Adam Brodsky - Folk Remedy

July 06, 2000

In the liner notes for Folk Remedy, Adam Brodsky goes out of his way to spell out influences ranging from Woody Guthrie to Bob Dylan to The Sex Pistols to Lenny Bruce. But truth be told, Brodsky is nothing but a wiseass, and incredibly hilarious wiseass, but a wiseass nonetheless. The cool thing is the music world needs someone like Brodsky to come along from time to time to keep all the dickheads honest. The majority of Folk Remedy deals with busted relationships, one-night stands, and sordid sexual tales, and even though some relationships pop up multiple times, Folk Remedy works because of Brodsky's great wordplay and stellar storytellings. Don't expect any mind-boggling music revelations on Folk Remedy. Most songs play it close to the vest sticking to three chord and stipped-down production, but Brodsky is all about lyrics. One great song, "Amy and Ani", dusts off a Brodsky famous fantasy menage a trois and then proceeds to name check a bundle of the greatest songwriters of the past 40 years at a Brodsky show the next evening. And while Folk Remedy may get a big long on the tongue-in-cheek stories, Brodsky deserves recognition for one of the best breakup songs ever writting in "Some Girls." It's buried a little deep in the CD, but it proves that when Brodsky drops his facade, he can deliver great songs.

by Ed Yashinsky, mode