Ryan Adams - Romeo and Juliet

Yeah, there’s something goofy going on. Don’t appear under artist page on the Qobuz app, but both do appear under artist page when I access Qobuz via Lumin app. Maybe notify Qobuz?

 

Totally agree and SKM a very good comparison. I've been a Ryan Adams fan since Whiskeytown's Strangers Almanac in 1997 but unfortunately Wednesdays, Big Colors, and Chris are garbage. And what cracks me up are the people on Ryan Adams Facebook fan pages who go on about these records claiming they are masterpieces lol. One guy on Ryan Adams Superfans - Marc Cz - actually proclaimed that Wednesdays is as great as Dylan's Tangled Up In Blue. Seriously. The thing about Ryan is that he has been an emotionally damaged person right from the beginning. Amazing songwriter and musician but really messed up in the head. I saw it evidenced at a small Whiskeytown gig in September '97. And he never got any help. His entire career he has alienated virtually everyone in his life. I think that damage has finally caught up with him and his art - his songs/music - is clearly suffering for it.

 

While the three albums (Wednesdays, Big Colors, and Chris) are certainly no masterpieces they definitely aren't garbage.

For what it's worth Romeo & Juliet on first listen sounds like his best album in about 15 years.

 

Streaming it now on Tidal, not available -yet- on Qobuz.

 

Wednesdays has some good tunes...I think he just ran out of gas...29 was his peak...Like Kurt said " Teenage angst has paid off well..now I'm bored and old"..

 

actually, it is: Open Qobuz

as I mentioned earlier, this and Chris are both on Qobuz, but aren't showing up in his catalog. not sure why

 

between the four of them there's enough good material for a few stellar albums imo, an acoustic one and a full-band double album. not minding the tracklist order, this is what I'd put on it

Rollercoaster
In The Blue Of The Night
I Can't Remember
Doylestown Girl
Rain In L.A.
Run
In The Meadow
Earthquake
Hold Me Together
My Heaven

It's So Quiet, It's Loud
Fu** The Rain
Showtime
Manchester
I'm Sorry And I Love You
Summer Rain
Dreaming You Backwards
Middle Of The Line
Aching For More
Letting The Light In

=====

Romeo & Juliet
At Home With The Animals
Poor Connection
When You Cross Over
Poison & The Pain
Wednesdays
Birmingham
So, Anyways
Mamma
Lost In Time
Crooked Shake
Shizophrenic Babylon

 

There are some good tunes on this new album, but there’s a lot to digest. “ In The Meadow” is an early standout for me, as is the title track, “Romeo and Juliet”

 

just got back from the "return" show at Carnegie. someone posted this to a different site, but I think it to be correct. He was in fine form. At the start, despite the PA asking for no flash photography, people had flashes going and Ryan walked out, sat down and just closed his eyes or looked up. He didn't complain or whine or berate the audience for "triggering his Menagerie's" as I've seen him do previously. He had a great time with the crowd and there were 2 or 3 really genuinely touching moments as he tried to acknowledge the significance of the night without being overly sappy or "feel bad for me". Crowd was 110% on his side. It was him, four guitars, a piano and that was it. Kinda like an in-person IG concert we've been watching for the last 18 months.

His voice was as good as I remember, and the acoustics of Carnegie are so good there little PA at all and, well, it was magic. The almost 3 hour setlist speaks for itself.

• Oh My Sweet Carolina
• Dirty Rain
• Everybody Knows
• Ashes & Fire
• Two (played on piano!)
• Stars Go Blue
• To Be Without You
• Invisible Riverside
• Answering Bell
• Dear Chicago
• Outbound Train
• Firecracker
• NY, NY
• Chris (intro'd by telling the story the last time he'd seen his brother was when he was sitting in the audience at his last Carnegie show)
• La Cienega
• To Be Young
• Winding Wheel
• 16 Days
• Houses on the Hill
• Dreaming You Backwards from Wednesdays
• Sweet Illusions
• My Wrecking Ball
• I Love You But I Don’t Know What to Say
• Lucky Now
• Romeo & Juliet
• Do I Wait
• Prisoner
• Desire
• Let it Ride
• Come Pick Me Up

Encore

• The Wizard (Sabbath cover)

(pic via RA group on FB)

 

Well that sounds great

 

Glad the night went well for artist and crowd! Bit surprised he didn’t test run new material…there’s at least a dozen gems from the last few records that would have sounded great with just an acoustic guitar.

 

Here’s an ‘all killer no filler’ single album compiled from just CHRIS plus ROMEO & JULIET….

This woulda/coulda/shoulda have been my album of the year!

1. Take It Back
2. Rollercoaster
3. In The Blue Of The Night
4. I Can’t Remember
5. Flicker In The Fade
6. Chris
7. Something’s Missing

8. In The Meadow
9. Doylestown Girl
10. Romeo & Juliet
11. Schizophrenic Babylon
12. Moving Target
13. Rain in La
14. Run


Special mention to ‘I Can’t Remember’ …one of the most beautiful chorus melodies I’ve heard from any artist.

 

I’m guessing with it being the first show he wanted to concentrate on the songs he’s played countless times before. He’s promised wildly different sets for each show so fingers crossed newer tracks are played at the rest.

When was the last time he played Answering Bell? Pre Cardinals?

 

I've been away from listening to RA for a while now (I was very heavy into the Cardinals era, but kinda dropped off around Cardinology, which to me was his weakest album to that point), there's so much new stuff to me that I've got to listen to.

Quite a few songs in that Carnegie setlist that I'm unfamiliar with.

It's been said of Ryan throughout his solo career, but the problem is that there isn't any real consensus on what should be edited out. One man's trash is another man's treasure. My take is to just release it all, and let us make whatever version of the albums we want.

 

some "morning after" followup:

While it didn't, the ovation when he came out felt like it lasted 10 minutes. As he walked out you could imagine what must have been running thru his head. Considering there was a time not that long ago my wife and I were totally expecting any morning the news announcement of his death (due to any number of circumstances) it was a genuinely moving moment to see his face express a look of "I never, ever thought I'd experience this again", and since we've seen him so many times - we didn't either.

he'd scripted out the playlist and was flipping pages thru a 3 ring binder you're familiar with if you've watched any of his recent IG Live sessions. he struggled with tuning, joked about the "house guitar tech he'd just met" who had to scramble out and take the Buck Owen guitar backstage to tune or fix, which then forced him to play "Two" on piano ("I didn't write this for piano, so let's see how this goes") and on the fly was a surprisingly beautiful version of a song we've all heard 100's of times. if there was something missing it was his regular improvisation of songs based on something that happens during a show, but that also told me he'd been practicing and was focused on the task at hand.

after a few songs, you could clearly see he'd found a groove of comfort. the room is massive, but the acoustics give it this weirdly intimate vibe. You could hear him mumbling to himself as he looked for another pick and being my first time in Carnegie, its ability to feel like 3700 and 37 at the same time is startling.

When he came back out to do the Sabbath cover/encore ("they told me I could do a 3 minute song, and this is the only one I know") he opened up more than I can ever recall seeing him, and gave a brief genuine expression of sober appreciation (on many levels) of what the night had meant to him. Not sure I'd ever seen RA w/ that level of (sober) vulnerability not hidden behind a song, and I will choose to believe it was a real as it appeared.

I do hope he assembles a band again, tours and goes about his work, forever more, in this clean state he's in. It's rather fantastic.

 

I agree with you. I wouldn’t change the track listing on any of his previous albums., apart from Rock n’ Roll. That should have been an excellent 6 track EP.

However, the 36 songs from this year’s pair of albums does include some tired retreads of previous songs, particularly on Chris….Romeo & Juliet is one of his best albums as it is.

 

Thank you for both of your posts, a brilliant summary of the night.

I’ve seen some of the little clips on Instagram, and it sounded like the house was on his side, I am so pleased it went well for him and all of you that were there.

 

I’m super bummed, I snapped up tix for when the Academy of Music show was announced for Philly, it would be my first concert since the pandemic began…then I tested positive this past Thursday. Thankfully I bought my brother a ticket for his birthday so he’ll be able to find a friend to use my ticket but after being at a similar show there with him around the LAD tour I was really looking forward to it.

 

I have the Australian pressing and it’s great. I was very relieved after hearing reports of bad EU and USA pressings.
Wednesdays (Blue & Black Marble Vinyl)

 

I’m intrigued to hear this piano version of Two. In my head it could have a similar down feel to the Darkbreaker version

 

Thank you, it’s really kind of you to highlight that. I’ve just checked it out on Discogs and, as you say, it is better reviewed. Unfortunately, the prices are sky high with postage (as I am in the UK). I’ve added it to my want list, will track it and see if something affordable pops up. Appreciate the pointer.

 

Thank you for your reflections. Very well=written & interesting. I'm glad Ryan had such a wonderfully well-received, outstanding performance (despite working with new-to-him guitar tech).
Sounds like it was a truly msgical, historical night.

 

Really enjoyed Wednesdays and Big Colors. Not really breaking new ground for Ryan but each definitely had a distinct feel of their own. Looking forward to this release (and noticing it has a song Doylestown Girl that was released quite a while ago before the last two albums as a teaser).

 

Oh that sucks sorry to hear it. Get well soon

 

Envy of you @petercw2