Some people would like to say that Ryan Adams best years are behind him but I would say that in his mid thirties and weening himself off alcohol and drugs, he is just hitting his stride.
After being vaulted in the spotlight with the Ethan Johns produced “Gold” which contained anthems like “New York New York” and “When the stars go blue”, which was later covered by the Corrs and Bono, some of the more hardcore Alt. Country folks wrote him off as moving beyond his roots. This was not helped by romances with Hollywood celebrities. Is it some sort of milestone in musicians careers to have at some time dated Winona Ryder? His immense output had most fans confused as to how many people were living inside his body and when exactly he got any sleep.The schizophrenic albums and use of the Cold Roses backing band aside, you cannot but marvel at the beauty of “Two”, “Everybody Knows” and “Oh My God, Whatever, Etc.”, most co-written with Brad Pemberton. I don’t think a lot of people could get away with screaming “Guitar solo” before a huge solo on “Halloweenhead” and have it not feel contrived. People familiar with his recordings would not see anything different possible because of his style of working out the arrangements while recording and often giving instructions into the microphone, while the tape is rolling. Like the Monty Python voice from “Argument with David Rawlings concerning Morrissey” on Heartbreaker.I have heard some critics complain that some of the songs sound the same as earlier material from Demolition or Heartbreaker and I always think of CCR frontman John Fogerty getting sued by the people who owned his back catalog because his newer songs sounded to much like his old ones. Oh course they do! These are probable the same people who complained about the change in tone and production on “Love is Hell” and “Rock n Roll”. As with any artist, like it or not you are along for the ride. You may not appreciate everything but you might just find some gems that you didn’t think were there.When you stop to consider that this is his 9th studio album since the Whiskeytown days and that was only since 2000, you can start to get an idea of why they say this guy prolific. Just to drive home the point lets get some comparison.
- Radiohead – 7 studio albums since 1993
- U2 – 11 studio albums since 1980
- Led Zeppelin – 8 studio records in the 10 years from 1969 -1979
This guys is good and he’s getting better.