Customer Reviews

Minor Love [Vinyl]

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4 star:		(3)
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Adam Green is a difficult artist to recommend to others. His quirky lyrics and vegas style melodies come off as, dare I say, goofy to most people. Not to say that he's never written a song that the mainstream could enjoy. But for every easily accessable song like "Emily", there are 5 songs like "Her Father and Her" that are sure to confuse people. If you can't see past the fact that this is indeed strange music, then this is not the kind of music for you.

This time around, Green dumped the high quality sound of a professional studio and went for a lo-fi sound to represent these songs. It certainly sounds "worse". It was a fantastic choice. For the first time in his career, the melodies that he's written are more on the dark side than the light. This lo-fi recording process created a powerful, deep atmosphere that really ties these songs together, making it more of an album and less like a pile of songs (im looking at you, Sixes and Sevens.)Songs like "The Boss Inside" show off Green's knack for melody and his lyrical talent. A cigarette that burns forever certainly is a powerful image to anyone who's ever been stressed and needed to escape from the world, and Green captured this thought flawlessly in the appropriately titled "Cigarette Burns Forever." These songs still have lots of nonsense lyrics, but they seem to take themselves more seriously this time around.

Not to say it's all serious business. Songs like "Give Them a Token" and "Castles and Tassels" could have been lifted right out of the "Friends of Mine" era, and are a warm welcome among the more dreary tunes like "Breaking Locks" and "Don't Call Me Uncle".

The album isn't without its flaws. Green has stated that he writes his songs by coming up with melodies in his head, and then finds the chords to go beneath them. Melody has always been his strongest musical muscle. The songs on this record that don't work are the ones where the melody seems to have been written around the music. The guitar riff in "Goblin" is very catchy, but the melody seems tacked on. The same goes for "Lockout." Also, "Oh Shucks" is simply TOO lo-fi and isn't up to par with the other 13 songs in general.

Some flaws aside, this album is very consistant and definately has a unique vibe all its own. This definately still feels like Adam Green, but there are a few moments when you get the feeling that our New York boy just might be growing up, which is a very good thing. You couldn't put on "Jacket Full of Danger" at a party without expecting to turn a few heads. With "Minor Love", you might just be able to get away with it....maybe. I'll be playing this album for months to come. Make sure to pick up a copy.

Adam Green's Minor Love perfect for:

You want music that can be forefront or ambient (e.g., Party vs. Starbucks music).

Road trip!

Early morning drives with the sun gleefully shining on your window.

You want to feel nostalgic.

Oddly, when it's raining :D Think of the nice but effective contradiction of the sound of rain, and the happy and folksy tunes of Minor Love.

You want to be reminded of everything INDIE!

I own all of the Adam Green solo albums and this is instantly my favorite. Minor Love feels the most cohesive yet as a collection and if you're a fan of Adam Green this is a very "concentrated" dose. This album feels concise, lean, and something of an Essence of Adam's songwriting - Other A.G. albums contain amazing material as well but feel sprawling in comparison - which is no bad thing - Minor Love is stripped down and if anything feels too short in the best possible way.
The genre-hopping can be challenging but behind that and the often absurdist lyrics are songs that will bury themselves into you and if you're like me you'll catch yourself missing them when they're away. It's that last point that says everything that needs to be said about both Adam Green and this album. 5 stars.

As more and more Adam Green albums are released, the less and less potty humor makes its way into his albums. (or sophmoric humor) This is a continuation of where he's been going for i'd say his last 3 albums at least, in terms of more mature content. Of course, when i'm stating "more mature" i'm meaning this in the Adam Green sense of the word. There are still very witty styled songs all throughout this album and a vast ton of catchy tunes. Some have suggested a bit of a Lou Reed-esque style to this one and in a sense, i can see that. It isn't as polished in terms of sound as the previous records of Mr. Green and i think it works for him to give a slighly different sound. (again nothing too drastically different, *more lo-fi*)

You will enjoy this Adam Green album IF you've liked the last 3 records he's put out. If you didn't like those, then i wouldn't bother with this one. I think it's great and a continuance of the good work he's been putting out.