Ryan Adams

he's also successfully renewed my interest in "this love" and "i know places," or in the case of the latter generated interest. it makes so much more sense as an expansive dirtbag rock song

Yeah, he actually improves on the weakest tracks. "Bad Blood" is better, too. The stronger tracks he just follows their lead. It would be hard to screw up "Blank Space," but I like his take -- I foresee a Taylor/Ryan duet of it on Fallon or somewhere similar.

They match pretty well, IMHO. Adams is a better singer and arranger than her or Nathan Chapman (hard for me to compare him to Max Martin since they're so different), and I prefer her songwriting. Blank Space is great, though it sounds not too far removed from the original Swift voice memo version from the 1989 deluxe edition.

Yeah, I had the same thought about the demo. It's basically a fleshed-out version of that, with some nice harmonies on the chorus.

These covers sounded more exciting as snippets posted on Instagram. Hearing the full thing is proving to be a bit of a drag.

I think this is the lamest thing I've ever heard

waaaaaayy too quiet. This is precisely why I avoid Adams' kind of music.

I liked Ryan Adams in the early/mid 90s circa Whiskeytown's debut, but I haven't bothered with him since then. these covers are borrrrrrring.

I hadn't listened to Ryan Adams in years, because he is generally full of shit, but I really like his self titled from last year. So sure, this marks a return to fucking around, but I have hopes it is something my kids and I can enjoy.

I'm with Josh that self titled album is his best record.

Cold Roses is definitely my favorite of his solo records. Strangers Almanac with Whiskeytown is pretty hard to top overall.

idk i kinda think the s/t while refreshing is a little underwritten. maybe that's what ppl like about it

Finally, someone found a way to rob "Shake it Off" of any sense of energy or fun, and make it dreary and boring, like it was always meant to be!

I wonder if I can con one of these fuckers into doing a hot acoustic guitar take on Toni Basil's "Mickey?"

he's also successfully renewed my interest in "this love" and "i know places," or in the case of the latter generated interest. it makes so much more sense as an expansive dirtbag rock song

― insufficiently familiar with xgau's work to comment intelligently (BradNelson), Monday, September 21, 2015 7:02 AM (8 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i have zero intention of giving this the time of day because acoustic indie covers of pop songs can go fuck themselves always & forever, just popping in to defend the honour of the og "i know places". it's sooooooo dramatic and one of the few songs on 1989 that i fully adore

i know you love "i know places" lex

The RA self titled has a nice way of nodding to lots of stuff I like, like the War on Drugs album, but better played, recorded, arranged, etc. I think that's why I liked it. Never really liked his capital A alt country stage.

listened to a few tracks. sounds like something he just threw together at home for fun and he should have just given copies to his friends and family as a goof. but maybe he was sad that nobody cares about him anymore? and here people are talking about him, so, there you go.

Ryan Adams is so far up his own ass he very well might disappear.

Wonder if this is going to be his highest-charting album.

mark kozelek version would have been better.

normally completely agree with suggestion that treacly acoustic covers of chart pop songs by pale balladeers are unwelcome

but it's taylor swift

that's baked into her thing at the molecular level no matter what collaborators she's currently using

also fwiw it's mostly a full-band record, not some tossed-off "ironic indie aoustic covers" thing. almost as slick as the original, in a different way.

yeah it's also not really ironic

anyway i kind of hope the ultimate product of this is ryan producing taylor's next record

also, it's a lot more roots than indie isn't it? makes more sense in a swift genre perspective too

i am just coming by to say I love that he turned Welcome to New York into a Springsteen song, it was so obvious looking back now but it kinda delighted me

and i really like this album

sounds pretty good to me altho I'm not a taylor fan so i don't know 70% of these songs. So for me it's basically a new Ryan Adams originals album with a few covers.

Shake it Off is annoying by both artists tho.

i am just coming by to say I love that he turned Welcome to New York into a Springsteen song, it was so obvious looking back now but it kinda delighted me

the verse kinda reminded me of "i could never take the place of your man" so i was just sort of hoping that was a natural result of compressing taylor's lyrics into a rock structure

omg you're right. i didnt hear that the first time but that's def there

'style' is not my favorite, something about it feels illfitting/awkward

his version of 'out of the woods' makes me like hers a bit more now, i never took to it til now

http://i.imgur.com/ZTuatCU.png

can't figure out if this is expert trolling or otm

omg

all you had to do was stay!

brilliant
it's one of my faves on her album & he nailed it, pretty much perfect <3

sorry I'll stop

i was tentative about this but i've listened to it like three times idk

think "this love" is the best cover on this, he really expands it emotionally

feel like greg dulli could do a killer cover of "i wish you would"

I really wish he and mark lanegan would cover more things.

so yeah v predictably the sparest covers here work the best for me (plus "All You Had to do Was Stay")

i wish ryan adams and mark lanegan and greg dulli would make an album together that i would never listen to. of N.W.A. covers naturally. done country style. because those are HILARIOUS.

I don't really think any of those people are into ironic lolsy covers?

I gave up on him from gold onwards but akm is quite right aboug love is hell, it is pretty good. He often reminds me of jeff buckley there. Another diva. Btw the title track is one of the weaker songs.

And why the hell did he cover wonderwall, the biggest stinker in the universe?

My 10-year old daughter's reaction: "Wow, this really makes you pay attention to the bad lyrics." I think she liked it, though.

father john misty covering ryan adams covering taylor swift:

https://soundcloud.com/fatherjohnmisty/blank-space

In future, we will all have covered Taylor Swift.

the narcocorrido ballad style on "I know places" is p dope imo

'that's how you get the girl' <3 <3 <3
aaahh killing me rn

I would never listen to Taylor but I like this album

He is slated to play Bridge Benefit this year (and I am going), hoping for a Taylor set (plz o plz)

Yeah, this is very much of a piece with that last album, so I like it a lot. Swift's songs are at their essence pretty simple, so it's neat to hear him take them in the opposite direction. Not huge pop productions but dark night melancholy, more or less built on the same basic frames. Fun exercise to hear them re-contextualized. His conviction is key.

listened to a few tracks. sounds like something he just threw together at home for fun and he should have just given copies to his friends and family as a goof. but maybe he was sad that nobody cares about him anymore? and here people are talking about him, so, there you go.

― scott seward, Monday, September 21, 2015 9:01 AM (8 hours ago)

The first part of this may be true - and I suspect might've been had Taylor not responded publicly - but the second part of this makes me think that it's just maybe a teensy weensy bit possible you have no idea what you're talking about. There was significant press/buzz around the self-titled release. He sells out multi-thousand-capacity venues all over the world. People definitely care about and talk about Ryan Adams, though not as many as Taylor Swift.

I'm not here to play Cap't Save-A-Sad-Troubadour but the ignorance of RA's sound, style, stature, etc., in this thread is ... oh wait, no, it's exactly as expected.

i guess i just never hear about him.