137. Adele, "21"

 

This monster album is, so far, the best-selling record of the century, and one of the best-selling albums of all time.  Besides "Rolling in the Deep" and "Someone Like You," I had never heard it, and you know what?  It's okay.  It's like Amy Winehouse with all the sharp edges shaved off.  

You have to start off with Adele's voice, a huge, brassy instrument that can vary from a careful whisper to a booming, arching, crescendo of sound.  It's not all pyrotechnics; there's also an interesting, ragged edge that suggests a world-weariness you would not expect from a 21-year-old.  The album is famously a breakup album, and remember how hard breakups were in your early 20's?  Absent any life experince, getting rid of that loser feels like the most traumatic thing that has ever happened to any person, anywhere, who has ever lived on Earth:

I let it fall, my heart
And as it fell, you rose to claim it
It was dark, and I was over
Until you kissed my lips and you saved me
My hands, they were strong
But my knees were far too weak
To stand in your arms
Without falling to your feet
But there's a side to you
That I never knew, never knew
All the things you'd say
They were never true, never true
And the games you'd play
You would always win, always win

From "Set Fire to the Rain," which, what?  Anyway, the whole album is pretty much like this; you have crushed me but "I'll be waiting for you when you're ready to love me again" (from "I'll Be Waiting").  Adele has said that she wrote the lyrics for these songs usually wasted off a couple of bottles of wine, chain smoking, which, as we all know, is when you're deep in your feelings and not completely rational and that's how it comes across.

I don't love the songs.  Musically it's the  kind of jazz/soul revival that Winehouse did better, which is just not my favorite genre.  And to be brutally honest, a lot of the songs are just not that interesting.  I kept wishing something would really get stuck in my head, but apart from "Deep" and maybe "Rumor Has It," a big, strong song that comes right after "Deep" and is so Winehousian it could be Winehouse (sorry for continuing to make that comparison, but Adele herself has said she owes 90% of her career to Winehouse) that never happened.  There's also an interesting, very quiet cover of the Cure's "Lovesong" that was momentarily arresting but felt out of place.  I'm sure this album is deeply meaningful to millions of people, but it never clicked with me.  Oh well.

Is this album in my personal Top 500? No.