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 WhiskeytownFaithless Street Outpost Records "All I remember is what we had to drink and Skillet and Ray Duffy's preoccupation with fireworks. Out in the parking lot across the street from Park Ave., the Roman candles and Black Cats sounded a lot like I'd hope we'd one day sound - pretty little things all set on fire waiting to get destroyed." -Ryan Adams. There is no better way to describe the attitude and sound of Whiskeytown. As lead singer, guitarist, and principal songwriter of the band, Ryan Adams is the architect of some of the best American music being made today. Imagine if the Replacements were Neil Young's backing band on "Harvest Moon" instead of James Taylor and the Stray Gators. You're almost there. Now imagine if they could only find studio space at three in the morning in a small town somewhere, and they recorded across the street from an all-night liquor store. Last year's "Stranger's Almanac" was universally well-received, and put Whiskeytown at the forefront of the "No Depression" movement. With the rerelease of "Faithless Street," the band's first full-length album, how they got there becomes a little clearer. "Faithless Street" sounds like it was recorded by a lean, young band used to ripping up bars and tearing down the stage. "Midway Park" starts the album with a slow boil, balancing swirling guitars and mandolins with a punchy chorus. "Drank Like A River" is the flipside to Springsteen's "Born to Run," lyrically and musically. The dreamy-eyed youngster returns to his hometown after the glory has faded and the girl has left him broken, left to stumble around in a drunken haze. The image is as oddly beautiful. "So he drank like a river when the wedding bells rang/Watched from the steeple as the choir girls sang/Died in the gutter on his feet and his hands." Much of the album shares this fatalistic theme, like those pretty little things waiting to be destroyed. But Adams, Violin player Caitlin Cary, and guitarist Phil Wandscher are talented enough tunesmiths that the music never devolves into dirge. As Adams said to No Depression at the time, "There's a good depressive feel to some of them, and a heartwarming feel, too. But the hopefulness definitely comes from the music, not the lyrics." Whiskeytown's aesthetic is informed almost equally by punk and country, giving the music a powerfully ragged elegance. Nimble pedal steels clash with overdriven guitars and wired and weary vocals, sometimes within the same song. And there are moments of sublime subtlety. "Lo-fi Tennessee Mountain Angel," which was written for Picasso Trigger's Kathy Poindexter, showcases Adams and Cary's harmonies with a sparse acoustic arrangement. Swelling feedback looms in the background as the song builds depth. "Empty Baseball Park" is wistful, capturing the desperate, weightless feeling of an impossible relationship. "Stumble past the record store/End up at the movies/Try to think of something else/But nothing's coming to me." Cary's "Matrimony" is another highlight - the only song that features her vocals. It's a more traditional country piece, from its waltz-time feel to its twanging guitars and pedal steel. Cary's voice offers a nice change of pace from Adams'. Wandscher also sings his two songs, "What May Seem Like Love" and "Top Dollar," sounding like Jerry Garcia by way of George Jones. There are a few earlier versions of songs from "Strangers Almanac" included with the bonus tracks, as well. "Sixteen Days" and "Yesterday's News" are raw and under-produced compared to their later incarnations, but still effective. "Excuse Me While I Break My Own Heart" sounds a little less wry here, slowed down and with the original time slips, with more focus on the weeping steel and fiddle. "Faithless Street" shows a young band that's already been where most bands would kill to be. Let's hope they're not destroyed before they can get any further. -Nick |
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