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Adam Ezra

 

Adam Ezra ­ Self-Titled Solo Debut
(2000)
Review by Boston Beats

This year saw the release of “Tumble Down Slow,” by local favorites Adam Ezra Group, and with all the buzz around them this year, it’s interesting to take a look back at Adam’s original solo debut that he did while still back in Chicago. The year was 2000, and Adam had been playing covers and originals around Chicago and the rest of the country for a while. While the only two instruments that appear on the album are Adam and his guitar, this self-titled solo effort captures much about what was soon to make the band of his name so great: sincere and powerful songwriting and musicianship that lets the soul of the songs shine through.

Some songs bring to mind the flickering of sunlight through treetops on a country road. Others invoke a hot and dusty Country Time Lemonade porch swing on a southern summer day. Fans of the group’s live show will enjoy hearing stripped-down versions of some AEG standards like Naïve Little Me or Sistamama. But perhaps the most interesting songs for fans will be the bookends of the album: The Boy, and Touch Down, found also on “Sessions,” Adam’s second CD and first as the Adam Ezra Group. The self-titled solo work ends with arguably the definitive AEG song, Touch Down. It was a poignant artistic choice to then open Sessions as the solo work closed, but this time backed up by first-generation-line-up bassist Kristin Ezbicki and present drummer “Honey” John Appa. Completing the circle, the solo work opens as Sessions closes, with The Boy. The reference that Sessions makes to Adam’s solo work calls to mind the journey that Adam had taken between the two recordings, and in turn the journey he and the band will likely continue to take, further onwards and upwards to greater and greater success.

For AEG fans, the album serves as a perfect Chapter One in the story of Adam Ezra Group. For music fans, it’s a perfect Sunday afternoon walking-around-the-house kind of album that you’ll likely find yourself putting back in the CD player again and again.



 

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