The Fine Art

The first two things you see when you pick up Jesse Malin’s The Fine Art of Self Destruction album is “Produced by Ryan Adams” and a quote from Adams himself stating that “Jesse is so good it’s scary” plastered on a sticker. I was tempted to pick up the stack of CDs and move them into Ryan Adams section of the CD browser.  

It’s no surprise that bad-ass Adams has a thing for badder-ass Malin. Look at his credentials: leader of punk band D Generation; NYC slummer; and rough- cut (yet pretty) womanizer. So now these two wanna-be rock star hooligans are going to make an album together, I think I’d rather watch The Outsiders. They can’t possibly top Emilio Estevez and Patrick Swayze, can they? (By the way, did you know that film was directed by Francis Ford Coppolla? How freaky is that?)

Thirty seconds into the first track “Queen of the Underworld,” I was sold. For once it seemed the British press didn’t just wet themselves just so they could beat the U.S. press to the punch. Hailing Malin’s first solo effort as the next great rock album seemed a little drastic. Fortunately we didn’t get another Starsailor or Elbow album, both of which received the same acclaim. Instead we are bestowed straight ahead rock n’ roll music with a country edge (thankfully without being classified as the cliched “Americana.” The Fine Art of Self Destruction warrants comparisons to the Rolling Stones’ Let It Bleed era, minus the “glimmering,” drugged-up creative ambition. Like Mick-n-Keef, Malin’s lyrics are relatively simple, hook heavy and occasionally surprisingly brilliant. Two years ago Pete Yorn’s Musicforthemorningafter album had rock fans giddy. Unfortunately things didn’t hold up for ol’ Pete. Enter Malin, whose songs are more diverse than Yorn’s and, thankfully, much, much better written. Ill-starred enough, Malin doesn’t have the marketability or label backing that Musicforthemorningafter received, (no comment on how Yorn got such great label support).

Like so many great songwriters before him, Malin seems to be living life to the fullest and documenting his emotions through his music. The Fine Art of Self Destruction’s strongest asset is the obvious amount of passion driving the music — Malin’s conviction is an obvious result of his punk rock background. Although produced by Adams, upon listening to Malin’s first solo effort one would be safe betting that he won’t evolve as an artist the way Adams has and will continue to do. Malin was pretty good at one thing and now seems to be very good at another. Something tells me that if this guy keeps studying Paul Westerberg, he’ll be alright. Sorry, Francis, this beats The Outsiders.    7/10

Written by G. William Locke