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butterflyAdam's new CD is officially out!
Overall, I really like it. It has a good flow - it starts out aggressive and ends up contemplative, but the steps in between all make sense. It works as an album and not just a set of tracks. Adam co-wrote on all but three of the tracks (which means, of course, that the first two singles are both songs not written by him. Naturally. Ah, Idol).
1-6. Trespassing/Cuckoo/Shady/Never Close Our Eyes/Kickin' In/Naked Love
I enjoy the first six tracks. Very easy to dance and move to them. Trespassing, Shady, and Kickin' In are all declarations of individual intent - Trespassing is about not letting yourself get pushed around and locked out of where you want to go (it's easy to see it as Adam's feelings about getting into the music industry as an openly gay man and being determined not to let that stop him), Shady is about going out with someone out on the town (I could really see someone doing a Brian Kinney vid to this song, actually. Or S3 Buffy/Faith would actually be interesting), and Kickin' In is about some variety of getting high/drunk and possibly having ill-advised sex. They're all a lot of fun and all of them hold at least a suggestion of transgressive behavior in them, along the lines of "trespassing"/going against the rules of 'normal' (or straight and heteronormative) society.
Sandwiched between them are more relationship-y songs. Cuckoo is an invitation - Adam is already trespassing as per the first song and, in this one, he invites others (the listeners? a romantic partner?) to join him in crossing lines and going 'cuckoo.' Never Close Our Eyes is about wanting to spend every possible minute with someone, so much that you don't even want to sleep and miss anything. Naked Love is about emotions and sex. These are all just as upbeat and dance-y as the other half of the set, but instead of being about exploring something personal, they focus more on a relationship vibe.
7. Pop That Lock
This is the first song on the album that only about half-grabs me. I really like parts of it (the actual "Pop that lock" part & the verses) but the chorus and the breakdown doesn't work for me. Something in the sound of the music isn't my thing. But I love the parts that I like, so this song is still more good than bad for me. This song is about telling someone else to open up and cut loose and just be themselves and have fun.
8. Better Than I Know Myself
Adam's first single for the CD; this is also the transition piece between the 'light' half and the 'dark' half of the CD. The video focuses on the idea of dualism in a single person, but the song itself always sounds much more like a straight-up relationship song to me. From this point onward, all of songs on the album sound directed toward the other half of a relationship. I like BTIKM quite a bit, though I've listened to it so much since it first came out that I didn't listen to it every time I was listening to the album to do this review. But it's a good song and it works really well as a transition piece.
9-11. Broken English/Underneath/Chokehold
All of these songs are about the struggles inside a relationship. Broken English is about miscommunications and how it's sometimes easier to have sex than talk; Underneath is about revealing your inner pain to someone and wanting them to still care even when you're showing what you feel like is your ugliest side, and Chokehold is about a struggle in a relationship where it's something that both makes you feel wonderful and feel horrible and trying to reconcile those pieces. Chokehold is one of my very favorites. Adored this song from the first time I heard it. It's sexy, but in a complicated way. Broken English and Underneath and both strong ballad-type songs.
12. Outlaws Of Love
This is the last song on the standard album. Like the previous ones, it's about a relationship but, here, the struggle is not within the relationship but has to do with the world outside; the relationship is solid, but the outside world sucks. It also gives a great thematic bookend to Trespassing - the first song is all about kicking down barriers and trying to get into places where society says maybe you aren't allowed, while Outlaws Of Love is about the results of such Trespassing; once you've trespassed, you're an outlaw. It circles around back to the start, thematically though not musically.
13-14. Runnin'/Take Back
Runnin' first of the bonus songs on the deluxe album and I adore it. In some ways, what Adam does in his bonus songs is that he circles the ending - both Runnin' and Take Back return to the themes of BE, Underneath, and Chokehold - they're about complicated emotional relationships. Love can be confusing and painful and conversation can be difficult.
15. Nirvana
And this song then takes us to and a little past the place of Outlaws of Love - there, Adam was looking for a "place for us" and, here, he's found it. There's a nice dreamy tone to the song and it ends the deluxe album in a more hopeful place than the standard one.
My absolute favorite songs are Cuckoo, Chokehold, Runnin', and Take Back but all of them work for me (except for those parts of Pop That Lock and they're growing on me).
Anyway, "Trespassing" is available on iTunes, Amazon, etc. Check out the preview snippets on iTunes and see what you think!
Kris and Haley Reinhart (also both from Idol) have CDs coming out next week; I'm really looking forward to both of those as well & will probably talk about them when I get them. Especially Kris.
Overall, I really like it. It has a good flow - it starts out aggressive and ends up contemplative, but the steps in between all make sense. It works as an album and not just a set of tracks. Adam co-wrote on all but three of the tracks (which means, of course, that the first two singles are both songs not written by him. Naturally. Ah, Idol).
1-6. Trespassing/Cuckoo/Shady/Never Close Our Eyes/Kickin' In/Naked Love
I enjoy the first six tracks. Very easy to dance and move to them. Trespassing, Shady, and Kickin' In are all declarations of individual intent - Trespassing is about not letting yourself get pushed around and locked out of where you want to go (it's easy to see it as Adam's feelings about getting into the music industry as an openly gay man and being determined not to let that stop him), Shady is about going out with someone out on the town (I could really see someone doing a Brian Kinney vid to this song, actually. Or S3 Buffy/Faith would actually be interesting), and Kickin' In is about some variety of getting high/drunk and possibly having ill-advised sex. They're all a lot of fun and all of them hold at least a suggestion of transgressive behavior in them, along the lines of "trespassing"/going against the rules of 'normal' (or straight and heteronormative) society.
Sandwiched between them are more relationship-y songs. Cuckoo is an invitation - Adam is already trespassing as per the first song and, in this one, he invites others (the listeners? a romantic partner?) to join him in crossing lines and going 'cuckoo.' Never Close Our Eyes is about wanting to spend every possible minute with someone, so much that you don't even want to sleep and miss anything. Naked Love is about emotions and sex. These are all just as upbeat and dance-y as the other half of the set, but instead of being about exploring something personal, they focus more on a relationship vibe.
7. Pop That Lock
This is the first song on the album that only about half-grabs me. I really like parts of it (the actual "Pop that lock" part & the verses) but the chorus and the breakdown doesn't work for me. Something in the sound of the music isn't my thing. But I love the parts that I like, so this song is still more good than bad for me. This song is about telling someone else to open up and cut loose and just be themselves and have fun.
8. Better Than I Know Myself
Adam's first single for the CD; this is also the transition piece between the 'light' half and the 'dark' half of the CD. The video focuses on the idea of dualism in a single person, but the song itself always sounds much more like a straight-up relationship song to me. From this point onward, all of songs on the album sound directed toward the other half of a relationship. I like BTIKM quite a bit, though I've listened to it so much since it first came out that I didn't listen to it every time I was listening to the album to do this review. But it's a good song and it works really well as a transition piece.
9-11. Broken English/Underneath/Chokehold
All of these songs are about the struggles inside a relationship. Broken English is about miscommunications and how it's sometimes easier to have sex than talk; Underneath is about revealing your inner pain to someone and wanting them to still care even when you're showing what you feel like is your ugliest side, and Chokehold is about a struggle in a relationship where it's something that both makes you feel wonderful and feel horrible and trying to reconcile those pieces. Chokehold is one of my very favorites. Adored this song from the first time I heard it. It's sexy, but in a complicated way. Broken English and Underneath and both strong ballad-type songs.
12. Outlaws Of Love
This is the last song on the standard album. Like the previous ones, it's about a relationship but, here, the struggle is not within the relationship but has to do with the world outside; the relationship is solid, but the outside world sucks. It also gives a great thematic bookend to Trespassing - the first song is all about kicking down barriers and trying to get into places where society says maybe you aren't allowed, while Outlaws Of Love is about the results of such Trespassing; once you've trespassed, you're an outlaw. It circles around back to the start, thematically though not musically.
13-14. Runnin'/Take Back
Runnin' first of the bonus songs on the deluxe album and I adore it. In some ways, what Adam does in his bonus songs is that he circles the ending - both Runnin' and Take Back return to the themes of BE, Underneath, and Chokehold - they're about complicated emotional relationships. Love can be confusing and painful and conversation can be difficult.
15. Nirvana
And this song then takes us to and a little past the place of Outlaws of Love - there, Adam was looking for a "place for us" and, here, he's found it. There's a nice dreamy tone to the song and it ends the deluxe album in a more hopeful place than the standard one.
My absolute favorite songs are Cuckoo, Chokehold, Runnin', and Take Back but all of them work for me (except for those parts of Pop That Lock and they're growing on me).
Anyway, "Trespassing" is available on iTunes, Amazon, etc. Check out the preview snippets on iTunes and see what you think!
Kris and Haley Reinhart (also both from Idol) have CDs coming out next week; I'm really looking forward to both of those as well & will probably talk about them when I get them. Especially Kris.