During his '02 Demolition tour, Ryan Adams thanked the "kids" for "coming out for the rock 'n roll." Having sat through 3 hours of self-indulgent, tortured singer-songwriterly acoustic guitar at the Ryman Auditorium, I snickered. When he was a guitarist in Adams' backing band, the Pinkhearts, John Paul Keith was probably snickering, too; after the Pinkhearts parted ways he formed Stateside, a band that could play rock 'n roll all the time.
Phonograph features a different lineup than 2000's Twice is Gone. After losing Brad Pemberton and Billy Mercer to Adams' Gold tour and taking a brief trip to NYC, frontman Keith wound up in Birmingham, Alabama with a new version of Stateside. This is the story told in "Time Time Time," Keith's organ-backed autobiography about trying to make it in the already overpopulated world of rock 'n roll. In fact, most of this album is a "trying to make it" rock 'n roll cliché lyrically””girls, booze, pills, bills””the predictable plight of the rock band. For Stateside, though, it's the delivery that wins me over; after all, half of being a good fucking rock band is being able to convince listeners through style and confidence that you're a good fucking rock band.
Undeniably, the standout track on this album is "Phonograph," a praise hymn to audiophilia peppered with Keith's clearly-phrased vocals and Lennonesque howl: "Phonograph/ When the needle hits the black/ Will you help me through?" It's the most lighthearted, amusing song on the record, and it's on one of the few topics the band sings about with surety; girls and money aren't a certainty, but music geeks can always depend on their record collection for a fix. Strong contender "Light Years Away" adds a steamy classic-rock facet to Stateside's sound. Guitarist Nikolaus Mimikakis delivers smooth, seductive vocals and an unexpected old-school guitar solo after the first verse.
It's common for quality to slide after the strategically-placed strongest tracks on a record, but Phonograph is full of consistently good, smoothly flowing music. "Belle of the Ball" disrupts any complacency but is followed by a laid-back rocker that sets an easygoing groove for the last five tracks. All of the songs are well-crafted and "hooky," and they are more layered than one might suspect since the band is comprised of three guitarists and a drummer. Guest instrumentalists add in pedal steel and tinkering piano on a few tracks, and most of the tracks feature Keith/N. Mimikakis vocal harmonies. The overall effect of both extends the band's genre and complements their guitar-heavy sound with texture.
For anyone who has ever danced or sang along shamelessly to Exile on Main Street, Phonograph is a record that is easy to love. It's a link in the chain of rock 'n roll, an updated sound with a well-demonstrated appreciation of the past.
1. Fool on a Wire
2. Time Time Time
3. Baby Goodbye
4. Phonograph
5. Light Years Away
6. Belle of the Ball
7. I Don't Mind
8. We Will Find a Way
9. Song in D
10. Stranded
11. Ever / After
12. Untitled