(One Little Indian/Shock)

Latest album from Ryan Adam’s bud

Jesse Malin is a singer/songwriter with some cool contacts – there’s long-time mate Ryan Adams guesting on a couple of tunes and that’s none other than Bruce Springsteen duetting with him on Broken Radio. It makes quite a bit of sense that there’s some kinship between Malins and the aforementioned artists – all three are poets who also happen to be rock singers. And while Malins (or Adams for that matter) is yet to join Springsteen in the pantheon of classically great singer/lyricists, Glitter In The Gutter is another solid offering from this tousle-haired storyteller.  The Springsteen duet is an impassioned, winning piano ballad with stirring vocal performances elevated further by the uplifting string arrangement.  There’s pacey adrenalised power-pop in Prisoners Of Paradise and while Springsteen isn’t present in the anthemic Black Haired Girl, he may as well be. There’s hints of Soul Asylum in NY Nights, a tinge of Replacements in Little Star, a whole lotta Replacements in the piano ballad cover of Westerberg’s classic Bastards Of Young – if you hadn’t already guessed, it’s a very American album. But in a good, gritty, poetic kinda way.

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MATT THROWER

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