Ryan Adams

You're right, the Deadisms seem to have cleared, but I found the vocals lacking a little something... Did he sober up or something? :-P

mellow is def the word!

this is really good dude.

So we can thank Laura Marling for this one?

According to Adams, Laura Marling's second studio album, I Speak Because I Can, inspired him re-write the majority of the album's material. After being sent a copy of her album, by former producer Ethan Johns, Adams noted, "I thought: 'For fuck's sake.' I literally threw out 80% of what I had. And it felt good, to ask: 'What am I really capable of?' I felt competitive again to write great songs."

But also, kinda lol @ the personnel listed on wiki:

Ryan Adams – guitar, vocals
Norah Jones - backing vocals
Mandy Moore - backing vocals
Benmont Tench - Keys

xp

then he got smart and got ethan's dad to produce it

yeah that personnel is unexpected

it also seems to be selling really well -- that, combined with positive critical reception (!) for a lot of his shows in the past year, it seems like most people are willing to forgive and forget the early 00s.

Also -- Ashes & Fire:Harvest Moon::Heartbreaker:Harvest ? Think about it in terms of a 'comeback' after genre experimentation/fan base and critical alienation between each album. Not to mention everyone's always saying they want Adams to make another Heartbreaker, just like everyone used to want NY to make another Harvest (which remains one of his most boring albums by a mile). Thoughts?

Thoughts?

Ashes & Fire sure is boring.

it's quiet, but i dig it.

The Dyson Fan of music. You don't even notice it's there.

I mean I think if you are really into Ryan Adams, which involves "buying into Ryan Adams" it's obviously much more exciting to have him releasing like three albums/forty songs in one year and they're all over the place and keeping half of his greatest stuff unreleased/unofficial and him generally being an asshole and doing crazy stuff than, like, chilling in LA with Mandy Moore and releasing a "tasteful" 10-song album every two years right?

ah give the guy a break. at least he's dumped the cardinals. as long as he's playing amazing sets like i saw last night i will forgive him quite a lot:

Oh My Sweet Carolina, Ashes & Fire, If I Am A Stranger, Sylvia Plath, Two, Everybody Knows, Dirty Rain, My Winding Wheel, New York, New York, Lucky Now, Please Do Not Let Me Go, Firecracker, Rocks, Crossed Out Name, Why Do They Leave?, When Will You Come Back Home, English Girls Approximately, Houses On The Hill, Avenues, Jacksonville Skyline, In My Time Of Need, Dear Chicago, Halloween, Come Pick Me Up

First RA album I've bought since Gold. More than ready for Heartbreaker Moon. Like!

at least he's dumped the cardinals.

This isn't really a good thing imho, I loved some of the stuff he's done with them. I'd be okay with him switching off between something like the new one, then back to something with the Cardinals.

they were fine for Cold Roses but by the last few records it had got soooo boring and the last tour I saw where he had them was by far the worst i'd seen him. no wonder he didn't bother releasing Cardinals 3 and 4 properly.

I can't disagree about the slide in quality, but I had been holding out hope for another Roses.

Why is it good he dumped his band? I agree it was total downhill slide/diminishing returns but Cold Roses is a massive peak for him IMO. The few times I saw him with the Cardinals were superb.

To sum: I think Ryan Adams should take a more Robert Pollard-like approach to his solo career, and Pollard a more Adams-like approach.

Definitely agree with the first part of your sum there MFB, but NOOOOOOOO to the second, Pollard don't change a thing you goddamned drunken genius you.

I just think Adams would benefit from a faster production process/getting more out there (he was in that mode for a while, obviously) whereas Pollard's assembly line of solo albums and side projects hasn't delivered much of value for years now.

LOL!

Anybody read "Losering," the official unauthorized Ryan Adams biography (whatever that is)?

Also almost two years since a RA album, is that a record?

I just think Adams would benefit from a faster production process/getting more out there (he was in that mode for a while, obviously) whereas Pollard's assembly line of solo albums and side projects hasn't delivered much of value for years now.

I'm pretty sure this has to do with his hearing loss. Dude has been battling Meniere's Disease, which could end in total hearing loss eventually. Sounds brutal. Say what you want about his music, but it's pretty impressive he continues to put out music and tour. That being said, I don't know a whole lot about Meniere's.

I honestly believe Ryan is one of the greatest folk/pop/rock songwriters of all time.

That is all.

https://i.gyazo.com/e88e3d3adfa0f27e075ebea3a589321d.png

Me too, Tay.

I remember him saying way back in 2002 or so that he had a cover of the entirety of Is This It?.

no eyeroll emoticon?

I don't know how good/bad this will be, but I do appreciate guys like Ryan Adams or Beck saying "y'know what fuck it. i'll just cover a whole record someone else made."

What a coincidence I'm covering my ears.

and he's doing it "in the style of The Smiths"

"in the style of the Gin Blossoms"

"in the style of the Gin Blossoms"

would be awesome tbh, but maybe a little too close to whiskeytown

...and that would be bad how?

it wouldn't! more of today's music should be performed in the style of the gin blossoms imo

agreed.

the gin blossoms and ryan adams have a lot in common come to think of it (not just sonically or lyrically)

both are constantly traversing the line between sorta-indie and sorta-commercial mor. they also both wear their Westerberg badge proudly

Live at Carnegie album sounds great! Maybe a bit tiresome to listen through such much acoustic emo in one sitting though...

Beyond tiresome.

"shake it off" snippet sounds great tbh tho not very Smithsy

I think only one tune was going to be in a Smiths style. I really enjoyed his self titled album. Reminded me of early Petty...maybe that was just Benmont's playing?

first full cover is "bad blood," record drops this coming monday http://www.vulture.com/2015/09/ryan-adams-is-releasing-his-1989-covers-album.html?mid=twitter_vulture

...i fuckin love this

Ryan Adams Is Finally Releasing His 1989 Covers Album

Ever since Ryan Adams announced last month ...

Yeah, finally, what took him so long?

"There'll be a very special guest on the phone..."

Golly, I wonder who that could be!

still wish he would've done Red

is this a digital only release, or, physical version as well ?

(suspect digital only, but hey, we can but hope .. )

"all you had to do was stay" is wonderful

OK, Brad, because it's you.

lol

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

it's struck me as about the level of solo Paul Westerberg.

in what universe is this a burn?

Ryan Adams was never a tenth the songwriter Westerberg is / was

He said "solo Paul Westerberg."

Dude is doing Instagram ads now, guess he’s taking promotion into his own hands:

https://i.imgur.com/lLZBVav_d.webp?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium

it bums me out that this guy i used to like sucks but it bums me out more he got away with it for so long

I thought the FBI was investigating him - what happened with that?

https://www.nme.com/news/music/ryan-adams-cleared-by-fbi-in-investigation-into-underage-sexts-2856567

https://variety.com/2022/music/news/ryan-adams-new-team-concerts-move-past-allegations-1235284292/

Interview w/new managers.

There will always be an audience for him, people for whom Wilco is just too spicy.

fuck variety for entertaining that bullshit.

Weirdly enough, I was listening to some music on random shuffle the other day, and I was given not one but two or three songs that turned out to be by Ryan Adams (or Whiskeytown). I'd never really listened to more than a couple of albums of his, and the couple of shows I'd seen were shitshows, but these songs were all pretty good. And he's a shithead.

Kind of interesting to see their strategy, as hideous as it is:

Cancel culture freezes bad behavior. It doesn’t give people a chance to apologize. Everything we like about our legal system is the presumption of innocence, the right to confront your accuser, the statute of limitations; none of that kind of stuff exists in cancel culture.

Personally, I see ‘call-out culture’ as better, far better than cancel culture. I understand that you can call attention to someone’s wrongdoing, and then, with the right people, they can have a chance to learn and correct the issue and become a better person. You can’t turn the clock back. We can’t change what’s happened. But I feel that everybody deserves a second chance, and as long as they follow the right path, then they should be allowed to certainly pursue that.

Here's the path he is actually on:

Since he participated in the Los Angeles magazine profile last year, Adams has avoided directly referring to the events that seemingly brought him down. But he may have said a lot just in a response he offered to Johnny Depp’s victory-lap post on Instagram, following a court verdict that went mostly in his favor. Adams added a comment under Depp’s post that consisted of a congratulatory heart and fire symbol.