Can I please, please, PLEASE start a Ryan Adams "Cold Roses" thread?

Did they forget about Demolition?

Still, I'm not particularly impressed by the new one after my first few listens.

You mean it was his nipples on "We Are Fuck You"?! Well I never!

I have listened to it 3 times and don't know what to think yet. First listen, I was struck by the prettiness and warmth, but hardly any of the songs except Magnolia Mountain and Let It Ride were really connecting. I thought the whole thing sounded much less personal than any of Adams' prior stuff, and I was annoyed that this seemed like another genre exercise. But the band is clearly the best he has ever had.

Paying more attention to individual songs, there is really remarkable thematic consistency in the lyrics, to match the consistency of the sound. Way more so than on any previous Adams/Whiskeytown release. Maybe the only exceptions are the songs that have clearly been sitting around for a while -- Beautiful Sorta, Let It Ride. On the first disk, practically every song involves the singer attempting to go back to a house where he used to live with a departed lover (parent?) and feeling alienated, or going back to a childhood home to find rest for the weary. Repeated subtle references to Christ or God (a first for Adams), lots of flowers, and rivers, and (as I said) empty houses. There is a real absence of the kind of quirky detail that usually makes his lyrics seem very immediate -- things are kind of bleached out -- but a lot of the stuff that sounds cliched at first isn't, and is quite idiosyncratic. The lyrics are less worked-over than those on Love Is Hell, but a far cry from his early minimalism.

A few songs have the drone-build structure that he used a lot (and IMO successfully) on Love Is Hell, and he is still sometimes in love with singing at the top of his register where sometimes he can't really sing.

Individually, almost all of the songs actually sound good, but they definitely bleed together, especially when there is little variation in either the instrumentation or the lyrics. Magnolia Mountain is great; I am also liking Beautiful Sorta, Now That You're Gone, Cherry Lane, Let It Ride, Cold Roses. As usual, it would have been stronger with 12-14 songs, not 18.

Whiskeytown: cool stuff, what with the whole What If Gram Parsons had been Paul Westerberg? thing. Some very solid tracks.

Heartbreaker: okay, here he proves he can do "Dylan" (see Damn Sam et. al.)

Gold: Not only Dylan, but Stones, Neil Young, the Who, a little Skynyrd... it's going to be so cool once he puts all those influences together and develops a coherent style of his own.

RnR: more self-conscious ventriloquism

LIH: etc

Cold Roses: Vornado otm, and it seems pretty conscious, what with his penchant for covering Wharf Rat and all the roses and magnolias flying around.

RA's gift for assimilating and reproducing other folks' sounds is certainly beyond question now, and imho there have been some standout tracks along the way. What's less and less apparent is what the point might be.

I think that RA's "gift for assimilating" is his greatest strength. By now he has shown a somewhat substantial range, from Gram Parsons to westerberg to Oasis to neil young to the Marr-isms on Love is Hell(which are his weakest appropriations by far)

as far as what the point is, im quite certain that there isnt one. very simply, he is a guy who loves writing music. he is not a legendary template like a Dylan or the Stones or whatever, but my god! Isn't it just enough to play music without being transcendant? most of my favorite acts throughout time are the great pretenders, not the legends.

The new songs are decent. As I've said many times, he needs an editor or at least a worthy foil--in that, a songwriter with chops or someone to challenge him on his own terms or tell him when he's full of shit. He could pull it off when he was younger and had Caitlyn to keep him honest or at least focused, but his success has afforded him the luxury of recording every little thing. He doesn't seem hungry anymore--he just seems able. I wouldn't say he's coasting, I'd say that he doesn't have that many great ideas. Either that, or he's used up the great ideas he had.

The lyrics here aren't very good. The nature theme is flaccid at best, cliched at worst.

Live, he's managed to get worse over the years. I saw him a half dozen times in Whiskeytown, back when the 50 people in the bar weren't paying much attention and it seemed to bother him or inspire him to want to perform. The past few times I've seen him play, he's been deferential to the audience at best but mostly, I felt like he didn't give much of a shit. I wish he would play his heart out, or at least try to be charming once in awhile. That solo touring he did from 99-00 kind of won my heart, only to be kicked aside once the press for "Heartbreaker" rolled in and Elton John was showing up onstage for "Rocketman." AND OH MY GOD I WISH ADAMS WOULD STOP "PLAYING" THE PIANO...so painful to see and hear.

"I'd say that he doesn't have that many great ideas"

thats exactly my point. he's just writing songs because thats what he wants to do, and they aren't *great* because that was never the intent. and as far as finding a foil to help with quality control, he seems to be much too egotistical for that, it would never work. to put someone behind the board that would question his decisions would be counter-productive, he would probably refuse to record music in such a situation (a prospect that im sure doesn't upset most ILMers)

"Harder Now That It's Over" to thread!

Art doesn't have to be fresh, it just has to resonate in the most minimal of ways. I'm not sure that involves taking chances or risks--I'd argue that Adams' "New York, New York" doesn't take any chances yet manages to be a pretty solid pop song. Or "To Be Young" or "Chin Up, Cheer Up." Adams himself would argue that he took a lot of chances on "RocknRoll" musically, and many would say he failed miserably when he "took chances." In some ways, taking chances is the ultimate in egotism given the context of an existing audiences. Adams' problem might be that his ego is serving him poorly, not that his work is 90% ego.

His dress code doesn't bother me--he's always dressed very similarly, and frankly, I don't have a problem with him trying to maintain the part at slightly higher standards.

I should post the press release that came with the album. It's truly vomi- inducing, and appears to be written by either Adams or a dipshit publicist who wants to suck his cock. But that would require that I have to type the whole thing up. Maybe I'll scan it and OCR to alleviate this issue.

i agree that you have to take some sort of chance with art, but it is important not to confuse chance with originality or innovation. to become a singer/songwriter with the influences he has at this point in rock history is a chance in and of itself. to bring freshness to the genres that Ryan Adams has attempted is an extremely difficult thing. when i play "to be young" to musically-inclined freinds who have never heard ryan adams the reaction is almost always the same: "Subterranean Homesick Blues". And thats considered one of his better songs

im tempted to say that Ryan is a victim of the hordes of praise he recieved for heartbreaker, but i don't completely believe that. i still love his musis just the same, imperfections and all.

No need to apologize Susan; I'm a recovering Adams fan and have tried to intellectualize my previous affliction for the past few years. More importantly, I'm trying to decide why I care now--it's probably has the same basis in reason that I can't shake my addiction to whatever crap Prince has served up since oh, 1990.

really wanting to have that identity and be that kinda artist but not being able to at all
This sounds good Susan although I'm not sure it means what we want it to in a tangible way. I don't think it has as much to do with fear as it might with outright myopia, and whether that's a result of yes-men (and women) or simply endless effort to become that identity I don't know.

I don't know how much blow he does; I don't know what Team RA looks like, or how insulated he is or isn't from the outside world. I definitely don't know that a Cold Roses thread is the place to open up a discussion of the artist's responsibilities etc. innovation etc. all artists borrow etc. the best ones steal etc. Le rockisme, qu'est-ce que c'est?

I guess I'm just disappointed that an artist who appeared to have major potential early on is now no less than five albums into a solo career and... still appears to have major potential.

It will be interesting to see what artist or genre the next of this year's three releases will be "in the style of..."

xpst - ironically i'd probably like the cher version if she can keep the even a tiny bit of the essense of eddie going. don't think i've heard it though.

There was a video. On a battleship. With Richie Sambora and ass tattoos.

Back to Cold Roses everyone. Nothing more to see here. Please move along.

Classic. The lines "I think the thing you said was true/I'm gonna die alone and sad" and the closing refrain of "I think that im falling out of love with you" are the very epitome of Ryan: Maudlin Alt-Country Rock as informed by Morrissey as it is Dylan.

"nah, Bona Drag, baby"

i always thought it was just "Argument with David Rawlings" - the Morrissey part makes it much more intriguing esp. after listening a lot to Red House Painters Down Colorful Hill album last weekend and being amazed at how very very very very very Morrissey M. Kozelek was sounding - and not too long afterward became much more alt country/folksy. I just never associated the two styles even tho alt country is pretty gothic in lots of ways. is that what you/ryan meant?