Depending on what you’ve heard about Ryan Adams before now it may cloud your judgement on this release. Please don’t let it. This was the 3rd and most low key release of 2006 from the drug-addled workaholic / one of the best singer-songwriters of his generation (delete as appropriate) and in my opinion the best. The title refers to the fact that he was about to turn 30 when writing the album and each of the 9 songs featured are apparently about significant events from each year of his twenties. It is slightly less ‘in-your-face’ country than some of his other work, bearing more similarities to ‘Love is Hell’ than ‘Jacksonville City Nights’ and I have to admit that I think he produces his best work when taking this approach.
This is definitely not an album that you can just fling on anytime as background music, it is probably best enjoyed at around 2am and in a reflective mood when you can really immerse yourself in the details. Only the title track and ‘The Sadness’ could be considered to be upbeat, the rest are all piano or acoustic guitar led ballads and as a whole the feel of the album benefits from this. His voice in particular on this record has never sounded better, just check out the falsetto on ‘Blue Sky Blues’.
My personal favourite from this album is probably ‘Elizabeth, You Were Born to Play That Part’, which was allegedly written about a friend’s miscarriage. From the beautiful title to the almost perfect instrumental outro, it is one of the best examples of Ryan’s songwriting skill. ‘Strawberry Wine’ is another highlight, and at nine minutes or so long it still leaves you wanting more.
From personal experience of trying to introduce friends to this album I know that it is probably not for everyone, but if you want to listen to someone who can write such gorgeously heartbroken lyrics as ‘the drugs are in the safe, the clothes are on the couch intertwined, but none of them are your’s and all of them are mine’ then you should give it a try.
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On his third release of a most prolific year, Ryan Adams takes a break from his band, the ... more
Cardinals, to fashion an introspective song cycle with stripped-down arrangements focused on acoustic guitar or solo piano. After the propulsive, self-mythologizi...
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Jun 20th, 2007
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