Track Listing

1. Queen Of The Underworld
2. TKO
3. Downliner
4. Wendy
5. Brooklyn
6. Fine Art Of Self Destruction
7. Riding On The Subway
8. High Lonesome
9. Solitaire
10. Almost Grown
11. Xmas
12. Brooklyn

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #23897 in Music
• Released on: 2002-10-28
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Revew
With the invigoration of New York punk surging through the grime-lined veins of urbanised country rock, Jesse Malin's debut album The Fine Art Of Self Destruction is not only dirty, hard-bitten and restless but blessed with a bona fide autobiographical clarity. How else could the toughened-up Simon and Garfunkel style "Riding on the Subway"--with it's stroboscopic glimpses of pretzel sellers, buskers, spray-paint gospel and three-card monty--seem so effortlessly real? How could the repressed, moping angst of "Solitaire" or the music biz caution of "High Lonesome" ("through your brand new shades you might not see the sharks") ring so true?

Boredom, delinquency, escapism--Malin bites to the core of life, loves and regrets in the Big Apple's concrete jungle, carrying all the emotional axe-grinding baggage of an imaginary, seriously pissed-off younger Bruce Springteen. "Fine Art" is so self-assured and fully-realised there really is no need to covet interest-by-proxy in drawing attention to the fact that the album was produced by Ryan Adams (who also guests on guitar). --Kevin Maidment

Customer Reviews

Exceptional debut
The strength of 'The Fine Art of Self Destruction' lies in the fact that it is filled with quality songs, not a filler in sight. Malin has envious songwriting talents and the ability to emulate all the great artists of the last 40 years whilst retaining his own individuality. 'Solitaire' in particular could be easily be the heartbreaking song that Springsteen has never wrote.

Lyrically, Malin keeps things fairly simple but invokes intrigue in tales of parental divorce, recurring Sunday evening illnesses (!) and of course stories of loves lost and found.

The album is endorsed and produced by none other than Mr. Ryan Adams, who has remarked that Malin is "scarily good". On this performance there is every reason to believe Adams should be scared cos at last the ex-Whiskeytown man has some serious competition!

At times rockin' and upbeat, at times tearful and heartbreaking, Malin succeeds in producing one of the finest and most listenable debut albums for years!

Brilliant debut
I too first saw Jesse supporting Ryan Adams at Manchester Apollo, and was impressed enough on the night to buy this CD.

What a find ! This is a fantastic debut, and it might be the best debut album I've heard since Bruce Springsteen's "Greetings from Astbury Park". It really is that good. He reminds me of Bruce a lot, and the songs like Queen of the Underworld and Riding on the Subway are simply brilliant.

Not over keen on Wendy as its a bit of a barroom upbeat track that is a bit of a filler. The rest is outstanding. Go and buy it if you like Ryan Adams or Bruce Springsteen

So you like Ryan Adams do you?
Well you've come to the right place as this is very Ryan Adams...not surprising as he produced and guested on guitar. But this is no cheap rehash of another artist's songs. No this is much more. Unfortunately Ryan may have caused himself a problem as his guy could become so much better than his mentor! I first heard of jesse malin when he was support at Adams' Belfast gig and i was not particularly impressed by his songs as his mic was too loud for the songs. On this album everything sounds in better balance and the true brilliance of his songs can come through. This is pure americana but with a true pop sensibility. Highlights of the album are undoubtedly 'Queen of the Underworld', 'Brooklyn' despite it's singer-songwriter pastiche and my personal favourite- 'Almost Grown'. However, there is no bad song on the album and many people will prefer 'Solitaire' and 'Wendy' for their more popish sound. My only problem is, as i bought the album for my girlfriend, how do i tell her i'm going to keep it? Go out and buy this as he could end up better than the brilliant Adams and this stands up to 'Heartbreaker' anyday.