On Vacation with Adam Chandler

I first came across Adam Chandler’s music last summer after a friend of mine had caught his set at the Sidewalk Café, . He made me listen to Vacation (“dude, you gotta listen to this!”), Chandler’s 2005 album, and described how “I’d learn to play bass just to be in the guy’s band”. Chandler’s best songs possess a youthful, energetic charm that is unmistakable, informed with a lo-fi punk bluster and huge pop hooks. But I’m barely sure Adam Chandler even exists. After that day I’ve had little luck trying to find much of anything about him online. According to google, he’s a character on All My Children. There’s no shortage of folks on myspace who share his name, but I did eventually track his site down. Once. Now I can't find it...should've bookmarked it. Whatever though, there weren't any songs, videos, or concert dates to speak of, nothing that would suggest Chandler is into promoting his music.

For some reason, despite the lack of information, I’m compelled to post “All I Want Is You”, one of the standout tracks from Vacation. You’d think writing a song like this would be simple, it sounds so primitive and amateurish at first. But listen closely to the intonation and the clever little turns of phase. Listen to the way he holds certain vowel sounds, then repeats the same line holding different ones, refreshing the melody by twisting it around. Listen to the way he rhymes “pavement”, “basement”, “radio station” and “vacation” like they were meant to be. Listen to the confidence, the positivity, the goddamn swagger. This is a bare bones attack on a new classic, and sure, it could use a full band rockin’ out with as much abandon as he sings it with (it would probably sound awesome with The Who or The Jam as his backing band, but what wouldn't?). But this version puts his singing, his words, right in your face where they belong. Chandler means it, and that’s so much more than most singers can say.

Now if he’d only come out of hiding.
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MP3 :: All I Want Is You
(from Vacation)
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Visit Adam Chandler at Folding Leg Records.
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