Eight years on from his last solo record, Cut To Black (Barry Adamson Inc) sees Barry Adamson (former Magazine bassist and Bad Seed) bring us back into his cinematic universe. While soul and murder are still very much on the menu, his latest vision seems a little less murky.
Barry Adamson presents too much to unpick in 400 words. The psychoanalytic references, the wordplay, the arch, knowing grin below the surface of the music. He’s the priest, the sinner at confessional, the damned, the resurrected, the therapist and the patient on the couch. Ultimately, he’s a storyteller — weaving autobiography and fantasy together — and a musical scene-setter.
Having recently released the first volume of his memoirs, Up Above The City, Down Beneath The Stars, Adamson has filled his latest release with more musical nods to his formative years than ever. This is the John Barry lover, previously responsible for the reggae reimagining of the Bond theme (“007 A Fantasy Bond Theme”).
When your CV takes in being an OG member of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, soundtracking for David Lynch, casually having Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker play lascivious Elvis on one of your previous albums and Duff McKagen of Guns N’ Roses cites you as a formative-bass-playing inspiration, you can do pretty much damn well as you please on record. Nine times out of ten, you’ll also likely be the coolest cat in the room — and Adamson surely is that.
So, on Cut To Black, we get the tale of soul-star Sam Cooke’s violent demise (delivered with a triumphant soul swing) on opener “The Last Words of Sam Cooke”, a nod and a wink to Gene Vincent’s “Be Bop a Lula” on the mischievous “Demon Lover”, mournful church organs on the meditative “These Would Be Blues”, a Tom Waits homage with the lyrical stream of “Amen White Jesus” and Adamson from start to finish at his most suave.
Cut To Black is a particularly lyrical instalment of Adamson’s noirish vision. Absent of the instrumentals he’s been fond of over the years, his voice is centre stage through the whole record and as with the musical backing of Soul, RnB, Hip-Hop and Funk, he sounds great.
While the long-standing allusions to devils and damnation remain, Cut To Black feels less noirish than much of Adamson’s previous work (despite its monochrome cover, evoking his solo-debut Moss Side Story with its tagline “In a black and white world murder brings a touch of colour”). Yes, people are still dying here in Adamson land, but Cut To Black largely feels like a party you can enjoy without worrying in the back of your mind that you might end up face down in a ditch.
The infectious disco of “Manhattan Satin” offers a relevant lyrical reference point when Adamson sings “can’t think of suffering when you’ve got one thing on your mind”. So maybe we are damned, but let’s enjoy the fun while it lasts.
“Was It A Dream?” sees Adamson tap into the smooth, electronic, post-clubbing chill-out vibe he does so well, the track playfully pondering whether everything that came before really happened or not. Finally the real closer “Waiting For The End of Time” leaves the listener with a poignant reflection on a friend who took their own life. For all of Adamson’s eyebrow raises and in-jokes it’s a heartfelt note to end on and a satisfying musical closer.
Welcome back to the cat. It’s a kind of wonderful world.
Buy the album here:
https://barryadamson.com/
8 / 10
TOM OSMAN