Prisoner

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"I listen to all types."

My humble manager inside the Lakewood, Ohio Record Exchange was as affable as he was smart about his musical stylings and knowledge. This was the summer of either 07' or 08' and as we cleaned used Cd's and put LP's carefully in their spots we carelessly talked music the way la cosa nostra members would talk nonchalantly about the last 'job' they did.

Excited at twenty-three to be in school and working in a record store (albeit a 'chain' one) was my dream of working as Barry (Jack Black)  in the movie High Fidelity.

This was my 'Monday Morning mix-tape' conversation with him minus the comedic guilt trip. What were his top 5 artists?

"Ever hear of Ryan Adams?" he asked.

Having grown up with a dad who owned and played more cds then a radio station, I had heard of him, but wouldn't know his music if played. I played stupid.

"Summer of 69?"

He laughed.

That was BRYAN Adams. Not close, but who hasn't made a pun on names before?

As I began my vinyl record collection working in a Cleveland record store, those simple conversations come back to me more then ever as I listen to one of the best albums to yet grace 2017.


Oh by the way, my manager? A guy a year younger then me at the time was in a band. The name?

PRISONERS.

He did have a lot in common with his favorite artist*.

Prisoner, Ryan Adam's 16th studio album comes out after his almost seven year marriage to singer/actress Mandy Moore ended amicably but with enough heartache to fill an entire career catalogue.  Transformed into musical stylings of a rocking country boy who grew up the middle child, this is an album that his grandparents, (who helped raise him) would be proud of.

Quite simply, Prisoners takes us all captive, and shows a Bruce Springsteen meeting Steve Earle country rock album that isn't forced. It's 'the boss' in 1987 making a country rock album is how I'd describe it to someone curious.

It's hard to miss the ode to the 1980's synth rock  as Adams starts off his 'break up' album with an arena rocker meeting his church organ single Do You Still Love Me?

Somebody has been looking through the boss's tunnel, and on the other side the love isn't reciprocal for our lost hero.

Luckily, the call and response of this heartbreak is. Put into music beautifully.

Songs like To Be Without You are pretty self explanatory and showcase the artist's love for country music telling the story of the blues.

If Adams has a love of Taylor Swift's 1989, (He wrote her a lengthy letter as a fan of hers praising her album and covered her songs on tour), then the decade is in full view as the 'prisoner' lets it be known on the album track.

Also, it's worth mentioning that elements of Fleetwood Mac permeate this record like they grey skies of Seattle. It's the subtly twang of a guitar, a progression, and an army of euphoric sound that matches our rain, i.e. with rhythm and purpose.

I'm not going to go into a track by track analysis of this album as I've read the rather harsher reviews that are nothing more then ardent Adam's fans still coming to terms that an artist who is as country as he is eccentrically rock n roll could possibly  love the 80's as a musical decade. The consensus is that this fails to be yet another 'Ryan Adam's album.' As if music can't fathom an artist speaking his truth in a great way. Especially now given that we live in such a utopia.

Adam's is going through/went through a public divorce with a high profiled person. On Prisoner he puts it out on the tracks and lets us know through his musical catharsis of honesty, that all across the country we may feel that prisoner ethos.

This prisoner doesn't want to live in this 'haunted house' anymore, and in his grief, he shows it's possible to joyfully participate in both being, and escaping as a Prisoner.

My old (young) manager Adam from my hometown of Sagamore Hills, Ohio (originally) is still rocking and rolling in living and working in Cleveland, Ohio. In many ways his depth is his favorite artist's depth. It's amazing how tiny conversations can reconnect your memories to musical milestones.

"No, not summer of 69'. Love is Hell man."

"Sounds like the punk Beatles song lyrics", I scoff.

"It's the Adams's Silver Hammer of truth!"

"Ha!"

I lost touch with Adam or "Gravy" as us co-workers called him. Me getting randomly shot on the east side of Cleveland, recovering, and moving cross country will do that.

Still, I long for those conversations in the Emerald City, and listening to a new Ryan Adam's album shows the listener, that he too appreciates those moments.

My Mom has a wisdom describing two things that may appear different but are overall the same in meaning or substance.

"Same church, different pew", she'd say.

Although this North Carolina kid is crooning about a real life  divorce, many of us (especially my backyard of Seattle) feel an odd divorce from their country.

Many feel like prisoners, as they break those bars of confinement.

Depression, addiction, a sense of empathy mixed with apathy.

The human mind is intricate.

This album brings back more unsure memories of where I was when I was younger, but also the jovial conversations between co-workers and management.

This wasn't, "You're fired!"
It was, "You're hired! Now tell me why you want to work in a record store?"


I thank Adam for getting  me deeper into the music of one of his favorite artists and introducing me to a country I can appreciate.

Both Prisoners in their own right.

Breaking free.

And Mandy Moore forgive me for making this comparison, but just  as Ryan said goodbye to a well known celebrity, perhaps we should consider the same.

Amicably of course.
And get to know our roots and where we came from.
And appreciate the Adams's in our world.

Thanks 'Gravy'. If memories are where the proof of life exist, then I had my share in Lakewood, Ohio talking to my manager.

So next time a friend gets you into a new artist you can stomach or you're feeling that nostalgia for who got you into a more famous one remember; we are all singing a different form of the blues as we 'joyfully participate in this thing called life.' ((If you'll let me paraphrase fictional mob boss Tony Soprano and real life artist Prince.))

Then we disappear

*Note Adam did not merry Mandy Moore, is divorced, or write "Sweet Illusion" But, and this is a conjunction that Sir Mix a Lot would be proud of, they both are charmingly handsome and musicians.