STAY UP LATE by IAN ADAMS
— Stay Up Late —
— Someday —
— A Man Possessed —
— Oh, Dracula —
— Girl of Mine —
— Til It’s Gone —
— Walk on the Moon —
— Upside Down Stars —
— In the Dark —
— Horns of the Devil —
— I Got It Bad —
— Precious Time —
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CD
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MDRF015 | JUNE 2009 | 44:40 | Full Length CD
The songs on “Stay Up Late” are songs of love at its most dark, romantic, desperate, hopeful, and doomed. The album’s influences swing from late 1970’s NYC street jangle and pop, to mid 1960’s lush crooning, to Adams’ trademark swamp stomp-surf Americana. “Stay Up Late” is 12 tracks of Adams’ trademark weirdness, backed by lush arrangements and peculiar instrumentation. It was engineered and co-produced by Eldridge Rodriguez (The Beatings) and Ray Jeffrey (E.R., Wheat, Dropkick Murphy’s board-man) partially at Jeffrey’s Liberty and Union Recording Studio in Taunton,
MA. The album has guest performances aplenty including Eldridge Rodriguez and Dennis Grabowski (The Beatings), and Greg Lyon and Will Scales (both of The Spanish Armada).
“A fixture in the Boston music scene, Ian Adams has played for bands as diverse as the psychobilly 8-Ball Shifter and the motor punk Rock City Crimewave. His solo release Stay Up Late isn’t quite as dark as those previous efforts, but it provides Adams a chance to show off his always impressive vocals. His sound switches from U2 to Iggy Pop in the course of just one song, with Adam’s emotive vocals remaining the only focal point. While Stay Up Late may be a little heavy on the ballads (even if they do have killer names like “Oh, Dracula”), numbers like “A Man Possessed”, with its surf-rock swagger, just might help this local hero make it to the major leagues.”
— Popmatters
MORE REVIEWS
“With Ian Adams’ release of Stay Up Late, the best thing to do is open up and put on a pot of coffee because “you only fall in love like this once in your life” (“Stay Up Late”). A cross of Tom Petty and Thom Yorke make the vocal styles of Ian Adams worthy of careful listening. The fact that his MySpace page lists him as a “creepy crooner” shows his intention to work his yearnings into the minds of fans who may miss bands like The Cure or The Smiths. Songs include running themes of both evening and evil, with titles such as “A Man Possessed,” “In the Dark,” “Upside Down Stars” and “Horns of the Devil.” The movements in metaphor keep a dreamy beat, which moves the mind to wonder about relationships and sunrises to come. One of the best tracks on the album, “I Got it Bad,” opens, “She floated in / dirty little ghost filling my lungs / black curling smoke … miss Mary Anne / I got it bad / never gonna sleep again.” The twisting guitar riff repetitively reminds of dark thoughts and ending affairs. “How can you drown what’s under your skin?” creates such a gloomy question that only the realization of its answer darkens the story line. The final track, “Precious Moment,” seems to function as both an explanation and an apology. As Adams asks for forgiveness for his mis- deeds, he begs his audience for another moment of introspection. Take the time to reflect and dive into the emotions worth the all-nighter.” — Ellen Eldridge, NE Performer
“Adams' output on Stay Up Late is poetic and razor sharp while at the same time, deliberate in its pacing and ethereal in its emotional spellcasting. We hear the echoes of Boston rock heritage with a clear hint of rockabilly undertones to these 12 mesmerizing tracks. These songs are howling ballads, character stories. One such of note is "Upside Down Stars," a murderous love song in which Adams' persona talks of falling in love with a truly frightening girl ( - a vampire or werewolf perhaps?) "with upside down stars in her eyes, full of moon that illuminates the sky" but he is quick to add that the two will "rip the flesh from their bones tonight." The song works on a basic story level, but as a dark romantic piece as well. The two are set aside against the world, "the last two of our kind" a pair who find they love to drive with the lights turned off under the night sky. Subtract the murder and you could be talking about any star-crossed lovers anywhere. But with Ian Adams, you can't forget that these characters have a back story...
The surf-tone guitar in "Man Possessed" motivates the listener to remember the distant past: drive-ins, burger joints and classic cars. At the same time, Adams pleads his case (to any angels or demons listening) - "I got something I gotta get off of my chest!" The album is, in fact an exploration of fictitious, pulp concepts - but there's always a bridge - some common ground for us to understand the characters. "Oh, Dracula" is a fine example. Ian almost makes us feel sorry for this life-stealing creature. We are made to understand that this monster is trapped in his need and therefore worthy of understanding - if not pity... There's never been a more misunderstood or more romantic character, has there? "Hair slicked back and dressed to kill / Your lovers ride between the sheets / They bare their bare white skin to you / But all you give them is your teeth / Don't you know you that it's almost time for you to drink again?"
There will be those who point to this material and criticize it for being unpolished - or even primitive in its sound. I don't completely know that they are wrong - just that the style of the recording and plaintive howl from Ian Adams and his poetic darkness all work together in a special way here. Recorded with help from Eldridge Rodriguez (Midriff Records artist) the album's sound is a hybrid of both Ian's past and the same beautiful, emotive disconnect we have heard from Rodriguez's (who is best known from his work with The Beatings) phenomenal work from the last two years. [album / EP] I realize that both Adams' and Rodriguez' work will not be to everyone's taste - but there are many who will read this piece and be rewarded with a new favorite music project:
Listening to Stay Up Late for this review was a real treat, each track proving its strength as an individual part of an album that works from start to finish. Interestingly, it was the last three songs of the album, "Horns of the Devil" (music and backing vocals by Rodriguez), "I Got It Bad" and "Precious Time" - that proved to be my favorites. In this case - the best did come last and on a record that's got as much going on as this one, that's definitely saying something. — Ryan’s Smashing Life