Customer Reviews

Leavetaking

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I found Peter Bradley Adams like I find just about anyone nowadays, on myspace. And what a find! I really love Claire Small, and since it appears that she really loves Peter, I figured I'd take a chance. Wow! This album is SO nice. The opening song, The Longer I Run, is typical of the whole album, perfect folk/rock that is absolutely timeless. What is it about Nashville lately? Neither Claire nor Peter are still there but it is turning out some brilliant singer/songwriters, and it's not what you'd expect. 'Leavetaking' is a gorgeous beautiful gem.

UPDATE

I got to see PBA LIVE last night here in Chicago and he put on a great show. Just him and one other guy (Jason Goforth!) and the two of them were so good. If Peter Bradley Adams comes to your town, run don't walk to see him.

ANOTHER UPDATE

I saw Peter again this last November at the Americana Folk Festival in Nashville. And once again he was terrific. AND this time Claire was their to sing with him! Just gorgeous music.

btw.. the AFF is a fantastic one day music festival abut a 30 minute drive out of Nashville. In a state park. Great music in a great setting.

Imagine on a rainy day, you've packed your bags, tossed them in your car, started the ignition, took one last look at your former life, and then took off without looking back. You don't know exactly where you're going, but you know it'll be better than where you're at. Peter Bradley Adams' soothing, romantic voice mixed with poetic lyrics and beautiful compositions makes this album a great life soundtrack. The songs clearly have a lot of intimate meaning, from an ode to the city of Los Angeles, to a declaration of amorous love, to letting go of a memory that you constantly try to forget but can't help but remember. There's hints of personal growth and discovery, as well as sadness and hope. Imagery aside, this album is very cleanly arranged. It's a perfect mix of country and folk with soft guitar strums and banjo picks and the warm use of organ and accordion, as well as complimenting female backing vocals. If you're not planning to take a soul-searching quest any time soon, this album is at least great for background listening.

P.B.A.'s album Leaktaking is a moody masterpiece that grabs onto your soul and never lets go. The country / folk roots are strong but on the down side there is no rocking on this album; The high points remain moody. If you like clean, acoustic/folk music you'll really like this album!

This cd is simply amazing. PBA's voice, playing and songwriting are all superb. A truly beautiful follow-up to Gather Up and easily one of the best of 2008. Buy This cd now. You will SO not be disappointed.

As with a lot of stuff produced in Nashville in the last two decades or so, production quality has gotten SO slick that there is this constant veneer of "perfect" that drives me to distraction. (An example of what I'm talking about is the difference between Twyla Paris' "True North" album and the one that followed it. I was very disappointed by the "awesome" production)Don't get me wrong, I admire and respect and even enjoy well produced music. But come on. I know nothing of Peter Bradley Adams' other solo stuff and am fairly acquainted with his work in EastMountainSouth. And it appears from just that bit exposure that his song, "So Are You To Me" is among the great "what-if" hit songs. But to production, I am very happy with the instrumental work on this record. I enjoy what the tenor guitar brings to the texture and if you like an acoustic guitar driven thing that actually has some textural interest, this is the record for you. As for the song-writing, I am frustrated with the aformentioned tune because it seems incomplete. Maybe another verse or something to do with the form of it would really send it over the top into hit song land. Not sure there. It does seem to me that he just ran out of ideas for this song and that's what we get... "Keep us" is nicely evocative.

As for the vocalism, I find his voice very one-dimensional. I don't get any real emotion from the voice, just processed, tuning-software perfection that really puts me to sleep. A lot of mushy words and dropped consonants and flat vowels that make it really hard to know how committed he is to the actual conveyance of the texts. A lot of air passing over the vocal chords which never come together to make a real resonant vocal sound. In other words, pretty boring singing. I give this record a 3 rating because it's a solo effort that comes nowhere near the interest generated by the previous efforts of EastMountainSouth. Sorry, I can't help making the comparison and then wondering why the solo effort if it's not going to be a leap forward either for his career.

(4 & 1/2 stars) The eastmountainsouth album was a rare gem, leaving fans with artificially high expectations for Peter Bradley Adams' first solo album that came out in 2006. I felt it was not quite up to the east-south level of excellence, but I still enjoyed the music. This new CD, Leavetaking, is better. With just nine tunes, it clocks in at only 32 minutes, but there are some really fine sounds within. Adams' still sings in a hushed tone throughout, but it's a style that suits the mostly introspective melodies of Leavetaking. The song "Los Angeles" is an especially memorable piece, undoubtedly destined to soon be heard as background music during some emotional moment on a network drama on TV. But really all the songs are well produced, with topnotch playing by the backing musicians. This is one of the best CDs I've bought all year, and you can't beat the price!

I heard the title track for this album on Pandora. After listening to the samples I bought it immediately. If you enjoy mellow sounds and great lyrics you will appreciate Peter's music. I would compare him to Josh Radin. I will be looking at more of his music, but highly recommend this album.

I saw Peter Bradley Adams with Claire Small (vocals and guitar) and Jason Goforth (harmonica, lap steel) and it was a wonderful show. He did some of this album and some of his previous Gather. Fantastic, bought this CD just after the show and Claire Small's Ledger also. Peter's vocals astounding and he plays the songs on the guitar, tuning for each song. Amazing. This is great, highly recommend.