2 keepers
keeper avg .154
Whiskeytown's penultimate album before Ryan Adams' departure begins with the aching country ballad "Inn Town"****, enhanced by a great harmony chorus (harmony provided by the song's co-writer Phil Wandscher presumably). Adams and Wandscher also rock it up on "Yesterday's News"****, putting the alt in alt-country; Gin Blossoms is my closest point of reference, which believe it or not I don't say as a slight. Their other collaborations are the R&B flavored Stones-y "Everything I Do," which wouldn't exist without "She Talks To Angels" (Black Crowes 1990), and the pleasant country-rock "Somebody Remembers the Rose."
While Adams does fine on his own, several songs represent squandered potential. The poppy, driving "Waiting to Derail" and the moody album closer "Not Home Anymore" are both overly repetitive with aimless melodies ("you, you were gone" over and over again). Consider "Losering," which only has about 10 words; I've seen Adams explain this making some hifalutin references, but nope, boring. "Excuse Me While I Break My Own Heart Tonight" isn't that clever of a title to be forced into every few lines. And "Turn Around," which resembles The Cure "Love Song" of all things, isn't that much of a hook. Other than that, lap steel guitar gives "Dancing with the Women at the Bar" a country western flavored melancholy, but the rest of the songs range from sleepy ballads to standard low-key alt-country and aren't memorable.
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