Ryan Adams | Ryan Adams
Ryan Adams is back with his 14th solo album, this time a self -titled job, named after himself for no particular reason other than his inability to come up with anything better. His first solo album, Heartbreaker (named after a Mariah Carey poster), was released all the way back in 2000. Since then he’s averaged an album per year. That’s friggin insane. I wrote a song once on the inside cover of my Chemistry text book. It was about a girl, and I hated myself after writing it so I never wrote another song again. I also can’t understand chemicals bonds for the life of me. Adams has had some hits and misses (still nothing better than Cold Roses) and has experimented with a few different genres, as well as a rotating cast of musicians backing him, but his music always retained some of his own distinct sound. Ryan Adams is no different. It’s definitely a Ryan Adams album. Only it’s Ryan Adams does the ’80s. And it’s fucking awesome.
The first artist that most people probably think when they hear this album is Tom Petty, maybe even more so than Ryan Adams himself. This can be a good thing or a lousy thing depending on how you feel about Charlie T. Wilbury Jr. , but I am on board. Adams borrows from not only from Petty’s late 70s-early 80s Heartbreakers stuff (“Gimme Something Good”, “Trouble”, “Stay with Me”) but also his late 80s, 2nd career peak (”I Just Might” “Tired of Giving Up”). He also seems to draw from other 80s softer rock on this album; oddly names coming to mind are Don Henley and he who shall not be named when speaking about Ryan Adams (the Canadian guy with the same name only a “B” in front). If you’re reading this without listening to the album, you are understandably wondering how something so potentially cheesy could be good. But trust me it is. Good, that is. Not cheesy. It has that sad distorted ’80s guitar and muted wailing that would easily fit into a music video with the singer looking out across the beach at the crashing waves, alone. But… this IS the music that you want to take with you when you go to the ocean… in early fall… to contemplate life. Only there are no losers crooning to no one. And no cameras allowed.
Ryan Adams just rocks in the least rocking way possible. “My Wrecking Ball” is the only true ballad on this album, and while disappointed this wasn’t a Miley Cyrus cover that I know Adams would nail, it still is quite beautiful. And like the other songs on the album, it’s short. Running time is 3:06 (42 minutes for the album), and it’s simple. Something the actual ’80s soft rockers never understood. Too long and trying too hard to be epic = corny and ripe to be mocked even 20 years later. Have you guys seen the “Summer of ’69” video? Holy shit.
This album is entirely enjoyable in a way I could never have expected. If someone told me what it was like, I would have to assume Adams was doing this album ironically. But “Trouble” and “Am I Safe” are some of his strongest songs to date and the others aren’t too far behind. There is not one dud on the record, something Adams like all artists often struggles with. Not to mention (yep I’m mentioning it), all the songs are good alone but sound even more fantastic together. It’s a cohesive, unexpected, 11 song masterpiece. And I DO throw that word around lightly. Still, something about trying an entire album with an oxymoronically refreshing recycled sound makes this album even more impressive. I know that this should totally suck and I can’t help but loving it.
And since I’m such a huge fan of these songs let me leave with some more positive words. Even as a album that would blend in in ’80s soft rock, there are some elements of others bands you can hear the influence of on this album, namely The Replacements and Bruce Springsteen, That might redeem it for some people out there, right? No? Well, if those guys do nothing for you, it’s sort of like Love is Hell only better.And if that doesn’t do anything for you, what the hell are you doing here? The guy has 14 albums so far, if you don’t like any of them this probably won’t win you over. Fucking jerk. It is different though. The production is tight, the songs aren’t long or over indulgent, and there’s no jarring vocal notes that Adam’s often puts in there seemingly just to test his listeners love. Maybe this actually will win people over. I don’t know if that’s really likely, but neither is falling in love with something that should be competing with the “The Heart of the Matter” for air time.
The Drink: Beer. In honor of a 75 year (75 YEAR!!!) ban on beer in Iceland that was lifted the year that this album should have been released, 1989.
Bake
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