Ryan Adams & the Cardinals
Cold Roses
Lost Highway
What’s the prolific artist to do? The compulsive writer of songs (penner of poems, painter of pictures, what have you), the artist in love with the act of creation, eventually has to deal with one very important question: What to do with your babies? The slow-working geniuses among us — think a Shirley Hazzard, a Brian Wilson — bring their long-gestated newborn into the world to a modicum of fanfare: “what a lovely piece of work! He/she looks just like you! Like…all of us!” The prolific among us, if they’re not careful with their output, often get the Chris Rock rejoinder: “…bitch, stop fucking!”
Ryan Adams, then, is a nymphomaniac. Already frisky with his former band Whiskeytown, Adams’ brief solo career has seen more work release in the past five years than your average prison. He’s released a handful of EPs, “quiet” albums, “rock” albums, and now, the penultimate goal for the maternity fraternity: a double CD. Twins!
Go figure, then, that the Grateful Dead-peppered Cold Roses is easily his best album since Heartbreaker, his solo debut. Adams and the Dead have a natural affinity, after all: both love Appalachian folk music, classic country and jamming out when the song calls for it. Adams has always loved the Dead, in fact. You’ve just never heard it on record until now. Or, at least, since Whiskeytown.
“Magnolia Mountain” is beautifully obvious, “Beautiful Sorta” the kind of hopeful electro-acoustic rocker that established Adams’ star in the first place. “How Do You Keep Love Alive” is Adams Mach II, eschewing gorgeous paeans to lovers in favor of hymns to love itself. “Easy Plateau” is lovely cosmic honk, accent on the dancing skeletons of memory and release. The other 15 or so songs? Some forgettable, but all pretty enough: freeway natural areas as seen from a passing window.
Cold Roses, more ‘Town than city, suggests that old shopworn nugget was indeed true: you can take the boy out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the boy.
Track to burn: “Cold Roses”
Rating:
-Timothy C. Davis
Eels
Blinking Lights and Other Revelations
Vagrant
Mark Oliver Everett (he goes by “E”) leads a loose, revolving set of cohorts as Eels, and crafts astounding off-beat pop. Eels have recorded six albums tracing the path of E’s muse through a damaged pop aesthetic comparable to that of Sparklehorse. Eels had an early taste of acclaim with the hit single, “Novocaine for the Soul,” but the further he’s moved from that debut album, the more idiosyncratic the music’s gotten. The colorings of noise, unusual percussion and sudden explosive sonics that speckle his songs sap some of the intimacy from his dark elegies, but that’s leavened here by previously unseen emotional directness. E opens the windows and lets the sun shine in. From sauntering folk to miniature pop symphonies behind E’s Tom Waits-ian baritone, the album has the lush, off-the-cuff beauty of Badly Drawn Boy’s last two discs. With 33 tracks over 90 minutes, there are too many highlights to list here. It’s cohesive, but certainly not predictable. Different styles coexist surprisingly easily, linked by a wistful sense of promise, expressed simply by E, on the title track, “one day I will be alright again.”
Track to burn: “I’m Going To Stop Pretending I Didn’t Break Your Heart”
Rating:
-Chris Parker
George Jones
My Very Special Guests
Epic/Legacy
In 1979, George Jones was busy destroying himself with drugs and alcohol. But that same year, he managed to come up with a concept that has become a mainstay for artists trying to revive flagging careers — the duet album. My Very Special Guests paired him with some of the hottest names in music including Willie Nelson, Elvis Costello, Emmylou Harris and the Staples. There were no missteps — even the hoary chestnut “Proud Mary” with Johnny Paycheck was so redneck that it’s a keeper. Staples-Jones’ “Will The Circle Be Unbroken” was made fresh by its smooth blend of country, gospel, blues and rock. Epic is re-releasing that album, but adding 27 new duets spanning the 80s and 90s. And that’s where the problems begin. Sure, “Yesterday’s Wine” with Merle Haggard is a gorgeous cut, and “Wonderful World Outside” featuring Jones and Ralph Stanley’s dueling sinuses is a thing of wonder. But what the hell is Patti Page doing in the same room with Jones? And why waste six minutes of B.B. King’s time to schmaltz up “Patches”? While you might want this one for your oddities shelf, if you want the real thing, try ’99’s Cold Hard Truth or ’04’s Live From the Louisiana Hayride.
Track to burn: “Will the Circle Be Unbroken”
Rating:
1/2
-Grant Britt
This article appears in May 18-24, 2005.
