Barry Adamson is an old punk loaded with sexy new tricks
Boy, nothing pleases me more than watching an artist, musical or otherwise, actually become more relevant, more prolific and more passionate with age. It’s such a rarity – but so impressive when it happens. The trick is knowing when to stop cramming yourself into a suit that doesn’t fit anymore and find a way to maintain that unselfconscious creative drive once the arrogance of youth has waned.
Barry Adamson, original member of English punk band, Magazine, is a guy who embodies this ideal splendidly. Not only has the singer/songwriter/bassist/composer passed through some of the more notable punk and post-punk ensembles of our time (Visage, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds), but his solo career, launched in 1989 with the film noir-inspired Moss Side Story, has proven to be a powerful fusion of traditional Sinatra-esque swank, ultra-modern composition, and stylish instrumentation and arrangement. This ain’t no lazy Harry Connick, Jr. schtik – I’m talkin’ sex on wax.
Not only does Adamson (who turns 50 this June) have one of the foxiest voices I’ve ever heard, but he writes smart, exciting material that shows it off to its best possible advantage. His latest, Back to the Cat (on his own Central Control label), continues in the vein of radical film composers like John Barry (James Bond) and Ennio Morricone (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly), but with Adamson’s uniquely beguiling sensibilities. A singer of formidable talent, he can seduce and bully at will. In “Civilization,” you can practically feel the spit raining on you as he goes way over the top with an ultra-sibilant, high-drama vocal. But the smooth, torchy “I Could Love You,” lulls with luxurious sensuality.
Adamson’s humor shimmers through this disk as well. I guarantee that, in all the innuendo-laced realms of noir, you have never heard anything quite as shocking as the album’s closing track “Psycho Sexual.” Somehow it manages to be gratuitous and mature at the same time. “Heavy is the weight of my load” indeed.
Adamson’s unusual bent on the genre has landed him lots of soundtrack work over the years, including high-profile fare like Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers and David Lynch’s Lost Highway. But Back to the Cat, which serves no purpose other than to show off what the man can do, is a fitting introduction if you’re not already down with the plan.
And that album cover...woof! I’m in the book, Barry.
Wendy Case is the MOLI View's contributing editor for Arts & Entertainment.
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