A joy, pure and simple.
In life, there are few pleasures as pure or as instant as hearing a classic for the first time. Okay, so the birth of a child or having sex with the friend that you have secretly been pining over for years for the first time probably cap it, but make no mistake, the first listen to an album of unarguable genius and originality is well up there with watching a sunset over the Pacific coast or having the bassist from your favourite band smile at you at a concert. And I have just experienced this with Adam Green's “Sixes and Sevens”.
“Sixes and Sevens” is quite simply one of the most complete and eclectic albums that I have ever heard. For once, the boast of record companies soulless press release of the record being a mixing pot of styles is both true and a joy to behold. One gets the impression that if they were to crack Adam Green's head open like an egg, there would be the sounds of Bruce Springsteen, Rufus Wainwright and post Talking Heads' David Byrne. But rather than use these influences and make some bland reincarnation of their music, Green has mixed them with a sense of the theatric, with vaudeville strings and ringleader's chants. To say that it works is somewhat of an understatement • it sounds sublime. After all, who would have thought that a tighty, whitey indie album heavily layered with gospel singing would work?
From the late-60s psychedelic “Festival Song”, through the Citizen-Kane-appreciation-song chant of “That Sounds Like A Pony” and the Asbury Park, 1974 sounds of “Morning After Midnight”, up to the bluesy lament of past experiences “Getting Led”, one is treated to one of the finest thought out albums since Abbey Road. And that's just the first half of this lengthy 20 track album. The biggest draw of the album is Green's voice, full bodied and confident and a thousand miles away from what his weedy demeanor and self conscious pose from the album's cover would suggest. Once let into your ears you feel that Adam Green is your friend and that he will look after you, telling you wonderful stories during your journey.
Classic albums do not happen overnight and there is every chance that this will be overlooked by the majority of music buyers and fall into the doldrums of also-rans and “if you like this...” recommendations on Last FM that befall the majority of new music. But that is such a great shame as Adam Green has released an album that is easily better than ninety-five percent of the albums that make it to the big time. If there was a bandwagon, I'd jump on it and if there was a t-shirt I'd want to wear it, because “Sixes and Sevens” is both indispensable and peerless.