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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