I am a Ryan Adams fanboy. I'm not afraid to admit it. Thus I should lap up everything he does. This, however, is not always the case. I find that Ryan Adams fans fall into three categories. There's the first who love the more radio-friendly stuff such as Gold and Easy Tiger. Then the second category has the more country David Ryan Adams (the people who probably loved Whiskeytown in their heyday). They count Jacksonville City Nights and Heartbreaker as their favourites. The third category love the dirty Ryan Adams, the rockier fella who storms off the stage at any and every opportunity. They're usually fans of 29 and Rock N Roll.
That said, not everyone fits into a particular category. Ryan does have loads of other records, EPs, and Sad Dracula-type releases. Many of us DRA fans fall into a few of these categories, or straddle two. And then do real music fans want to categorize themselves? Such as emo or goth or whatever. Anyhow, the point I really want to make is that the newest Ryan Adams & The Cardinals record falls into the first category more or less. It's an extension of Easy Tiger and the Follow the Lights EP. Although probably not as good as either.
There are some great songs on here, but none are up there with Ryan's best. 'Cobwebs', 'Fix It' and 'Sinking Ships' are all very good songs, and on tenth listen sound much better. But all of these songs are so much better live. If you've seen any of the videos on youtube or downloaded any of his recent shows from archive.org, you'll hear how much better the Cardinals are live. The Cardinals are a live band. But this never transfers over to the records.
There's no sense of urgency. It's all too easy 'Go Easy', 'Let Us Down Easy'. Where's the live Ryan? The man who makes interesting records under the guise of Were Wolph? The only song that even hints at this is 'Magick', which is a good attempt, but at the same time is a poor man's 'Halloweenhead'.
The album isn't a failure though. It's probably Adams' most consistent record. It's not all over the place. If mid-tempo country-rock is what you're looking for, Cardinology has it in bucketloads. 'Natural Ghost' may well be the worst thing he's released in years, but songs like 'Crossed Out Name' and 'Evergreen' more than make up for that.
It's not a bad album. It may well be one of the top 25 records I've heard this year. It's just that Ryan Adams and the Cardinals are capable of much more. So much more.
If that 20:20 Box Set ever gets released, you'll see what I mean. Destroyer, Suicide Handbook, 48 Hours all so good. All so unreleased. Come on Lost Highway. Don't leave us hanging.
Posts
4 comments:
After hearing cardinology I agree with you completly, where is the box set?? Ive heard rumors about it for 2 years it seems, yet it still isnt on the shelves. Maybe im just an old ryan adams fan, but this album lacks good songwriting, its way way way way too repetitive, except for a few songs the album seems like a joke. Its like the creativity went out of ryan just as the drugs did. I hate to say something like that being such a big fan of him and also a recovering addict myself. What it boils down to is Cardinology is by far the worst record ryan adams has been involved with, and if this is a indication of things to come, or rather more albums to come, ill be dissopointed as hell. I hope im not alone here when I say I look forward to the box set very very much. For now ill be listening to cold roses, 29, heartbreaker, almost anything but easy tiger and cardinology. Ryan needs to team up with gillan welch again.. this album just isnt ryan.
why you feel the need to categorize the world down to Ryan Adams fans is beyond me. Every one seems to want to dissect him and can't seem to appreciate an art form for being multi-faceted. Thank god, the stars, and Einstien that some one has come along who can evolve with age and hit the nail on the head with out genre. He lays his soul on the line for the world to see, and sometimes quickly deletes it, but who's watching anyway? Argue all day about whether he is the new Bob Dylan, but he's not, He's just David, and he's damn good, just who he is.
He may be damn good. He is damn good, we all know that. It's just a pity the new record isn't damn good. That's my (and everyone else's) problem.
Just stumbled on this blog...
funny, because I think 'Natural Ghost' is one of his most poignant and gut-wrenching songs, up there with 'How do you keep love alive' and 'Now that you're gone' from Cold Roses...
I really like Cardinology, it gets better with repeated listens, but for me it doesn't quite match Cold Roses or Follow the lights.
Post a Comment