Ryan Adams - Prisoner (Virgin EMI) 2017
8
With a voice that sends shivers coursing through hair, and goosebumps rippling over flesh, Ryan Adams has never been short of attention grabbing skills. So with Prisoner he comes back swinging, with a Springsteen riffing vocal in opening track “Do You Still Love Me”, and music that could easily be a Bad Seeds’ song. This is an artist who magpies his way through his own record collection with no shame, and creates delicious soups of sound. Prisoner is another homerun from a musician who is not short of a few homers in his career. Startlingly heartfelt, blisteringly well written and with a captivating heart in Adams soul-searching, penetrating vocal – it’s a sure fire chart-botherer of an album, and one that deserves a prideful place amongst his best.