Ryan Adams

Since his start with Whiskeytown and after his first solo album Heartbreaker, Ryan Adams has been plagued by high expectations. Critics have agreed that Adams is an exceptional songwriter and though he hasn't found it yet, he is destined to have great success.\nAdams decided to answer these nagging comments by calling his second solo album Gold. For critics who point out his obvious debt to his influences, Adams fires back by inverting Bruce Springsteen's famous cover photo from Born In The U.S.A. On the back is a photo of a bed with records piled high.\nIt was after those banal shots at his critics that Adams decided to make his album. Not that this album seems thrown together; there are 21 songs collected here. Adams seems to have discovered the pop ballad earlier this year, and not in the place you think he would have looked. While on Heartbreaker he wrote tasteful ballads inspired by Gram Parsons' solo albums, on Gold he looks only as far back as the Counting Crows and the rest of the too dramatic roots bands from the mid-'90s. He often drops his low growl from his previous work in favor of a Van Morrison style, soaks a song with strings, sits down at the piano and sings about love. Sometimes it's enticing and even believable, often it's tiresome. \nAdams doesn't totally abandon the essence that made Heartbreaker so good. There are a few interesting rockers such as "New York, New York" and "Firecracker." On "Sylvia Plath" and "When Stars Go Blue," he attaches the expressive gravely voice that is precisely the reason why so many have high expectations for him. \nWith the right amount of airplay and exposure there is no reason that Gold should not be a gold record. Adams has written the kind of songs that the public falls for as sincerity. Despite some questionable moments, Gold does provide some songs that his antecedent fans will find fabulous and will likely prolong their feelings that Adams might just be the second coming.