Ryan Adams | ||
| Allmusic Biography : Mixing the heartfelt angst of a singer/songwriter with the cocky brashness of a garage rocker, Ryan Adams is at once one of the few artists to emerge from the alt-country scene into mainstream commercial success, and the one who most strongly refuses to be defined by the genre, leaping from one spot to another stylistically as he follows his muse. Following the collapse of his alt-country band Whiskeytown, Adams wasted no time launching a prolific solo career, releasing a string of award-winning albums. A prolific collaborator and producer as well, Adams has worked with an eclectic set of artists including Willie Nelson, Fall Out Boy, Cowboy Junkies, Jenny Lewis, and Toots & the Maytals. Adams was born in Jacksonville, North Carolina, in 1974. While country music was a major part of his familys musical diet when he was young (he has cited Loretta Lynn, George Jones, Merle Haggard, and Johnny Cash as particular favorites), in his early teens Adams developed a taste for punk rock and began playing electric guitar. At 15, he started writing songs, and a year later he formed a band called the Patty Duke Syndrome; Adams once described PDS as "an arty noise punk band," with Hüsker Dü frequently cited as a key influence and reference point. The Patty Duke Syndrome developed a following in Jacksonville, and when Adams was 19 the band relocated to the larger town of Raleigh in hopes of expanding its following. However, Adams became eager to do something more melodic that would give him a platform for his country and pop influences. In 1994, Adams left the Patty Duke Syndrome and formed Whiskeytown with guitarist Phil Wandscher and violinist Caitlin Cary. With bassist Steve Grothman and drummer Eric "Skillet" Gilmore completing the lineup, Whiskeytown (the name came from regional slang for getting drunk) released their first album, Faithless Street, on the local Mood Food label. The album won reams of critical praise in the music press, and more than one writer suggested that Whiskeytown could do for the alt-country or No Depression scene what Nirvana had done for grunge. But by the time Whiskeytown had signed to a major label -- the Geffen-distributed imprint Outpost Records -- the band had undergone the first in a series of major personal shakeups, and in the summer of 1997, when Whiskeytowns Outpost debut, Strangers Almanac, was ready for release, Adams and Wandscher were the only official members of the group left. Cary soon returned, but Wandscher left shortly afterward, and Whiskeytown had a revolving-door lineup for much of the next two years, with the bands live shows becoming increasingly erratic, as solid performances were often followed by noisy, audience-baiting disasters. Consequently, as strong as Strangers Almanac was, Whiskeytown never fulfilled the commercial expectations created for them by others. In 1999, the band -- which was down to Adams, Cary, and a handful of session musicians -- recorded its third and final album, Pneumonia, but when Geffen was absorbed in a merger between PolyGram and Universal, Outpost was phased out, and the album was shelved; shortly afterward, Whiskeytown quietly called it quits. Following the bands collapse, Adams wasted no time launching a career apart from the band, and after a few solo acoustic tours, he went into a Nashville studio with songwriters Gillian Welch and David Rawlings and cut his first album under his own name, Heartbreaker, released by pioneering "insurgent country" label Bloodshot Records in 2000. The album received critical raves, respectable sales, and a high-profile endorsement from Elton John, and Adams was signed by Universals new Americana imprint, Lost Highway Records. Lost Highway gave Whiskeytowns Pneumonia a belated release in early 2001, and later that same year the label released his second solo set, Gold, which displayed less of a country influence in favor of classic pop and rock styles of the 70s. In the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks, the albums opening track, "New York, New York," was embraced by radio as an anthem of resilience (though it actually concerned a busted romance), and Adams once again found himself touted as "the next big thing." Always a prolific songwriter, in a bit more than a year following Golds release Adams had written and recorded enough material for four albums. He opted to whittle the 60 tunes down to a 13-song collection called Demolition, which was released in 2002 as he went into the studio to record his official follow-up to Gold. A year later, Adams concept album Rock n Roll was released alongside the double-EP collection Love Is Hell. Tours around the globe kept him busy into the next year as he maintained momentum writing songs and keeping his ever-changing presence in the music press. In May 2005, Adams released his first of three albums for Lost Highway, the melancholic double-disc Cold Roses. Jacksonville City Nights, a more classic-sounding honky tonk effort, followed in September, and 29 appeared in late December. In in the interim period before his next album was released, the ever-prolific Adams posted a large selection of tracks -- including several hip-hop tunes -- on his website, but fans were greeted with more straightforward material on 2007s Easy Tiger and 2008s Cardinology with the Cardinals. Adams decided to disband the Cardinals in 2009, precipitating an unusual period of quiet from the singer/songwriter. He slowly returned to active duty in 2010, releasing the heavy metal Orion on vinyl only in the summer and then issuing III/IV -- a double album recorded with the Cardinals during the Easy Tiger sessions -- in November. For his 13th solo album, 2011s Ashes and Fire, the singer/songwriter recruited Norah Jones and Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers keyboard player Benmont Tench, as well as legendary producer Glyn Johns, who had helmed the Who classic Whos Next. Following Ashes and Fire, Adams musical career was temporarily put on hold while he suffered from an inner-ear disorder, which resulted in a collection of canceled shows. However, after hypnotherapy treatment, he began writing music again. As he worked on a new collection of original songs in his L.A. Pax-Am studios with guitarist/producer Mike Viola, Adams also spent time producing other artists; he helmed Fall Out Boys hardcore punk 2013 EP Pax-Am Days and Jenny Lewis lush 2014 LP, The Voyager. As it turned out, Adams released his own variations on these themes in the fall of 2014. First was a 7" EP called 1984, which deliberately evoked the loud, fast punk-pop of Hüsker Dü and the Replacements; then there was the gorgeous polish of Ryan Adams, his first album for Blue Note. Ryan Adams debuted at number four upon its September 2014 release, marking his highest-ever position on the Billboard 200. He quickly followed Ryan Adams with Live at Carnegie Hall, a double-disc live set, in April 2015. That live album was soon eclipsed by the news that Adams was covering Taylor Swifts 2014 album 1989 in full, designing it as something of a sad-rock sequel to Love Is Hell. Adams 1989 arrived to a flurry of interest in September 2015 and saw a physical release the following month. He spent 2016 quietly, emerging at the end of the year to announce the release of the full-length Prisoner. Preceded by the singles "Do You Still Love Me?" and "To Be Without You," Prisoner appeared in February 2017. In February 2018, Adams released the Valentines Day single "Baby, I Love You." While quiet for much of 2018, he planned to release three new albums in 2019, beginning with Aprils Big Colors. On February 13, 2019, the New York Times published an article containing allegations of sexual misconduct against Adams; several women were cited in the piece, including his ex-wife Mandy Moore. In the wake of its publication, Blue Note canceled the release of Adams album Big Colors. | ||
 | Album: 1 of 17 Title: Heartbreaker Released: 2000-09-05 Tracks: 15 Duration: 52:03 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 (Argument With David Rawlings Concerning Morrissey) (00:37) 2 To Be Young (Is to Be Sad, Is to Be High) (03:04) 3 My Winding Wheel (03:13) 4 AMY (03:46) 5 Oh My Sweet Carolina (04:57) 6 Bartering Lines (03:59) 7 Call Me on Your Way Back Home (03:09) 8 Damn, Sam (I Love a Woman That Rains) (02:08) 1 Come Pick Me Up (05:18) 2 To Be the One (03:01) 3 Why Do They Leave? (03:38) 4 Shakedown on 9th Street (02:53) 5 Dont Ask for the Water (02:56) 6 In My Time of Need (05:39) 7 Sweet Lil Gal (23rd/1st) (03:39) |
| Heartbreaker : Allmusic album Review : As Whiskeytown finally ground to a halt in the wake of an astonishing number of personal changes following Faithless Street (coupled with record company problems that kept their final album, Pneumonia, from reaching stores until two years after it was recorded), Ryan Adams ducked into a Nashville studio for two weeks of sessions with Gillian Welch and David Rawlings. While arch traditionalists Welch and Rawlings would hardly seem like a likely match for alt-countrys bad boy, the collaboration brought out the best in Adams; Heartbreaker is loose, open, and heartfelt in a way Whiskeytowns admittedly fine albums never were, and makes as strong a case for Adams gifts as anything his band ever released. With the exception of the Stones-flavored "Shakedown on 9th Street" and the swaggering "To Be Young (Is to Be Sad, Is to Be High)," Heartbreaker leaves rock & roll on the shelf in favor of a sound that blends low-key folk-rock with a rootsy, bluegrass-accented undertow, and while the albums production and arrangements are subtle and spare, they make up in emotional impact whatever they lack in volume. As a songwriter, Adams concerns himself with the ups and downs of romance rather than the post-teenage angst that dominated Whiskeytowns work, and "My Winding Wheel" and "Damn, Sam (I Love a Woman That Rains)" are warmly optimistic in a way hes rarely been before, while "Come Pick Me Up" shows hes still eloquently in touch with heartbreak. Adams has always been a strong vocalist, but his duet with Emmylou Harris on "Oh My Sweet Carolina" may well be his finest hour as a singer, and the stripped-back sound of these sessions allows him to explore the nooks and crannies of his voice, and the results are pleasing. Whiskeytown fans who loved the "Replacements-go-twang" crunch of "Drank Like a River" and "Yesterdays News" might have a hard time warming up to Heartbreaker, but the strength of the material and the performances suggest Adams is finally gaining some much-needed maturity, and his music is all the better for it. | ||
 | Album: 2 of 17 Title: Gold Released: 2001-02-05 Tracks: 16 Duration: 1:10:26 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 New York, New York (03:47) 2 Firecracker (02:51) 3 Answering Bell (03:04) 4 La Cienega Just Smiled (05:03) 5 The Rescue Blues (03:38) 6 Somehow, Someday (04:24) 7 When the Stars Go Blue (03:31) 8 Nobody Girl (09:42) 9 Sylvia Plath (04:10) 10 Enemy Fire (04:09) 11 Gonna Make You Love Me (02:37) 12 Wild Flowers (05:00) 13 Harder Now That Its Over (04:32) 14 Touch, Feel & Lose (04:17) 15 Tina Toledos Street Walkin Blues (06:09) 16 Goodnight, Hollywood Blvd. (03:26) |
| Gold : Allmusic album Review : One would think that being Ryan Adams would be a pretty good deal at the time of this albums release; he had a major-label deal, critics were in love with him, he got to date Winona Ryder and Alanis Morissette, Elton John went around telling everyone he was a genius, and his record company gave him carte blanche to do whatever he wanted. But to listen to Gold, Adams first solo album for his big-league sponsors at Lost Highway, one senses that there are about a dozen other musicians Adams would love to be, and nearly all of them were at their peak in the early to mid-70s. Adams final album with Whiskeytown, Pneumonia, made it clear that he was moving beyond the scruffy alt-country of his early work, and Gold documents his current fascination with 70s rock. Half the fun of the album is playing "Spot the Influence": "Answering Bell" is a dead ringer for Van Morrison (with fellow Morrison enthusiast Adam Duritz on backing vocals), "Tina Toledos Street Walkin Blues" is obviously modeled on the Rolling Stones, "Harder Now That Its Over" sounds like Harvest-period Neil Young, "New York, New York" resembles Stephen Stills in his livelier moments (Stephens son, Chris Stills, plays on the album), and "Rescue Blues" and "La Cienega Just Smiled" suggest the influence of Adams pal Elton John. Of course, everyone has their influences, and Adams seems determined to make the most of them on Gold; its a far more ambitious album than his solo debut, Heartbreaker. The performances are polished, Ethan Johns production is at once elegant and admirably restrained, Adams is in strong voice throughout, and several of the songs are superb, especially the swaggering but lovelorn "New York, New York," the spare and lovely "When the Stars Go Blue," and the moody closer, "Goodnight, Hollywood Blvd." But while Gold sounds like a major step forward for Adams in terms of technique, it lacks the heart and soul of Heartbreaker or Pneumonia; the album seems to reflect craft rather than passion, and while its often splendid craft, the fire that made Whiskeytowns best work so special isnt evident much of the time. Gold sounds like an album that could win Ryan Adams a lot of new fans (especially with listeners whose record collections go back a ways), but longtime fans may be a bit put off by the albums richly crafted surfaces and emotionally hollow core. | ||
 | Album: 3 of 17 Title: Demolition Released: 2002-09-23 Tracks: 17 Duration: 58:02 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Nuclear (03:25) 2 Hallelujah (03:10) 3 You Will Always Be the Same (02:37) 4 Desire (03:41) 5 Cry on Demand (04:22) 6 Starting to Hurt (03:18) 7 She Wants to Play Hearts (04:01) 8 Tennessee Sucks (02:55) 9 Dear Chicago (02:13) 10 Gimme a Sign (03:03) 11 Tomorrow (04:23) 12 Chin Up, Cheer Up (02:59) 13 Jesus (Dont Touch My Baby) (05:09) 1 New York, New York (live in Amsterdam) (03:47) 2 To Be Young (Is to Be Sad, Is to Be High) (live in Amsterdam) (02:53) 3 Blue (02:27) 4 Song for Keith (03:33) |
| Demolition : Allmusic album Review : On more than one occasion, Ryan Adams has played solo acoustic gigs that consisted almost entirely of songs he wrote the afternoon of the show, and after his 2001 album, Gold, finally gave him an audience outside the small but rabidly enthusiastic alt-country scene, the very prolific Adams seemed to waste no time laying down as many songs as he possibly could. If one believes what one reads in New Musical Express, Adams cut about four albums worth of material during sessions with various musicians and producers within the space of a year (not even counting the much talked about but to date unheard four-track recordings of blues versions of all the songs from the Strokes debut disc, Is This It). Sensibly enough, Adams and his record company decided that releasing such a huge flood of material wasnt in the best interest of either artist or label, and instead Adams cherry-picked these sessions into a 13-track collection, Demolition. Appropriately enough, Demolition sounds less like "the third Ryan Adams album" than a collection of stray tunes -- some of which are very good, especially the lazy summer vibe of "Tennessee Sucks," the up-tempo acoustic twang of "Chin Up, Cheer Up," the winsome "Cry on Demand," and the heading-off-the-rails rocker "Starting to Hurt." But more than a few of the other songs on the album sound like rough drafts rather than completed works, and Demolition seems to lack a strong thematic or structural center. In short, Demolition sounds like a bunch of demos, which of course is just what it is, and while it preserves a few strong tunes and offers an insight into Adams creative process, it also makes clear that even the rising wunderkind of Americana can benefit from a bit of judicious editing and polishing. | ||
 | Album: 4 of 17 Title: Love Is Hell Released: 2003 Tracks: 16 Duration: 1:07:58 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Political Scientist (04:33) 2 Afraid Not Scared (04:13) 3 This House Is Not for Sale (03:53) 4 Anybody Wanna Take Me Home (05:31) 5 Love Is Hell (03:19) 6 Wonderwall (04:09) 7 The Shadowlands (05:18) 8 World War 24 (04:17) 9 Avalanche (05:08) 10 My Blue Manhattan (02:23) 11 Please Do Not Let Me Go (03:37) 12 City Rain, City Streets (03:49) 13 I See Monsters (03:57) 14 English Girls Approximately (05:42) 15 Thank You Louise (02:52) 16 Hotel Chelsea Nights (05:09) |
| Love Is Hell : Allmusic album Review : Like any Ryan Adams album, Love Is Hell comes with a back-story, one that is carefully calculated to construct the enfant terribles self-myth. Love Is Hell was intended to be the official follow-up to 2001s Gold -- the album that was not a collection of demos (that was 2002s Demolition), or the recorded-but-shelved albums 48 Hours or The Suicide Handbook, or even his alleged song-by-song cover of the Strokes Is This It. Longtime Smiths fan that he is, Adams teamed up with John Porter -- the man who produced The Smiths, Meat Is Murder, and part of The Queen Is Dead -- with the intention of creating his own mope-rock album, hence the title Love Is Hell. Americana label that it is, Lost Highway balked at releasing a stylized tribute to Mancunian rainy-day bedsit music and didnt release it, encouraging Adams to record a different album, presumably one more in line with the labels taste. In the press and on the web, our hero spread stories about how the label claimed it was "too depressing" and "dark," thereby cultivating the myth that hes a maverick genius, while the label cheerfully countered with the defense that it just knew that our boy could do better. Eventually, a compromise was arranged: Adams kicked out a new album, the self-descriptive Rock N Roll, while releasing the equally self-descriptive Love Is Hell as two EPs, the first hitting the streets the same day as the "official" album, the second arriving a month later. Five months after that, the full-length Love Is Hell, containing both EPs plus "Anybody Wanna Take Me Home" from Rock N Roll, was released, negating the worth of the individual EPs (which were, after all, merely two halves of one album) and likely irritating legions of fans who bought both EPs. While it took longer than necessary to have the whole bloody affair of Love Is Hell released as its own entity, its hard not to view it as a companion piece to Rock N Roll, particularly because theyre two sides of the same coin. In effect, both Rock N Roll and Love Is Hell are tribute albums, each a conscious aping of a style and sound, both designed to showcase how versatile and masterful Adams is. But since hes a synthesist more than a stylist, Adams, for all his bluster, winds up as a Zelig-styled character, taking on the characteristics of the artists hes emulating -- something that can be sonically pleasurable, but far from being the substantive work of mad genius that he relentlessly sells himself as. If Love Is Hell has the edge over Rock N Roll, its because its more carefully considered in its production and writing, and he manages to hide his allusions better than he does on Rock, where every title and chord progression plays like an homage. Here, he shoots for the Smiths and winds up in Jeff Buckley territory tempered with a dash of Radiohead circa The Bends. To claim that it is a dark affair is to criticize its milieu more than its substance, because the songs have the form and feel of brooding, atmospheric mope-rock, not the blood and guts of the music. Adams is fairly adept at crafting that mood -- anybody whos such a fan of rock history should be -- sometimes relying more on a blend of attitude and atmosphere instead of songwriting. Such is the fate of a stylized tribute to a style with specific sonic attributes, but Adams also does come up with a clutch of effective songs: the epic sprawl of "Political Scientist," which captures him at his best Buckley; the title track, which is nearly anthemic with its ringing guitars; the understated "World War 24"; the gently propulsive "This House Is Not for Sale," which would fit nicely between a Julian Cope and Morrissey track on a college radio show from the late 80s. "English Girls Approximately" is an effective Bob Dylan and Paul Westerberg fusion, and the closer, "Hotel Chelsea Nights," is one of his best songs, a mildly anthemic soulful anthem with vague overtones of "Purple Rain." Nevertheless, its telling that the best song here is a cover of Oasis "Wonderwall." Its a well-done cover but not much of a reinvention -- Adams uses Noel Gallaghers solo acoustic version of the song as a template, replacing strumming with fingerpicked guitars and altering the phrasing slightly -- which is why the song itself shines through so strongly: it resonates how the other songs are intended to, but dont. While it doesnt fatally hurt Love Is Hell, since it is an effective mood piece, it does undercut it, revealing how Adams delivers the sizzle but not the steak. | ||
 | Album: 5 of 17 Title: Rock n Roll Released: 2003-11-03 Tracks: 15 Duration: 52:19 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 This Is It (03:19) 2 Shallow (04:04) 3 1974 (03:06) 4 Wish You Were Here (02:59) 5 So Alive (03:58) 6 Luminol (03:24) 7 Burning Photographs (04:12) 8 She’s Lost Total Control (03:05) 9 Note to Self: Don’t Die (02:13) 10 Rock n Roll (01:59) 11 Anybody Wanna Take Me Home (04:46) 12 Do Miss America (02:30) 13 Boys (03:31) 14 The Drugs Not Working (05:32) 15 Hypnotixed (03:35) |
| Rock n Roll : Allmusic album Review : Ryan Adams is the male Courtney Love -- a hard-working hustler with impeccable taste who talks such a good game that it deliberately overshadows his music. Of course, Adams differs from Courtney in many crucial ways. For one, hes a workaholic, recording and releasing more albums than he should, which also points out that, unlike Love, he doesnt need a collaborator to help shove his songs over the goal. But the crucial similarity is that theyre both students of rock history, conscious of what accounts for good taste within rock crit land, from 1973 to 2003. They dont just know the canon -- they want to be part of the canon, to the extent that it seems that they want to be the artist that all rock history has inextricably pointed to (or to paraphrase the far more eloquent Morrissey, they want to be the end of the family line). Which is why it rankles Adams when hes pigeonholed as an alt-country singer/songwriter (hes right -- he hasnt been alt-country since he left Whiskeytown) when Jack White steals his spotlight by doing a related, but not similar, spin on roots rock: hes so clearly the Important Artist of the Decade that he needs to pull the spotlight back on himself whenever its shining somewhere else. With Gold in the fall of 2001, the wind was at his back -- his enfant terrible schtick was still relatively fresh, "New York, New York" became a post-9/11 anthem, and the music was eclectic enough to break him out of the alt-country ghetto, even as it was rootsy enough to still play to that core audience. By 2003, things were getting a little dicey for Adams, partially because he wouldnt shut up -- either to the press or on his online blog; he said many things to both, the most noteworthy being a bizarre pseudo-feud with the White Stripes, where he yo-yoed between calling Jack White a genius and kids stuff -- and partially because he had diarrhea of the recording studio, cutting more stuff than Lost Highway could possibly release, particularly because he was moving further away from the labels core alt-country audience. They released the demos collection Demolition in 2002 but balked at Love Is Hell, his mope-rock tribute recorded with Smiths producer John Porter, but after some discussion, it was decided that Love Is Hell would surface as a pair of EPs, while Lost Highway would get a big, shiny new rock & roll record. Wearing his intentions on his sleeve in a nearly cynical manner, Adams called the album Rock N Roll, though in a fit of rebellious piss and vinegar, the artwork has it displayed as a mirror image: Llor n Kcor, which isnt quite Efil4zaggin, but the spirit is nonetheless appreciated. The title is so simple it belies the fact that this is a bit of a concept album on Adams part, a conscious attempt to better the Strokes and the White Stripes at their own game while he performs a similar synthesis of glam rock and Paul Westerberg while dabbling in the new new wave of new wave spearheaded by Interpol to prove that he can do the arty thing too (though that proof is reserved for the Jeff Buckley-aping Love Is Hell). Its not just that the sound echoes bands from the past and future; the titles consciously reference other songs: "Wish You Were Here," "So Alive," "Rock N Roll," and "Boys" borrow titles from Pink Floyd, Love and Rockets, Led Zeppelin, and the Beatles/Shirelles, respectively; "The Drugs Not Working" reworks the Verves "The Drugs Dont Work," "Shes Lost Total Control" is a play on Joy Divisions "Shes Lost Control," "1974" harks back to the Stooges "1969" and "1970," "This Is It" is an answer song to the Strokes "Is This It," and "Note to Self: Dont Die" apes Norm MacDonalds catch phrase. These songs dont necessarily sound like the songs they reference, but there sure are a lot of deliberate allusions to other styles and bands: tunes that sound a bit like the Strokes, songs that sound like Westerberg, tracks patterned after Interpol but sounding like U2, and the glam songs that are meant to sound like T. Rex or the New York Dolls but come out as Stone Temple Pilots. While some of these songs suggest that the record was written in a hurry -- instead of lyrics, "Wish You Were Here" sounds like a transcript of Tourettes syndrome -- many songs exhibit considerable studiocraft and songcraft, a reflection of Adams exceptional taste and skill as a musician. But while some of these songs are undeniably catchy, theyre essentially reactionary material -- the sound of somebody responding to his influences and peers, sometimes in an alluring way, but not quite carving out a personal, idiosyncratic vision, the way Jack White does in the White Stripes (its not even close to how Ween genre-hops from speed metal to Jimmy Buffett yet makes it all sound like Ween, either). That said, its not a bad listen at all, particularly when Adams gets caught up in the sound of it all and sounds consumed by passion instead of mimicking it -- for references sake: "This Is It," "1974," "Luminol," and "Burning Photographs" -- but the artifice outweighs the substance throughout Rock N Roll. Which suggests that the mirror image in the title may be more than a clever typographic trick -- it may be an admission that the album delivers the illusion of rock & roll instead of the real thing. | ||
 | Album: 6 of 17 Title: 29 Released: 2005-12-20 Tracks: 9 Duration: 48:57 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Twenty Nine (05:48) 2 Strawberry Wine (07:58) 3 Nightbirds (03:51) 4 Blue Sky Blues (05:18) 5 Carolina Rain (05:25) 6 Starlite Diner (03:51) 7 The Sadness (06:43) 8 Elizabeth, You Were Born to Play That Part (05:07) 9 Voices (04:53) |
| 29 : Allmusic album Review : Heaven knows why Ryan Adams decided to release three albums in the calendar year of 2005. Hes always been prolific to a fault, boasting about completed unreleased albums when his latest work was just seeing the light of day, but he never saturated the market with new material the way he did in 2005, when it seemed he was trying to break Robert Pollards record for most music released within a year. Grinding out three albums in a year is a marathon, not just for Adams but for any of his listeners, and by the time he got to the third album, 29, in the waning weeks of December, he seemed like a winded long-distance runner struggling to cross the finish line: completing the task was more important than doing it well. Theres little question that 29 is the weakest of the three records Adams released in 2005, lacking not just the country-rock sprawl of Cold Roses but the targeted neo-classicist country that made Jacksonville City Nights so appealing. Which isnt to say that 29 doesnt have its own feel, since it certainly does. After opening with the title tracks straight-up rewrite of the Grateful Deads "Truckin," it slides into a series of quiet, languid late-night confessionals that all barely register above a murmur. Its like Love Is Hell transported to a folk/country setting, then stripped not only of its sonic texture but also its songwriting skeleton. Apart from "29" and to a lesser extent "Carolina Rain" and "The Sadness," these songs meander with no direction; they have a ragged, nearly improvised feel, as if Adams spilled out the words just as the tape started to roll. Now plenty of great songs have been written exactly in that fashion, but they never feel as if they were made that way -- or if they do, they get by on a sense of kinetic energy. With the aforementioned exceptions, the songs on 29 never have energy and they always feel incomplete, lacking either a center or a sense of momentum, nor ever conjuring the alluringly weary melancholia that carried Love Is Hell. Instead, its the first time Adams has sounded completely worn out and spent, bereaved of either the craft or hucksterism at the core of his work. He would have been better off ending 2005 with just two albums to his credit and letting 29 co-exist in the vaults alongside The Suicide Handbook and his other completed, unreleased records, since having this in circulation adds a sour finish to what was otherwise a good year for him. | ||
 | Album: 7 of 17 Title: Easy Tiger Released: 2007-06-25 Tracks: 15 Duration: 38:52 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Goodnight Rose (03:20) 2 Two (02:39) 3 Everybody Knows (02:26) 4 Halloweenhead (03:23) 5 Oh My God, Whatever, Etc. (02:33) 6 Tears of Gold (02:55) 7 The Sun Also Sets (04:11) 8 Off Broadway (02:32) 9 Pearls on a String (02:25) 10 Rip Off (03:12) 11 Two Hearts (03:03) 12 These Girls (02:52) 13 I Taught Myself How to Grow Old (03:21) 14 Nobody Listens to Silence (?) 15 Alice (?) |
| Easy Tiger : Allmusic album Review : Easy Tiger has a "slow it down there, pal" undertone to its title -- and who needs a word of caution other than Ryan Adams himself, who notoriously spread himself far and wide in the years following his 2000 breakthrough Heartbreaker. After celebrating his 30th birthday with a flurry of albums in one year, Adams decided to pull back, hunker down, and craft one solid album that deliberately plays to his strength. As such, Easy Tiger could easily be seen as the album that many of his fans have wanted to hear since Heartbreaker, a record that is tight and grounded in country-rock. Easy Tiger is focused, but so have been some of the other thematic albums Adams has delivered with such gusto -- when he tried to run with the Strokes on Rock N Roll, mimicked the Smiths and Jeff Buckley on Love Is Hell, even turned out a full-on country album in Jacksonville City Nights, complete with knowing retro cover art, he stayed true to his concept -- but the cumulative effect of the records was to make him seem scattered, even if the records could work on their own merits. With each album since the wannabe blockbuster of 2001s Gold, his restlessness has seemed not diverse but reckless, so even his good albums seemed to contribute to the mess. Easy Tiger intends to break this perception by being concise, right down to how every one but one of these tight 13 songs clock in somewhere between the two-and-a-half and three-and-a-half minute mark. For somebody as doggedly conceptual as Adams, this is surely a deliberate move, one designed to shore up support among supporters (no matter if theyre fans or critics), which Easy Tiger very well might. Surely, it is a welcoming album in many ways, partially due to the relaxed Deadhead vibe Adams strikes up with his band the Cardinals, reminiscent of 2005s fine Cold Roses. But if that CD sprawled, this one is succinct, as Adams flits through country-rockers and weepers -- plus the occasional rock detour, like anthemic 80s arena rocker "Halloween Head" or the spacy "The Sun Also Sets," a dead ringer for Grant Lee Phillips -- containing not an ounce of fat. Adams benefits from the brevity, most notably on the sweetly melancholy "Everybody Knows," the straight-up country of "Tears of Gold," or on "Two," which mines new material out of the timeworn "two become one" conceit. Here, his songs dont stick around longer than necessary, so they linger longer in memory, but the relentless onward march of Easy Tiger also gives the performances an efficiency bordering on disinterest, which is its Achilles heel. As fine as some of the songs are, as welcoming as the overall feel of the record is, it seems a bit like Adams is giving his fans (and label) "Ryan Adams by numbers," hitting all the marks but without passion. This is when his craft learned from incessant writing kicks in -- he can fashion these tunes into something sturdy and appealing -- but it also highlights how he can turn out a tune as lazily as he relies on casual profanity to his detriment. Ultimately, these flaws are minor, since Easy Tiger delivers what it promises: the most Ryan Adamsy Ryan Adams record since his first. For some fans, its exactly what theyve been waiting for, for others itll be entirely too tidy, but dont worry -- if Adams has proven to be anything its reliably messy, and hes sure to get ragged again somewhere down the road (and based on his past record, safe money is on October 2007). | ||
 | Album: 8 of 17 Title: Ashes & Fire Released: 2011-09-11 Tracks: 11 Duration: 43:24 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Dirty Rain (04:22) 2 Ashes & Fire (03:49) 3 Come Home (04:53) 4 Rocks (03:01) 5 Do I Wait (03:58) 6 Chains of Love (02:26) 7 Invisible Riverside (04:48) 8 Save Me (04:22) 9 Kindness (04:33) 10 Lucky Now (02:56) 11 I Love You but I Don’t Know What to Say (04:10) |
| Ashes & Fire : Allmusic album Review : Returning refreshed after a three-year hiatus -- 2010’s III/IV dating back to 2006 sessions -- Ryan Adams dives headfirst into early-‘70s Dylan with Ashes & Fire, his first record since disbanding the Cardinals. Adams developed an easy, graceful chemistry with the Cardinals, a connection as apparent on loping homages to the Grateful Dead as it was on approximations of honky tonk, a connection absent yet still felt on Ashes & Fire, which retains a similar relaxed gait as the Cardinals at their softest. Unlike all his albums with the Cardinals, this isn’t a record where the musicianship is placed at the forefront, this is a singer/songwriter record, the music -- including exquisite coloring from Heartbreaker keyboardist Benmont Tench -- serving as a warm bed for Adams’ rambling words. Tempos are never quick -- at best, “Chains of Love” skips along amiably -- and the melodies remain fuzzily in focus, so Ashes & Fire winds up as ever-shifting mood music, sustaining an appealingly lazy haze residing somewhere south of melancholy. Adams may have his sad moments, he may look outside his window and see signs of doom, but he’s not torturing himself, he’s finding comfort in being blue because most of the time, he’s relaxed within his skin. | ||
 | Album: 9 of 17 Title: iTunes Session Released: 2012-04-20 Tracks: 8 Duration: 29:38 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Dirty Rain (04:05) 2 Oh My Sweet Carolina (05:16) 3 Lucky Now (02:52) 4 Houses on the Hill (02:34) 5 Black Sheets of Rain (05:08) 6 Chains of Love (02:26) 7 Ashes & Fire (03:42) 8 My Winding Wheel (03:35) |
 | Album: 10 of 17 Title: Live After Deaf Released: 2012-06-18 Tracks: 174 Duration: 12:58:22 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 Dirty Rain (live in Cork) (04:24) 2 Two (live in Cork) (02:58) 3 Blue Hotel (live in Cork) (03:47) 4 Carolina Rain (live in Cork) (05:41) 5 Crossed-Out Name (live in Cork) (03:06) 6 Dear Chicago (live in Cork) (02:44) 7 Ashes and Fire (live in Cork) (03:51) 8 Avenues (live in Cork) (02:48) 9 Withering Heights (live in Cork) (02:39) 10 Desire (live in Cork) (03:07) 11 Please Do Not Let Me Go (live in Cork) (04:23) 12 Everybody Knows (live in Cork) (03:43) 13 Let It Ride (live in Cork) (04:15) 14 Oh My Sweet Carolina (live in Dublin) (06:59) 15 Everybody Knows (live in Dublin) (04:16) 16 Damn, Sam (I Love a Woman That Rains) (live in Dublin) (03:45) 17 New York, New York (live in Dublin) (05:15) 18 In My Time of Need (live in Dublin) (05:45) 19 "Mr. Man" (live in Dublin) (02:25) 20 16 Days (live in Dublin) (05:06) 21 Strawberry Wine (live in Dublin) (08:38) 22 Sylvia Plath (live in Dublin) (05:07) 23 Bartering Lines (live in Dublin) (03:29) 24 Firecracker (live in Stockholm) (03:27) 25 Please Do Not Let Me Go (live in Stockholm) (04:06) 26 Call Me on Your Way Back Home (live in Stockholm) (04:24) 27 Invisible Riverside (live in Stockholm) (05:18) 28 Dear Chicago (live in Stockholm) (02:29) 29 16 Days (live in Stockholm) (04:16) 30 Two (live in Stockholm) (02:52) 31 Come Pick Me Up (live in Stockholm) (06:02) 32 September (live in Stockholm) (02:43) 33 Halloween (live in Stockholm) (03:53) 34 Houses on the Hill (live in Stockholm) (03:46) 35 Damn, Sam (I Love a Woman That Rains) (live in Stockholm) (04:15) 36 Desire (live in Stockholm) (03:35) 37 Oh My Sweet Carolina (live in Oslo) (05:36) 38 Dont Fail Me Now (live in Oslo) (05:50) 39 Let It Ride (live in Oslo) (04:34) 40 Desire (live in Oslo) (03:18) 41 The Rescue Blues (live in Oslo) (03:12) 42 Dancing With the Women at the Bar (live in Oslo) (05:22) 43 If I Am a Stranger (live in Oslo) (05:26) 44 Sylvia Plath (live in Oslo) (04:31) 45 Friends (live in Oslo) (04:43) 46 Please Do Not Let Me Go (live in Oslo) (04:09) 47 This House Is Not for Sale (live in Oslo) (04:04) 48 Firecracker (live in Malmo) (03:18) 49 Damn, Sam (I Love a Woman That Rains) (live in Malmo) (03:42) 50 My Winding Wheel (live in Malmo) (03:41) 51 Let It Ride (live in Malmo) (04:14) 52 Desire (live in Malmo) (03:17) 53 Cannonball Days (live in Malmo) (04:24) 54 Star Sign (live in Malmo) (04:53) 55 Chains of Love (live in Malmo) (02:32) 56 Lucky Now (live in Malmo) (03:23) 57 Come Home (live in Malmo) (05:26) 58 Oh My Sweet Carolina (live in Malmo) (05:38) 59 Dont Fail Me Now (live in Malmo) (05:43) 60 Carolina Rain (live in Copenhagen) (05:22) 61 Invisible Riverside (live in Copenhagen) (05:30) 62 Jacksonville Skyline (live in Copenhagen) (03:31) 63 This House Is Not for Sale (live in Copenhagen) (04:04) 64 Halloween (live in Copenhagen) (04:18) 65 New York, New York (live in Copenhagen) (04:48) 66 Sweet Illusions (live in Copenhagen) (05:26) 67 September (live in Copenhagen) (02:31) 68 Sylvia Plath (live in Copenhagen) (04:55) 69 Do I Wait (live in Copenhagen) (04:50) 70 Dancing With the Women at the Bar (live in Copenhagen) (05:20) 71 16 Days (live in Copenhagen) (04:39) 72 Dont Fail Me Now (live in Lisbon) (05:36) 73 If I Am a Stranger (live in Lisbon) (05:18) 74 Invisible Riverside (live in Lisbon) (05:44) 75 200 More Miles (live in Lisbon) (05:51) 76 This House Is Not for Sale (live in Lisbon) (04:07) 77 English Girls Approximately (live in Lisbon) (05:50) 78 Strawberry Wine (live in Lisbon) (08:12) 79 I Love You but I Dont Know What to Say (live in Lisbon) (04:24) 80 Please Do Not Let Me Go (live in Lisbon) (03:51) 81 Do I Wait (live in Lisbon) (05:08) 82 Off Broadway (live in Porto) (04:12) 83 Sylvia Plath (live in Porto) (05:06) 84 Carolina Rain (live in Porto) (05:24) 85 Firecracker (live in Porto) (03:22) 86 "Mr. Booger Man" (live in Porto) (01:47) 87 Damn, Sam (I Love a Woman That Rains) (live in Porto) (04:24) 88 Sweet Illusions (live in Porto) (05:17) 89 Two (live in Porto) (02:59) 90 Dancing With the Women at the Bar (live in Porto) (06:06) 91 "Jesus/Cougar" (live in Porto) (03:38) 92 Everybody Knows (live in Porto) (04:49) 93 If I Am a Stranger (live in Porto) (05:42) 94 Oh My Sweet Carolina (live in London 1) (06:40) 95 Why Do They Leave? (live in London 1) (04:09) 96 Let It Ride (live in London 1) (04:25) 97 Carolina Rain (live in London 1) (05:29) 98 The Rescue Blues (live in London 1) (03:25) 99 In My Time of Need (live in London 1) (04:59) 100 Bartering Lines (live in London 1) (03:17) 101 "Dramedy Lighting" (live in London 1) (02:33) 102 Come Pick Me Up (live in London 1) (05:44) 103 Invisible Riverside (live in London 1) (05:27) 104 Dirty Rain (live in London 1) (04:07) 105 To Be Young (Is to Be Sad, Is to Be High) (live in London 2) (03:33) 106 Damn, Sam (I Love a Woman That Rains) (live in London 2) (03:41) 107 Everybody Knows (live in London 2) (04:16) 108 My Winding Wheel (live in London 2) (04:54) 109 Invisible Riverside (live in London 2) (05:38) 110 Ashes and Fire (live in London 2) (03:59) 111 Desire (live in London 2) (03:36) 112 English Girls Approximately (live in London 2) (05:08) 113 Amy (live in London 2) (05:05) 114 Stop (live in London 2) (05:42) 115 If I Am a Stranger (live in London 2) (05:26) 116 16 Days (live in London 2) (04:56) 117 Bartering Lines (live in Brighton) (03:22) 118 Why Do They Leave? (live in Brighton) (04:19) 119 The Rescue Blues (live in Brighton) (03:15) 120 Let It Ride (live in Brighton) (05:11) 121 Everybody Knows (live in Brighton) (03:53) 122 Firecracker (live in Brighton) (03:17) 123 Jacksonville Skyline (live in Brighton) (03:24) 124 Houses on the Hill (live in Brighton) (02:50) 125 Come Pick Me Up (live in Brighton) (05:15) 126 Strawberry Wine (live in Brighton) (08:16) 127 Invisible Riverside (live in Brighton) (05:34) 128 Sylvia Plath (live in Brighton) (04:59) 129 Blue Hotel (live in Manchester) (04:40) 130 Save Me (live in Manchester) (04:46) 131 Carolina Rain (live in Manchester) (05:27) 132 Sweet Lil Gal (live in Manchester) (03:52) 133 Desire (live in Manchester) (03:27) 134 To Be Young (Is to Be Sad, Is to Be High) (live in Manchester) (03:20) 135 This House Is Not for Sale (live in Manchester) (04:06) 136 New York, New York (live in Manchester) (05:23) 137 Amy (live in Manchester) (03:03) 138 Why Do They Leave? (live in Manchester) (07:13) 139 If I Am a Stranger (live in Manchester) (05:45) 140 Firecracker (live in Manchester) (03:26) 141 Please Do Not Let Me Go (live in Glasgow) (04:07) 142 My Winding Wheel (live in Glasgow) (03:48) 143 Sweet Illusions (live in Glasgow) (05:32) 144 To Be Young (Is to Be Sad, Is to Be High) (live in Glasgow) (03:20) 145 16 Days (live in Glasgow) (04:31) 146 Sylvia Plath (live in Glasgow) (04:45) 147 Come Pick Me Up (live in Glasgow) (05:38) 148 English Girls Approximately (live in Glasgow) (05:38) 149 "Goodnight Bob" (live in Glasgow) (04:45) 150 New York, New York (live in Glasgow) (05:31) 151 Dear Chicago (live in Glasgow) (02:38) 152 Why Do They Leave? (live in Oxford) (04:20) 153 Carolina Rain (live in Oxford) (05:16) 154 Sweet Lil Gal (live in Oxford) (04:02) 155 Everybody Knows (live in Oxford) (03:42) 156 September (live in Oxford) (02:33) 157 My Winding Wheel (live in Oxford) (03:31) 158 I See Monsters (live in Oxford) (04:29) 159 Come Pick Me Up (live in Oxford) (05:34) 160 Strawberry Wine (live in Oxford) (08:01) 161 Please Do Not Let Me Go (live in Oxford) (04:05) 162 To Be Young (Is to Be Sad, Is to Be High) (live in Oxford) (03:19) 163 Oh My Sweet Carolina (live in Amsterdam) (05:40) 164 To Be Young (Is to Be Sad, Is to Be High) (live in Amsterdam) (03:17) 165 Carolina Rain (live in Amsterdam) (05:04) 166 Firecracker (live in Amsterdam) (03:17) 167 Let It Ride (live in Amsterdam) (04:31) 168 Bartering Lines (live in Amsterdam) (03:25) 169 New York, New York (live in Amsterdam) (04:57) 170 I See Monsters (live in Amsterdam) (04:43) 171 Two (live in Amsterdam) (02:45) 172 Stop (live in Amsterdam) (05:22) 173 Blue Hotel (live in Amsterdam) (04:40) 174 If I Am a Stranger (live in Amsterdam) (05:10) |
 | Album: 11 of 17 Title: Ryan Adams Released: 2014-08-19 Tracks: 11 Duration: 42:38 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Gimme Something Good (03:54) 2 Kim (03:26) 3 Trouble (03:47) 4 Am I Safe (04:32) 5 My Wrecking Ball (03:08) 6 Stay With Me (03:06) 7 Shadows (05:22) 8 Feels Like Fire (04:25) 9 I Just Might (03:29) 10 Tired of Giving Up (03:40) 11 Let Go (03:43) |
| Ryan Adams : Allmusic album Review : Even the most prolific artists need a break and so it was with Ryan Adams. After a great burst of creativity that resulted in four albums worth of material in two years -- Orion plus the double-LP III/IV in 2010, followed by Ashes & Fire in 2011 –- Adams took a three-year hiatus, dabbling in side projects and productions, breaking up his longtime backing band the Cardinals, and eventually re-emerging in 2014 with a self-titled album. The old canard says an eponymous album released well into a career suggests a rebirth, and thats somewhat true of Ryan Adams, which largely ditches the Dead obsessions, ragged country-rock, and occasional noise squall for precision-tuned audio straight out of 1981. He still finds space for the spare "My Wrecking Ball," an intimate piece of acoustica that recalls the spartan Heartbreaker, but not unlike Jenny Lewis The Voyager, which Adams also produced, craft is the order of the day here, from the expertly carved bones of the songs to the fathomless shimmer of the albums surface. Unlike Love Is Hell, which wallowed in murk, or the self-styled dazzle of Gold, Ryan Adams is designed for comfort, placing as much import on the rolling aural waves as what lays within a song. This suppleness is quite alluring: Ryan Adams is a record that can slip into the background, providing the soundtrack to anything from heartbreak to a lazy Sunday morning. If Ryan Adams was merely sonic candy, it wouldve been enough, but this is also one of Adams cannily constructed records, one that runs deliberately lean. Whenever the soft shimmer of his Yacht Rock resurrection yields, its to draw attention to his vulnerability: "My Wrecking Ball" and the Springsteen rockabilly homage "I Just Might," the bittersweet twilight coda "Let Go," all seem stronger because theyre departures from the purposeful polish. These songs puncture the gloss, so they make the greatest first impression, but that glimmer remains the reason to get lost within Ryan Adams: his blend of song and studio craft turns this eponymous album into the equivalent of a substantive, new millennial version of the Eagles Long Run. | ||
 | Album: 12 of 17 Title: Live at Carnegie Hall Released: 2015-04-21 Tracks: 10 Duration: 51:41 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Oh My Sweet Carolina (05:26) 2 Nobody Girl (05:45) 3 New York, New York (04:35) 4 Sylvia Plath (04:31) 5 This is where we meet my mind (05:21) 6 My Wrecking Ball (03:39) 7 Gimme Something Good (06:36) 8 How Much Light (06:10) 9 Kim (03:30) 10 Come Pick Me Up (06:02) |
| Live at Carnegie Hall : Allmusic album Review : One for the fans, the 2015 concert set Live at Carnegie Hall -- released just months after his exquisitely sculpted 2014 eponymous set -- showcases two entire concerts, both largely solo, intimate, and loose. Its the antidote to the lush Ryan Adams, an album which, at its best, occasionally sounded like a lost gem from 1980 by focusing on the man and his songs. Where he used to push these buttons hard, Adams seems relaxed, running through his songs with an insouciant ease and seeming almost more invested in the between-song patter, where he tells wry jokes and plays the role of a genial host. Not one for the skeptical, but Carnegie Hall charms: give yourself over to it, and Adams wins you over, first through his act and then through his songs. | ||
 | Album: 13 of 17 Title: 1989 Released: 2015-09-21 Tracks: 13 Duration: 54:20 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Welcome to New York (03:18) 2 Blank Space (03:21) 3 Style (02:44) 4 Out of the Woods (06:07) 5 All You Had to Do Was Stay (03:30) 6 Shake It Off (04:06) 7 I Wish You Would (03:44) 8 Bad Blood (03:55) 9 Wildest Dreams (05:21) 10 How You Get the Girl (03:50) 11 This Love (04:45) 12 I Know Places (05:14) 13 Clean (04:23) |
| 1989 : Allmusic album Review : Sometime in August 2015, Ryan Adams let everybody in on a secret: hed decided to cover Taylor Swifts 1989 in total. This was not the first album-length cover of Adams career (he never released his version of the Strokes Is This It), nor was this his first attempt at 1989. He initially attempted a stark, four-track rendition of the record -- naturally dubbed his Nebraska -- but he wound up settling on "in the style of As played by the Smiths," which was an elegant way of saying Adams 1989 could easily slide onto a PostModern MTV playlist from 1989-1990 and not ruffle many feathers. Such shimmering sadness is Adams default mope mode, neatly showcased on Love Is Hell (co-produced by John Porter, who helmed the first Smiths records), and this is certainly a cousin. Sharp guy that he is, Adams realizes the bulk of the record cant all be brokenhearted strums, so not all of 1989 glimmers in a flat black pool. "All You Had to Do Was Stay" surges to a Modern Rock pulse, but he cheekily inverts the exuberance of "Shake It Off," strips the TPau and Chvrches out of "Out of the Woods," and softens the steely "Blank Space," thereby turning the first three singles into laments. Nevertheless, theres no disguising how Ryan Adams flips Taylor Swifts 1989 upside-down, turning a moment of triumph into bedsit introspection, a concept that is undoubtedly theoretically interesting, but the record works because Adams doesnt play this as a stunt. Hes as canny a producer as he is a conceptualist, coaxing forgotten college rock sounds out of his Pax-Am Studios and treating Swifts originals as text to be interpreted, a move that neither saves nor strengthens the originals but rather highlights the skill of Taylor the songwriter and Adams the musician. | ||
 | Album: 14 of 17 Title: Prisoner Released: 2017-02-17 Tracks: 12 Duration: 42:57 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Do You Still Love Me? (03:59) 2 Prisoner (03:11) 3 Doomsday (03:01) 4 Haunted House (02:42) 5 Shiver and Shake (03:05) 6 To Be Without You (03:21) 7 Anything I Say to You Now (04:50) 8 Breakdown (04:00) 9 Outbound Train (04:21) 10 Broken Anyway (02:57) 11 Tightrope (03:56) 12 We Disappear (03:29) |
| Prisoner : Allmusic album Review : Picking up the thread left hanging from 2014s eponymous album -- in retrospect, his 2015 cover of Taylor Swifts 1989 seems even more of a detour -- Ryan Adams winds up diving ever deeper into early-80s sounds and sensibilities on Prisoner. Such supple sounds are carefully constructed with producer Don Was, a professional who helps Adams articulate the AOR ideals he initially essayed in 2014. Prisoner sounds warm, open, and inviting, its welcoming vibes contradicting how its an album born out of pain, a record written in the aftermath of Adams divorce from Mandy Moore. Sadness haunts the corners of Prisoner -- its there in the very song titles, beginning with the opener "Do You Still Love Me" and running through its aching closer, "We Disappear" -- but its not a sorrowful record, not with its smooth edges and warm center. All of this is an outgrowth of the aesthetic Adams pioneered in 2014, one that he lent to Jenny Lewis The Voyager, and the reconstituted soft rock suits him well: it’s a salute to the past and Adams always respected tradition. If the songs on Prisoner follow a conventional path of heartbreak -- a man sorting through the remnants of a broken romance -- the sound helps give the album an identity. Adams largely relies on cinematic classic rock tricks, a move underscored by how "Outbound Train" seems like an answer to Bruce Springsteens "Downbound Train" -- toward the end of the record he starts to thread in a few spare acoustic confessionals, songs that play like subdued nods to his Americana past -- and thats the charm of Prisoner: its not a record that wallows in hurt, its an album that functions as balm for bad times. | ||
 | Album: 15 of 17 Title: Prisoner: B-Sides Released: 2017-04-28 Tracks: 19 Duration: 1:07:36 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 Are You Home? (03:57) 2 Broken Things (03:37) 3 Crazy Now (03:34) 4 The Empty Bed (03:53) 5 Halo (02:59) 6 Hanging On to Hope (02:34) 7 It Will Never Be the Same (04:02) 8 Juli (03:53) 9 Let It Burn (03:14) 10 Lookout (02:50) 11 No Words (02:53) 12 Please Help Me (03:44) 13 Stop Talking (03:38) 14 Stop You (03:25) 15 The Cold (02:58) 16 Too Tired to Cry (06:52) 17 What If We’re Wrong (03:09) 18 Where Will You Run? (02:32) 19 You Said (03:44) |
 | Album: 16 of 17 Title: Live at Rough Trade Released: 2017-11-24 Tracks: 15 Duration: 51:25 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Do You Still Love Me? (03:22) 2 Doomsday (03:30) 3 Haunted House (02:55) 4 Tightrope (04:14) 5 Breakdown (04:38) 6 Outbound Train (04:11) 7 Prisoner (03:34) 8 Dunebuggy (00:54) 9 Broken Anyway (04:21) 10 We Disappear (03:24) 11 Was I Wrong (02:53) 12 Still in a Cage (02:52) 13 To Be Without You (04:23) 14 Rats in the Wall (02:57) 15 Streets of Philadelphia (03:17) |
 | Album: 17 of 17 Title: Big Colors Released: 2019-04-19 Tracks: 15 Duration: 00:00 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Big Colors (?) 2 Do Not Disturb (?) 3 It’s So Quiet, It’s Loud (?) 4 Fuck The Rain (?) 5 Doylestown Girl (?) 6 Dreaming You Backwards (?) 7 I Surrender (?) 8 What Am I (?) 9 Power (?) 10 Showtime (?) 11 In It For The Pleasure (?) 12 Middle of the Line (?) 13 I’m Sorry and I Love You (?) 14 Manchester (?) 15 Summer Rain (?) |