New Adventures in Hi-Fi
New Adventures, despite its studiocentric title, is a snapshots-from-the-road record in the tradition of Neil Young'sTime Fades Awayand Jackson Browne'sRunning on Empty. Like them, it captures a where-am-I-and-why ambience, even with its concert and sound-check material reworked in post-tour sessions. This is very much a transitional album, its feel somewhere between the chamber-folk sweep ofOut of TimeandAutomatic for the Peopleand the distortion-pedal party that raged onMonster. It's the work of a band pretty near its peak consolidating familiar sounds and styles while tinkering with the edges.--Rickey Wright