ASS KISSER TO THE STARS WRITES :


"I've convinced him that Steve Wynn and Jeffrey Lee Pierce are at least a better place to start."

When he's not having his windows smashed by ex-paramour/client Courtney Love, rock manager/production genius Jim Barber manages to write one doozy of a letter to the NME.

"Steve Sutherland, you've completely missed the point this time (Albums, November 1). Since I was there and I made it, I know this: Ryan's record is one gigantic glorious act of defiance. He finally cut the chains of all the expectations that other people put on him (record companies, journalists, the most oppressive genre fans on the planet) and made something that made him happy. The record is funny and it's life-affirming at a time when most every fucking American record is calculated and mopey and full of fake self-examination. Is this the best record of his career? No. That will probably be the next one or the one after that. But I can't believe you missed the sound of someone banging around making a lot of noise and breaking shit.

"The world is full of people who want Ryan Adams to sound like Don Henley and I've convinced him that Steve Wynn and Jeffrey Lee Pierce are at least a better place to start. At least take the 'Yankee Foxtrot Hotel' challenge. Play Ryan's record back-to-back with the Wilco album and tell me which one is going to get you laid at a party."
--- Jim Barber, Hollywood

Far be it from me to defend the NME, nor can I comment either way on a Ryan Adams record I've not heard. Or perhaps that should read "a Jim Barber / Ryan Adams record I've not heard", because clearly this was a collaboration between two musical soul mates. Though if the album in question is truly "the sound of someone banging around making a lot of noise and breaking shit", perhaps Adams needs a more qualified producer next time around (or at least someone more eloquent). Likewise, I'm baffled by the citation of Steve Wynn and Jeffrey Lee Pierce as role models (Adams needs to emulate 2 guys who peaked creatively by their best-known bands' first albums?) and "the 'Yankee Hotel Foxtrot' challenge" (nowhere in the mountain of accolades garned by said Wilco album can I find one claim that the disc will help the listener get laid).


(Jeffrey Lee, angry that he couldn't live long enough to hear Ryan making a lot of noise and banging on shit)

I would also take exception with Jim's statement that we're in a time "when most every fucking American record is calculated and mopey and full of fake self-examination". The new Paul Westerberg album, 'Come Feel Me Tremble' is truly funny, life-affirming, sounds like it was recorded in about 5 hours, oozes with anti-mope, and compares favorably to anything Sir Paul has done in his lifetime. I guess the only surprise is that an album so fantastic wasn't made by Jim Barber.

Posted: Wed - November 12, 2003 at 05:45 PM      

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