Gold > Reviews > Gold At The End Of The Ryan-Bow

Author's product rating:   

Originality
Lyrics
Quality and consistency of tracks
How does it compare to the artist's other releases
Value for Money

Advantages:	Restores your faith in honest songwriting
Disadvantages:	May not suit all tastes

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Music with meaning, music with heart. That’s what I want to talk to you about today ladies and germs. Music that actually affects the synapses, not just a quick caffeine fix of melody with candy-ass lyrics. Anyone can sing; “babe I miss you so much when will you come back because I’m hurting inside and now you’re back I feel quite good actually” but do we really believe Britney Bores or Christina Suck-ilera mean it? If by we you mean me then no. I don’t.

Love songs or out of love songs only really get to me when sung in a more intimate manner – acoustic guitars and backing by ACTUAL bands. Luscious Jackson manage this. Lou Reed can do it. Aimee Mann can too. During one of my random buying sprees, I discovered that Ryan Adams is a contender also – and this album is now on “heavy rotation” chez Pepper. Keeps me ticking, like.

I actually bought this debut CD of his as part of a “5 for £50” deal at Virgin Megastores, and it’s widely available for the £15-or-so mark. Searching on the net will no doubt yield cheaper prices, but I urge you to pay whatever you must, this is certainly something you’ll be listening to for a good long while. Try and find the UK special edition, which has ONE WHOLE BONUS TRACK on it! You’ll want more anyway, so suck it up whilst you’ve still got a straw.

So how about those tunes then, eh?

***THOSE TUNES***

TRACK 1 – New York, New York

Victim of a sickly-sentimental release after 9-11, this is in my opinion the least well-rounded track, maybe because I keep it in mind in relation to the disaster, but also because it’s a little too “David Gray” style. It’s a tightly performed number, but a little like a condensed version of everything great about the rest of the album – a good lively opener but one I always skip past in favour of track 2. Too much organ, too (steady girls).

TRACK 2 – Firecracker

Ah, how can you go wrong with a harmonica-led intro? Similar in tone to the previous track but far more satisfying. Ryan lets go a bit more, with a good-times rock ‘n’ roll love song. The lyrics are fantastic – “broken bluesy whisper/sing to me tonight” and accessorise the honest musicianship of Adam’s band to perfection. It’s less than 3 minutes long like any true rock ‘n’ roll song, and uses every second to make your hairs crane themselves upwards.

TRACK 3 – Answering Bell

Wishing you knew a girl better is a rock standard – and this track makes no exception of that fact. It does so with glorious style and superb lyrics again – “let your tears fall and touch my skin” is possibly – in the context of the song – one of the best lyrics on the CD. Simple and effective, with a country feel, this is possibly my favourite tune on the whole affair. If only it were that simple, because next we have…

TRACK 4 – La Cienega Just Smiled

What is La Cienega? I don’t know. This song seems to be telling a story based around it, but Ryan’s off again, talking to some unknown girl. Eavesdropping proves rewarding, as simple acoustic guitars blend in with hushed drums and gentle piano chords to make a genuinely beautiful piece of music that’s hard to describe in relation to anything I’ve heard before. This is the kind of track that would have been on the OST to High Fidelity if this record had come out in the 1990s. Wistful longing is the mood, and it feels like the soundtrack to the best sad movie I’ve never seen.

TRACK 5 – The Rescue Blues

A quiet gospel-style backing singer led harmony comes in behind the style of music you’re used to by the time this track hits – reliable background music providing a template for Ryan’s slightly gruff singing style. A sting of electric guitar lifts this out of the predictability, as does the rising mood of the song – which the gospel backing complements nicely. A good driving song, I guess – I can’t drive. But if I did, this’d be the music to relax me in traffic jams, fleeing the madness & whatnot.

TRACK 6 – Somehow, Someday

A slightly more up-tempo number, but again Ryan’s in “If Only” land – “I wish that you and I had those kids/Maybe bought us that home” he croons, but with not a hint of despondence, this is more a song of hope, with Ryan determined to make amends for whatever his transgression was. Pacing-wise it’s a good choice, seeing as the preceding 3 tracks are mellower in mood. Speaking of which…

TRACK 7 – When The Stars Go Blue

Moments of falsetto and hard-to-understand vocals (thank crivens for lyrics in the booklet!) perforate this tune, with a very stark backing until the chorus, where the violins do their thing and it seems to be nothing but drums and the occasional acoustic guitar or piano riff. Another heartstring-tugger, but that’s kind of par for the course.

TRACK 8 – Nobody Girl

Something of an epic, this one – over 9 minutes long, but to me it never seems that lengthy. This is one of those songs that demands attention to the lyrics – reading them makes the story it tells helps an inattentive fool like me appreciate them more. I get caught up in the music and the soothing nature of Ryan’s voice in this tune, rather than the message. It’s one of ‘you’re a prostitute, you don’t have to be’ in the vein of Roxanne by The Police, only not irritating. It’s not preachy, just observant; “They don’t know you anyway/They don’t watch you walk away” laments Mr Adams. Excellent mid-album number.

TRACK 9 – Sylvia Plath

Okay…so Ryan wants a Syliva Plath. His words. A subtle, piano drive lullaby-style song, with Mr Adams waxing lyrical about his fantasy days with the erstwhile poet. Great lyrics, if a tad bizarre – “maybe she’d take me to France/Maybe in Spain she’d ask me to dance in a mansion on top of a hill”. Top marks for rhyming “Plath” with “bath” here.

TRACK 10 – Enemy Fire

More aggressive musically, with a crashing drum beat and heavier guitars. Certainly a vast difference from all the other songs before it, and if you were getting fed up with Ryan spouting on about imaginary women and/or relationships, this may wake you up a bit. A backlash against someone, it’s certainly effective in evoking a mood of disillusionment with beauty. The final line is brilliant – “Learn how to change / And maybe I could stay / Um…no.”

TRACK 11 – Gonna Make You Love Me

Very “White Stripes” – so if you like them this’ll be right up your taste. Basic rock ‘n’ roll with not too many bells & whistles, it’s a toe-tapper, which trades Ryan dreaming of girls with him getting a bit cocky about a girl fancying him. Fair enough! The more lively musical style reflects the confidence in the lyrics to good effect. Gah! I feel like I’m writing an English paper or something…

TRACK 12 – Wild Flowers

Oh, Ryan’s regressed to regret it seems. Heart-achingly honest and beautiful, this one, with a very light groove behind it – barely noticeable but lifting the song beyond despair into some kind of hope. The singing style is similar to that of James Dean Bradfield in the Manic Street Preachers – he fits the words to the song rather than the other way around, leading to some strange pronunciation and vocal melodies, which just make the song seem a lot more honest, and a great xylophone (never thought I’d use THAT phrase!) riff at the end.

TRACK 13 – Harder Now That It’s Over

Basically, Ryan’s lost his girl ‘cause she’s been arrested. It wasn’t his fault, but he feels like hell. This is the kind of song I wish I could write, one that tells a tale that you’re free to fill in the blanks for. There’s some extremely clever lyric writing here, and the country twang of a steel guitar behind the simple piano & drum work lends itself well to the sense of tragedy. Ryan’s voce falters a little in places, which gets me every time.

TRACK 14 – Touch, Feel and Lose

A jazzed-up, brassed-up Blues Brothers echoing grand tune, with the standard Ryan intro of soft melody and crooning until the music builds steadily to a climax in the chorus, which then drops softly off with some gospel backing into the guitar-plucking, quiet verse. The lyrics are simple and just as high-standard as all the others - “You know your kisses they like lightnin’ and thunder/And your smile is sweet and come down like the rain.” Cool. The huge outro of this song is also masterful, and gets you in the right mood for…

TRACK 15 – Tina Toledo’s Street Walkin’ Blues

Oh yeah! Coming on like a Lenny Kravitz number, this groove along at a steady, cool pace with some excellent story-telling lyrics. “Send it home!” cries Ryan at the end of the chorus, talking about the money the titular Tina is earning. Did I mention cool yet? It’s Blues Brothers and Kravitz all over the place, and more energetic than the other numbers, benefiting no end from CC White’s extra vocals in the background and freestyling all over the end of the track. Faultless.

TRACK 16 – Goodnight, Hollywood Boulevard

Yer typical last track (if this wasn’t the UK edition – which still has one more to go!), sombre but prompting you to hit “play” as soon as the CD stops spinning to take in the whole thing again. Orchestral movements creep in behind the piano and Ryan’s final lament to atmospheric effect. Curse you Adams, I wasted enough time listening to this, and now I have to do it all again because your songs are so catchy. And I haven’t even got to the last one yet!

TRACK 17 (UK bonus track) – Rosalie Come And Go

Just under 4 minutes of more Ryan-related goodness in the form of this mid-tempo rocker. Ryan tells of a few girls (and a boy) he’s known with a more guitar-driven tune than the others, and once again I have the urge to listen to the CD again. It’s just a shame the lyrics to this aren’t in the inlay, but I guess I can forgive for that!

* * * * *

The inlay, by the way, is pretty cool, with typewriter-font lyrics and various snaps of Ryan moping, skulking, sulking, smoking and yawning with guns or guitars (or both) in his hands. Black & white. Just the right side of arty.

Why do I find this so unmissable? Well – to be fair, it isn’t. Not for everybody. You may well not be a fan of soulful, guitar/piano-based ballads. This does provide some good toe-tapping numbers also, and it’s not unmissable for this very reason – though a fantastic collection of tunes, it’s probably a bit samey for those who are not rabid fans of this kind of music.

So for that reason I must be realistic and give it 4 stars, despite my over the top fanaticism at the guitar-shaped altar of Mr Adams. I do recommend it though, as a chill-out CD it’s hard to beat, and is one of the few “mature” records I own. Jeez…I’m starting to get worried…

Thanx for readin’!

© P$ 2002

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Links:

www.ryan-adams.com - official website

www.losthighwayrecords.com - record label website