Demolition Derby

Armed with crisp acoustic guitar licks and rhythms, a croon that can shift to a snarl in the space of a chorus and the clever craftsmanship reserved for the most talented singer/songwriters, Ryan Adams has produced another morsel of quality alt-country in Demolition.

Originally slated to be released as a box set, Adams opted to trim five albums' worth of material cut between his Gold tours last year into one tight 13-track album. Divided into gentle acoustic lullabies and country-rock foot-stompers, Demolition is unified by the theme of heartbreak and by Adams' distinct voice--a seemingly incongruous blend of Chris Isaak and Paul Simon.

This amalgam of demos is good for what it is: subsistence for the fans who couldn't wait for an album of genuinely new material. These are quality songs, to be sure, but they aren't quite up to par with the gems Adams has crafted on Gold, on Heartbreaker and with his former band Whiskeytown.

That's not to say that Demolition doesn't have its moments, though.

The excellent "You Will Always be the Same," borne from Adams' gentle flat-top picking, sounds like it could have been recorded on a country porch, the sun setting in the background, the soothing melody gently drifting out across the cornfields. "Chin Up, Cheer Up"--bouncy and energetic, full of pedal steel and chicken pickin' guitar solos--is a pure country romp reminiscent of Adams' Whiskeytown days.

Like Gold's breakout hit "New York, New York," "Dear Chicago" is another Adams' tribute to a major U.S. city; however, this urban ode fails to evoke the same city-dwelling imagery that made "New York, New York" so successful. "Nuclear," which is sure to penetrate the mainstream as Demolition's first single, is a catchy pop-country-rock ditty injected with healthy doses of distortion and slide guitars.

Adams is one of those rare artists who can't seem to write a truly bad song--he just has to bear the flattering, yet heavy burden of matching his stellar past efforts.