Well, I fell for Mr. Adams' charms again. And I have the bruises to prove it.
 
I bought the Pixies' "Bam Thwok" on iTunes, and I decided I needed one more, following junkie logic. Just one more. So I got the Moroccan Role EP. Of course. It was an impulse buy, like when you bought the Cap'n Crunch Crunchberries that were all crunchberries, because, goddamn it, the Cap'n was away and someone had had screwed up at the factory, and this you needed to see.
 
So upon first listen:
 
"Ah, Life," sounds like early Stones or Beatles, back when they used to cover American rock songs in German bars. It barrels along like a loose cannon truck driver played by Paul Westerburg in a remake of Wages of Fear. (This, by the way, is a crackerjack idea. And I'm just giving it away. This is like the movie equivalent of the formula for Coke. You'll be printing your own money.) It goes along so fast and so loose that you barely have time to notice any flaws or bullshit. 
 
"I'm Coming Over" is both a threat and a promise. The chorus: "Nobody taught you how to cry." Come the hell on. If he's going to be pulling crap like that, then lock the door. Production sounds like crap too. Overproduced, ready to be used in the background of a climactic scene on "One Tree Hill" ("Is Lucas home... Oh. What are you doing here?").
 
"Don't Even Know Her Name" is a rambler like Heartbreaker's "To Be Young" and not even as good. Its intro reminds me vaguely of Buffalo Tom's cover of "Wah Wah." I think this is the song that fascinates me the most, even though I like "Ah Life" the best (it barely sticks around long enough for me to think differently). It seems to be on the verge of something great, but doesn't have the stones to go that extra bit. I think the problem overall, is that he doesn't even buy what he's selling. Heartbreaker is so amazing because he convinces you each and everytime, on songs like "Come Pick Me Up," that he's falling apart, that he's murdered. Anymore, the most I get out of him is that he wants to nail this take because he's meeting his friends later and they're going to talk about New York Dolls albums, because, you know, that's what we do in New York City, right? I came across a line off that first album, from "Don't Ask for the Water":

With her hands on her chest
and a book full of quotes

And isn't that what Ryan Adam's is doing? He's not letting anything out, and just quoting other artists. Oh, this is my Dylan song, this is my Replacements song, this is my Stones jam. It doesn't mean anything. If I wanted to here someone sound like a band I liked, I'd have gone to a lot more Strange as Angels shows in high school (Strange as Angels being the pre-eminant Cure cover band of the Philadelphia metro area. I think they still play at the Bent Elbow Tavern, God bless 'em).

Anyway, here, again, he gets lazy with the lyrics: "Oh, I saw her face/ Oh, I lost my place" is the last thing he leaves us with. May as well be "so long, suckers."
 
By the way, "Bam Thwok" is solid. I've heard people get down on the "Bam Thwok wakka-wakka" chorus, but really, does "crack crack, crackity jones" reveal to us anymore mysteries of the universe? Of course, this is a return, the first thing we've heard in about a decade, so a lot was expected from this; a furious testament to warped wisdom and circular logic, plumbing the depths of the psyche in 3 minutes of hip-shaking goodness, maybe. But I say it's all made up for by those Joey Santiago guitar lines, as identifiable as fingerprints on glass.