RYAN ADAMS was not having a good day on 16 November 2003. Booed off Dublin's Olympia stage after a performance that lasted scarcely an hour and which featured a selection of his worst material from his worst album Rock n Roll, popular music's greatest egotist (with an inferiority complex) was hurtling headlong into the abyss.

Record-company wrangling had forced him to churn out a dog of a record and he was going to stick it to The Man by alienating his fans. What followed was a period of regrouping where his erratic behaviour and considerable mood swings saw him cancel shows with mysterious illnesses. One wondered if the artist behind the best album of 2001 (Gold) would ever recover. Then last year came news of not one new album but three. The albums were stunning in places, each song a paean to American values, love songs to his own history. Last Sunday, on that same Olympia stage, Adams returned. He said little, just played and played and played. At 10.30pm he cut out for a smoke (and encouraged us to do so) before taking the show up to curfew and disappearing. It felt like an act of contrition and even if he only played a handful of (reworked) 'hits' there was an imperfect sense of redemption in the air. And the most talented American songwriter of his generation didn't play anything from Rock n Roll. Funny that.

Different drum

AN ideal stocking filler for your music-obsessed friend/sister/ brother who may not want to read another book about U2 even if it is by U2, Daragh O'Halloran's Green Beat is a history of Irish music's 'forgotten era'. Instead of focusing his research on showbands, O'Halloran has interviewed a wide range of scenesters from the 1960s and 1970s who remember the likes of The Kingbees, Skid Row and Eire Apparent. The book is beautifully illustrated and features photos and ticket stubs, etc from the period.

Sub standard

As if Gemma Hayes didn't have enough to worry about what with being surplus to record company requirements, Hot Press magazine want to single-handedly blame her for "stealing" Kevin Shields away from Primal Scream. Three times (one is a 'news' story) the magazine makes the accusation in its latest edition. Three times. Lazy, meanspirited or just plain stupid? Take your pick.

News, views and gratuitous plugs gratefully received on ndunphy@tribune. ie