“Big Colors” was all done two years ago. When Ryan Adams announced his new album with the song of the day named “Fuck The Rain” and the circulating messages that two more records were also already recorded. Then with accusations of sexual misconduct towards the female sex by, among others, Phoebe Bridgers and his ex-wife Mandy Moore prevented the release of the albums. After a letter of apology and councilling the first part of the planned album trilogy was first published in digital at the end of 2020, and in March of this year also haptically with the release of “Wednesdays”.
Emerging from the depths of the 2019 #MeToo scandal, Ryan Adams is back and ready to rock. While his most recent record, “Wednesdays,” was a lesson in acoustic soul-baring, “Big Colors” goes in a completely different direction with it’s 80s rock vibes.
it is his 18th studio album and is a striking change of direction from the last, an upbeat record rich in drums and synth encapsulating the 1980’s vibe spectacularly and produced with Don Was and Beatriz Artola. The now 46-year-old American has never disappointed. Adams has released seventeen albums since 2000, a bad one wasn’t included, but some great ones like “Heartbreaker”, “Gold”, “Love Is Hell” and “Cold Roses”. His 18th album “Big Colors” has mostly the better songs than the original predecessor “Prisoner”, released in 2017 and tested by us. The relaxed, mentioned at the beginning “Fuck The Rain” is certainly one of them, but is surpassed by the subsequent “Manchester”, which once again shows what swarming rock music Ryan Adams is capable of. Even more smouldering is the stringed “It’s So Quiet, It’s Loud”, a not even insanely spectacular song, but with its catchiness and its dreamy euphoria suitable as a potential single.
There are many standout tracks on this album. “It’s so Quiet, it’s Loud” echoes back to Easy Tiger/ Cardinology era with its jangly guitars and soaring vocals at the end of the song. With “What am I?”, Adams is showing us that he still knows how to croon with his beautiful acoustic accompaniment and stop me in my tracks. “I Surrender” and “Middle of the Line” are classic Adams rockers and the ones I keep replaying. But we have to talk about “Power.” From its first 80s electric guitar line and Adams’ raspy voice, It’s not a new vibe, but Adams does it well. The 80s are a good look for him and he described the whole record as “the soundtrack to a movie from 1984 that only exists in my soul.” While he had dipped his toes in the water for his reimagined version of Taylor Swift’s “1989” record, now Adams has jumped all the way in.
With the title track as an opener as well as “What Am I” and “In It For The Pleasure”, Adams proves his art in restrained and subtle song writing, while the “I Surrender”, equipped with clanking and radiant guitar riffs, pushes into anthemic Springsteen areas. And if you want to hear a noble and elegant pop-rock song again, you can enjoy “Showtime” to the fullest. Musically, Ryan Adams does everything right again. “Big Colors” belongs in the front third of his best albums.
“I’m just dreaming in big colors now, loading my brushes with this love I found, so where do we go from here?” Well Ryan, we go on whatever journey you take us on next. It’s been bumpy, but I’m hanging on for the ride.
This item is a pre-order and has an expected ship date of August 18th, 2021
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