractive weathered quality and at times he approaches the gruffness of the late John Martyn or the idiosyncrasies of latter Dylan, especially on the final song, "Love Dies." As mentioned, much of the album consists of reportage or impressions of Adams' formative years. Amid verbal nods to his heroes (including the Beatles, the Stones and the Byrds) he recalls events in places as diverse as Glasgow, Dublin and New York.
"Kelvin Way" is a gorgeous essay on the frailties of memory and with its emphasis on the descriptions of the landscape of the park and the journey there could be an outtake from an early Van Morrison album if Van had come from Glasgow. Adams repeats this on "Grisham Hotel" where he actually visits Morrison's territory. Again, the lyrics are evocative, impressionistic and poetic." Die Without It" is a rite of passage song describing the writers' early introduction to rock in a similar vein to Gurf Morlix's recent Drums of New Orleans with the late night airwaves turning a generation of kids onto the devil's music.
On "Idol" Adams recounts a meeting with one of these ghostly early airwave heroes and imparts a sense of loss and loneliness reflecting the failure of his generation to change the world. Adams' lyrics are excellent throughout but a special mention must be given to "Affairs of the Heart." Dense, romantic and delivered perfectly, this would sit comfortably on a Dylan album, as Adams sings "Affairs of the heart are not covered by protocol/they come from a realm governed by fate / affairs of the heart are measured in metaphor / where passion is heat and ice it is hate / and the cycle began with original sin / temptation too great not to give in / and so we were cast out from our paradise / to live in a world where innocence dies." Lyrics of this quality are scattered throughout and one gets the sense that Adams has garnered years of experience, personal and as a fan, and poured it into this record.
The band, George Tucker, Andy Allen and Dick Drake rise to the occasion. Overall, this is an excellent album. Like a fine wine, it oozes quality and slips down easy and is all the better for being of a certain vintage.
Track Listing
1. Place to Lie
2. Die Without It
3. Grisham Hotel
4. Scene of The Crime
5. Gone for Good
6. Kelvin Way
7. Affairs of the Heart
8. Another Country
9. Idol
10. Love Dies…
