Ryan Adams?

Non-Phish General
#1

Is he actually any good? Is the album Cold Roses good? I would have never even thought about it or brought it up if it were not for the Lesh and Friends performance at 10KLF. He played 2 Ryan Adams songs (no Ryan Adams was NOT playing with him), and the rest were Dead songs…I actually really really liked the songs, but had no clue they were written by Ryan Adams at the time. One of the songs Phil played was Cold Roses, which was actually really psychedelic, but mostly because of Larry Campbells blistering guitar. The other song that they played was Stars Go Blue, and this was sandwiched in a Dark Star (St Stephen > Dark Star > Stars Go Blue > Dark Star…whoa!). It was a really beautiful duet between Phil and Joan…but for some reason I just heard Tim McGraw playing this on the radio (don’t ask…).

Anyway…the question…when I go to pick up the new Dylan today, should I buy Cold Roses too?

#2

Thank you GR for these two tidbits that had me wondering.

  1. Now I finally know the name of Phil’s guitar player at the 10k show (I thought he freaking rocked)

  2. I didn’t know what either of those Ryan Adams songs were either. I’ve never even heard of Ryan Adams. Too bad his name is so close to Bryan Adams.

So sorry, I can’t tell you anything about Ryan Adams. But thanks.

#3

he’s fucking great. confirmed.

#4

maybe you should listen to his cd and figure it out for yourself. :wink:

#5

Oh god… y’all shouldn’t have enve got me started… I’m a huge, obsessive Ryan Adams fan, and I’d be happy to shed some light on his work. I know I’ve made some threads about him previously on here, and if you want any of his albums, just PM me and let me know… I have them all :wink:

For the sake of being thorough… I"m going to review all of the albums in order so you can choose which ones you might like to give a listen, starting with Cold Roses since that’s the one you asked about.

Cold Roses - Standout songs: “Easy Plateau”, “Magnolia Mountain”,“Let it Ride”, “Rosebud”.

More than any other of his albums, this one is the most peppered with his influences (The Dead, Neil Young for starters), which is most apparent in the aforementioned songs. There is a jam at the end of Easy plateau that is VERY reminiscent of the Dead… the similarities are unmistakeable. The fact that Ryan is also a self-proclaimed huge Deadhead might also account for the fact that this album hosts most of the songs that Phil is now covering, except for Shakedown on 9th Street, which is on…

Heartbreaker - Standout songs : “Shakedown on 9th Street” (a dressed up rockabilly song… always makes me thingof that movie Crybaby for some reason LOL!!), “To Be young ( Is to Be sad)” which is a great departure from his normal melancholy love song. Then there’s “Oh my Sweet Carolina” which is an outstanding duet with Emmylou Harris; “Dam Sam - I Love A Woman who Rains”… which, if I didn’t know better, I’d think it was a Bob Dylan cover, and last but not least “Come Pick Me up” which is in my top 5 Ryan Adams songs… great lyrics.

Released in 2000, this was Ryan’s first attempt at solo work after the end of his previous project Whiskeytown. For what I’ve heard, he locked himself, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings ( which you can hear him and Ryan fighting on the disc), and did everything he always wanted to do with Whiskeytown, but couldn’t. The result is great.

Gold - Standout songs: Everything except, in my opinion, songs #9,13 and 16.

This CD, while it’s the first to have songs on it that I really didn’t like - it’s also the CD with my favorite song on it and that’s “La Cienega Just Smiled”. Every other song, aside from those mentioned are great as well.

I’ve run out of time for my post for now…butI’ll return later with the rest. Until then… here’s a list of what is, in my opinion, Ryan Adams best songs-

  1. La Cienega Just Smiled
  2. Easy Plateau
  3. Magnolia Mountain
  4. Come pick Me up
    5.Dear Chicago
  5. Cry on Demand
  6. A Kiss before I go

Those 7 should get you started… for now :slight_smile:
3.

#6

In a nutshell, Ryan Adams is that mad, brilliant friend everyone has who tries to do too many things and ends up watering down his impact. While I do love an artist who releases at least one album a year, he would often be more enjoyable if he would pick and release his songs better even if it meant whittling down albums to EPs. Being prolific and wanting to try out different styles of music is all well and good, but the results need to average out to be good to great, which I think they do for him. I really like his stuff but there’s just too much of it and it can sound VERY obviously like the music it was influenced by–he admits this in interviews, no less.

#7

somebody once showed me this Ryan adams song that totally rips off truckin. i don’t remember which one, but its actually pretty decent, besides that fact that he totally ripped it off the Dead!

#8

My mom saw him on PBS and was really diggin’ his tunes.

I’ve never really given him much of a listen…

The first time I heard of him was in Relix and how he did a killer Wharf rat at the Jammy’s. I never heard it though…

#9

hi everybody! i haven’t piped in in a while, but now i must.

buy cold roses now. buy love is hell now. buy jacksonville city nights now. the rest i can take or leave (so far. he’s an artist who grows on you upon a few listens…and then you’re in big trouble…sort of like another band we all seem fond of here). the three albums mentioned above are completely inspired works of art/genius to my ears, and the fact that phil lesh is covering his tunes is a testament to the guys vision. okay. i love ryan adams. there, i said it.

sidenote: i must also suggest “i’m wide awake, it’s morning” and “lifted. or, the story is in the soil, keep your ear to the ground” both by Bright Eyes. amazing. absolutely fuckin amazing.

#10

Thanks y’all…good reviews from Moma, and very insightful comments from all of you. I’m coming from mostly where Icc is at except that I don’t really like “alt-country” as much as I like real country-rock…like the Byrds, Burrito Brothers, New Riders, and what have you. Is his solo stuff really as country-fried as his earlier stuff? Whatever…I didn’t buy it yesterday, but I’ll buy one of his albums one of these days.

#11

Just started listening to him for the first time this weekend, and I think I’m hooked.

#12

I like him, think he writes good songs.

Buy his album.

#13

I SWEAR the first time I heard all this hype about him I was thinking “Wow…I haven’t heard this much hype for Adams since that song from the Costner Robin Hood movie” Then I noticed the first name. Hilarious.

#14

robin hood was awesome yo. i mean you remember that arrow shot? how did they get a camera to follow an arrow like that? damn. costner has a sweet ass too. awesome thread.

#15

“Cuts Like a Knife” is where it’s at.

#16

Easy Tiger, the newest album from our buddy Ryan, is yet another great example of this guy as a prolific artistic force that we should be paying attention to.

standout tracks:

Goodnight Rose
Two
Halloween Head
The Sun Also Sets

he’s on tour right now guys, see him if you can. you won’t regret it.

#17

Like when he put all those shitty albums on his website last year? I like him though.

#18

I think his new album, “Easy Tiger” is his best work yet. From Cold Roses, Jacksonville City Nights, 24 and Easy Tiger all are fuckin’ awesome, each one a different flavor/emotion from the next. Granted he is a drunk, but can you hold that against a guy. Phil jams with him and covers his tunes and the “Phil and Trey” extravaganza covered a couple of his tunes during the Vegoose shows. He kicks fuckin’ ass, plays Dead songs brilliantly, produces Willie’s music and invites audience members who are being rude and talking shit to “come up here and say that to my face” (@ The Ryman in Nashville). He’s a badass.

just bought tickets to see him and the cardinals on Oct. 30th tonight.