Barry Adamson’s CD should be titled Back to the Swinging Cat because this disc often swings in a Frank Sinatra-fronting-the-Tommy Dorsey Orchestra kinda way. It includes a couple of instrumentals (“Flight” and “Shadow of Death Hotel”), although these ten album tracks primarily act as Adamson vocal vehicles. Adamson once did time as Bad Seeds’ bassist, but he sings a whole lot better than the terminally flat Nick Cave. Nevertheless, songs like “Psycho Sexual,” “The Beaten Side of Town,” and “Civilization” consistently reveal Adamson’s kinship with Cave’s narrow focus on life’s darker side. Even so, it’s often easy to miss these many unsavory lyrical elements, especially when one hears such things as the Jimmy Smith-inspired jazz organ solo on “Straight ‘Til Sunrise” and the spy theme groove of “Shadow of Death Hotel.” There are also horns a-plenty, including the trombone and saxophone coloring “Flight,” and the flute, which helps lighten “Shadow of Death Hotel” ever so slightly. In fact, it’s not hard to imagine Old Blue Eyes himself having a go at “Spend a Little Time,” which brings out the lover man in Adamson. And it’s a miracle Adamson finds any joy at all in the context of this otherwise grim picture he paints.
-- Dan MacIntosh [March 28, 2008]
