re: Some brief notes on the new Ryan Adams record.

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I think being happily married to that smoking hot Mandy Moore is taking a toll as well.

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Bingo. All his best stuff is about being torn up over a girl.

well crap. i just read a good review. don't let Ryan get your phone number, or he may fall off the wagon and leave you a drunk-nastygram voice mail.

i haven't heard anything of the new album. I'll wait and listen to the whole thing tomorrow, and i'll be back with a review.

Disagree. It's in the eye of the beholder. Cardiology was one of my favorite works of his. Ashes and Fire was incredible. And I really liked the self titled album. It has sort of a hint of darkness to it that other albums don't have. I really liked how he made his rhythm guitar sound the same on almost every song (reverb with slight overdrive). It gave all the songs sort of a commonality. Just like all the other albums, it's full of emotion, and you'll find yourself singing the songs when you aren't listening to it. I like it. It's on par with his other works.

Completely disagree. It has a couple of "filler" songs, but it has some grand slams in there as well.

I love this verse in My Wrecking Ball

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Lying in my bed tonight, feeling like I'm somebody else
My thoughts inside my head get lost inside the haunted house
Everyone I used to know left their dreams by the door
I accidentally kick them, that's how I can tell you're still not sure
And all the walls we build, they rise and they fall

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such a boring record

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Kind of agree. Nothing moved me.

i cancelled Spotify premium until my next road trip, so i only got to hear on random. the 4-5 songs i heard here meh to bleh. two of them sounded a lot more like Bryan Adams, and not in a good way.

Listened to whole album on First Listen. Went from meh, the bleh, to blech!

My notes (bored while reworking my computers tonight):

Gimme Something Good: Sheryl Crow, pop-blues, teeny-bopper hook of a chorus, shamefully cliche lyrics for such a talented songwriter. A skipper (deleter) to be sure. Now Gimme Something that at least doesn’t suck.

Kim: typical Adams mope rock. Nondescript but better than the first track (barely). He could’ve spared us the gratuitous F-bombs, over-cranked guitar fx, groaning repetition of his muse’s name (at least it was monosyllabic), and what I’m pretty sure was a self-flagellation reference.

Trouble: better. Not much to say about it. I like the jangly Johnny Marr upstroke Tele guitar sound. Generic song, but I’d let it play in the mix.

Am I Safe: more decent-sounding guitar riffs (he’s definitely on a Marr kick), but nothing special about tune or lyrics. All of these songs lack the depth and contrast of his better work. No tension/resolution.

Wrecking Ball: not as audacious as Miley Ray’s, but the best song overall, so far on the album. Pretty much midgrade Adams. Much more sophisticated verses than the other tracks, chorus notwithstanding.

Stay With Me: reminds me of something of Alana Miles’s Black Velvet vintage but poppier. No offense to Bee-Ryan Adams, but this harkens back to some of his (Bryan Adams’s) lam[t]er works.

Shadows: less cheesy. More abstract, slightly psychedelic feel. Decent chill song. Lyrics still underwhelming. Nothing special. Again.

Feels Like Fire: I have no idea what I just listened to. Skip it. Burn it, and not on a CD (do people still do that?). Was Ashes and Fire not enough fire? Another poorly placed F’ing bomb.

I have to stop here and ask if Ryan should start drinking again. Heavily.

I Just Might never listen to this album again. This reminds me of something I would’ve written as a [pre]teen after too many Dr. Peppers on a Wednesday night after I tired of playing on my Commodore-64.

Tired of Giving Up: apparently doesn’t apply to giving up on coming up with more inventive song titles. More crap and sadly might be in the top-tier of this record’s tracks.

Let Go: another repeat-the-song-title chorus, and string together trite phrases for verses. Decent sounding song though.

I think it sounds pretty good so far

I'm going to give the album another listen, just because I'm a huge fan. But overall I am disappoint.

Love me some Moose Drool btw. Seen some good shows at Big Sky Brewery in Missoula. Arcade Fire was there this summer--I can't remember why we didn't go. Lazy, I think.