Your 5 Ryan Adams albums

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Interpolantics, Apr 13, 2018.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. robcar

    robcar Forum Resident

    Location:
    Denver, CO
    Like The Twilight from that unreleased album is equally as good. But I agree as to "Walls". Just amazing.
     
    autumn daze and lucan_g like this.
  2. robcar

    robcar Forum Resident

    Location:
    Denver, CO
    Meh. Never saw him in those years but have heard several bootlegs. The highlights to me are the solo acoustic performances; when the band comes in it gets self-indulgent quickly. I love Neal Casal as both a guitarist and, especially, a solo songwriter (his solo albums blow away anything he's done with either the Cardinals or CRB). As with RA, Casal is better the more concise and focused he is.
     
  3. Macman

    Macman Senior Member

    1. Heartbreaker
    2. Gold
    3. Ashes and Fire
    4. Prisoner
    5. Ryan Adams
     
    The MEZ likes this.
  4. GodShifter

    GodShifter Forum Member

    Location:
    Dallas, TX, USA
    You think Love Is Hell falls into the “folk spectrum”? I don’t hear that.

    The two EPs which became the the full album were written with The Smiths in mind. I definitely would not categorize something like “Political Scientist” as “folk” or much else on that album in my opinion.
     
  5. budwhite

    budwhite Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.

    Location:
    Götaland, Sverige
    His best era imho. And my way into the Dead. About one year later the Dead lead me to jazz and I picked up my first Miles Davis record. What goes around...

    Saw Cardinals live two times and it was fantastic!
     
    Last edited: Apr 17, 2018
  6. lucan_g

    lucan_g Forum Resident

    This is what it comes down to. Those of us that were thrilled with Ryan's temporary move in this direction ... and those who were not. Personally, I was thrilled. Stuff like Prisoner, on the other hand, I can't get my head around...
     
    budwhite likes this.
  7. budwhite

    budwhite Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.

    Location:
    Götaland, Sverige
    I have about 50 live shows on the hdd from the 2005-09 Cardinals era. I love everything, the acoustic band shows in the summer of 2007 when Ryan broke his hand/wrist in a skateboard accident are simply great, just to name one tour...
     
    lucan_g likes this.
  8. lucan_g

    lucan_g Forum Resident

    I was listening to the June 29, 2007 Somerville show just the other day...
     
    budwhite likes this.
  9. budwhite

    budwhite Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.

    Location:
    Götaland, Sverige
    One of the greats! I have to cue that up now

    It can be a fun ride when an artist or band takes another direction, especially if you love the result. I remember that the Stockholm show in 2006(which I loved) got thrashed in the newspaper just because the reviewer hated the jam/Dead thing that Ryan went for :D
     
  10. Exile On My Street

    Exile On My Street Senior Member

    Location:
    Long Island, NY
    I've been reading this thread but haven't posted. Cold Roses may be my favorite Adams album and I see everyone referencing how much it sounds like The Grateful Dead and I'm not denying that at all but I think the similarities here are being exaggerated. Yes, there are touches of Dead there, I hear them, but ultimately it sounds very little like any Grateful Dead album I've heard.

    Someone referenced above the jams on the album? The longest song on the album is under 6 minutes with the majority 4 minutes or under. The album, to me, is still distinctly Ryan Adams and yes, there are occasional apparent Grateful Dead overtones on a few of the songs but reading this thread, if I had never heard the album myself, my impression would be it sounds exactly like American Beauty or the jammy Blues For Allah, which it doesn't.

    On another note, a few people have referenced Ryan's early lyrics vs. his more recent lyrics and that they aren't as strong. We've even had theories that it's AA's influence and whatnot. All I can say to that is, how closely have you really listened to his latest albums? I think the self-titled, Prisoner and Ashes and Fire all represent a latter day resurgence in his writing. I gave A&F a closer listen last night on the headphones and found it to be musically and lyrically fantastic.
     
    The MEZ likes this.
  11. Interpolantics

    Interpolantics Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Ireland

    Was it not 2004 when he broke his wrist falling off stage in Liverpool or was that another incident?
     
  12. budwhite

    budwhite Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.

    Location:
    Götaland, Sverige
    It's more the vibe and the lyrics compared to the music, imho. And the Dead never really jammed that much in the studio either. Their songs are mostly under 5 min but got much longer live. That's what Ryan did as well.
     
    Exile On My Street likes this.
  13. Zeki

    Zeki Forum Resident

    I'll use your list as a reference point especially for the albums I'm unfamiliar with (Cardinology and III/IV). So thanks! Hmm, I doubt I can trim my list down to 32 tracks. I'm going to aim for a target of 60...even if it tears my soul out!
     
  14. WorldB3

    WorldB3 Forum Resident

    Location:
    On the continent.
    I agree, working on a 3rd disc with that as the closer.
     
  15. Zeki

    Zeki Forum Resident

    Just skimmed III/IV and would never have thought that was a Cardinals album if it didn't say so on the cover. Nothing really jumped out at me. Star Wars, maybe? And then the bonus track, Cemetery Hill...that track sounds Cardinal-like.
     
  16. budwhite

    budwhite Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.

    Location:
    Götaland, Sverige
    I don't like it either. Played it once or twice. Major dissapointment
     
  17. GuidedByJonO)))

    GuidedByJonO))) Forum Resident

    Location:
    Evanston
    Heartbreaker
    Gold
    Cold Roses
    29
    Jacksonville City Nights

    in that order.
     
    The MEZ likes this.
  18. NunoBento

    NunoBento Rock 'n' Roll Star

    Location:
    London
  19. Record Rotator

    Record Rotator A vintage/retro-loving sentimental fool

    In no particular order except #1:

    1. Cold Roses
    2. Jacksonville City Nights
    3. Heartbreaker
    4. Love Is Hell
    5. Ryan Adams
     
    The MEZ likes this.
  20. BlackCircleVinyl

    BlackCircleVinyl Forum Resident

    Location:
    South NZ
    Live at Carnegie Hall*
    Heartbreaker
    Gold
    Prisoner
    Ryan Adams

    *Live at Carnegie Hall isn’t on the OP’s official list but is my absolute favourite album of Ryan’s. Seems I need to give Gold Roses a listen from all the votes up thread!
     
    The MEZ likes this.
  21. wallpaperman

    wallpaperman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Edinburgh
    III/IV is full of punchy, fast tunes, 'Kisses Start Wars' has got such a great chorus, 'Stop Playing With My Heart', Breakdown into the Resolve' are fantastic. None of them grab you?

    And I forgot about the slower song 'Typecast' which I love. I've got a live recording of a Cardinals era show somewhere where he's berating some noisy fans/hecklers and does this song but changes the lyrics ad lib, to have a go at the hecklers. It's very cleverly done.
     
  22. Zeki

    Zeki Forum Resident

    No, none of them.

    I'm driven by my playlist quest (speaking of driving, I was in the car for close to 5 hours today listening to Ryan Adams).

    I have six candidates from Rock n Roll: This Is It, Shallow, Wish You Were Here, So Alive, Rock n Roll and Anybody Wanna Take Me Home. All six have survived the second cut.

    I'm kinda relieved I didn't add any more candidates from III/IV. And from Cardinology (though I thought about Fix It, Magick and Evergreen).
     
  23. chervokas

    chervokas Senior Member

    "Folk" and "rock" were not my characterizations, those were what I was replying to.
     
    Zeki and GodShifter like this.
  24. GodShifter

    GodShifter Forum Member

    Location:
    Dallas, TX, USA
    My bad. How would you categorize Love is Hell genre wise? Just curious.
     
  25. chervokas

    chervokas Senior Member

    I dunno. I'd call all of Adams' output, for want of a more musical and less marketing-driven description, adult album alternative rock. I'm not so interested in slicing up the subgenres, or hung up on the taxonomy. Adams is a rock artist who comes out of the rock tradition and whose music is full of references to rock and rock history. So to me, he plays rock music and if I have to slice it into something it's that post punk, post cow punk kind of modern strummy AOR that gets place on Adult Album Alternative radio.

    Personally, I really kinda hate Love Is Hell. I suspect there are some really good songs in there, but they're so mopingly, humorously, tunelessly and morosely delivered I find it a chore to get through. That one and 29 are kind on my Ryan Adams no-play list. I also don't hear too much of The Smiths in Love Is Hell. If Adams was thinking about The Smiths when he made that, he forgot about the humor, the sexuality, the intricate internal harmony of the music and the slamming rhythm section. I hear a lot more of the Smiths in his 1989 cover album, especially the likes of his arrangements of "Bad Blood" and "Wildest Dreams," than I do in Love Is Hell.
     
    GodShifter and MRamble like this.
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page

molar-endocrine