Prisoner
*Prisoner* continues to refine the sound that Ryan Adams first explored with his 2014 self-titled album: a sure-handed mix of *Tunnel of Love*-era Springsteen, ‘80s college rock, and soft-focus synths. A track like “Anything I Say to You Now” illustrates how perfectly this formula suits him; a Smiths-esque jangle of guitars gives sentimental depth to his plain-spoken refrain, “Anything I say to you now is just a lie.” As he works through the rest of the emotional wreckage, highlights like \"Shiver and Shake” prove that Adams’ poignancy as a songwriter can still bring us to our knees.
Ryan Adams’ new album is being positioned as one of his classic breakup records. In terms of its sound, at least, it's a winner.
When Ryan Adams released his hit cover version of Taylor Swift’s 1989 two years ago, some fans and critics guessed that the recently divorced singer-songwriter was working through his heartbreak by borrowing the words and melodies of one of modern pop’s best lovesick balladeers. But in retrospect, 1989 may have just…
Prisoner is an album filled with Adams reconciling his doubts and fears about life and love with his faith in music and the power of song.
In which the singer-songwriter picks over the bones of his six-year marriage to actress Mandy Moore.
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Picking up the thread left hanging from 2014's eponymous album -- in retrospect, his 2015 cover of Taylor Swift's 1989 seems even more of a detour -- Ryan Adams winds up diving ever deeper into early-'80s sounds and sensibilities on Prisoner.
Prisoner arrives as Ryan Adam's first LP since his much-publicized divorce from Mandy Moore, and given the singer-songwriter's reputation as...
Heartache, for those ensnared in its unrelenting grip, is the most debilitating curse the universe can dream up. For the artist though, it can prove a
Ryan Adams' sixteenth LP 'Prisoner' is an album burrowed deep into a questioning and agonising turmoil hole, following his divorce from Mandy Moore.
Prisoner is an enveloping, painfully raw breakup album and an intense portrait of one guy’s troubled headspace.
'Prisoner' by Ryan Adams, album review by Gregory Adams. The full-length comes out on February 17th via Pax-Am/Blue Note/Universal Music Canada.
Divorced prolific singer-songwriter channels his inner Boss. Review by Liz Thomson