I first became aware of Ryan Adams when I purchased Whiskeytown's first CD Faithless Street on that fateful trip through Timaru. I bought their follow up, Strangers Almanac, not long after and then they broke up.
I read in early 2000 that Ryan Adams was recording an album with Gillian Welch, David Rawlings and Emmylou Harris and I really looked forward to hearing it as with help like that it could not be bad surely. So I happened to be in LA when it was released and picked up a copy straight away. It is a terrific album and almost worth forgiving Ryan for all his sins of the later poor editing and rapid production that he became (almost famous for).
Spurred on by a difficult break up Heartbreaker is aptly titled with songs that vary from angry to self pitying to hopeful and all points in between. It starts with an argument, but not with his girlfriend with David Rawlings about Morrissey.
From there on there are 14 tracks of almost immaculate quality in terms of a Country Folk album. Delivered almost perfectly - there was immediately talk of another New Dylan. He was never going to be that, his songs are almost always about relationships and their start or finish so he does not have that broad sweep that Dylan does. However he probably has more in common with James Taylor than he would care to admit. If Heartbreaker had been released in the early 70's it would surely have been considered a classic by now. Here is a selection of some of the best songs.
Oh My Sweet Carolina : Perfect harmonies and not quite clear whether he is singing about his State or a girlfriend - probably both
Bartering Lines : A man struggling at the end of the relationship
Damn Sam (I love a woman that rains) : The closest he gets to Dylan's elliptical lyricism
Come Pick Me Up : A very angry song
In my time of need : A song that could have been written 60 years ago in the folk boom in New York in the late 50's
After this album Adams hit a purple patch in terms of both writing and bad behaviour. He recorded whole albums that were never released but still managed to release three albums (including a double) in a single year. On the strength of Heartbreaker I became a completest and managed to get hold of many of his unreleased albums. Each album has a few terrific songs, but as many critics have pointed out he could have used some editing from time to time and nothing in total has ever really matched the power and beauty of this album.
Spurred on by a difficult break up Heartbreaker is aptly titled with songs that vary from angry to self pitying to hopeful and all points in between. It starts with an argument, but not with his girlfriend with David Rawlings about Morrissey.
From there on there are 14 tracks of almost immaculate quality in terms of a Country Folk album. Delivered almost perfectly - there was immediately talk of another New Dylan. He was never going to be that, his songs are almost always about relationships and their start or finish so he does not have that broad sweep that Dylan does. However he probably has more in common with James Taylor than he would care to admit. If Heartbreaker had been released in the early 70's it would surely have been considered a classic by now. Here is a selection of some of the best songs.
Oh My Sweet Carolina : Perfect harmonies and not quite clear whether he is singing about his State or a girlfriend - probably both
Bartering Lines : A man struggling at the end of the relationship
Damn Sam (I love a woman that rains) : The closest he gets to Dylan's elliptical lyricism
Come Pick Me Up : A very angry song
In my time of need : A song that could have been written 60 years ago in the folk boom in New York in the late 50's
After this album Adams hit a purple patch in terms of both writing and bad behaviour. He recorded whole albums that were never released but still managed to release three albums (including a double) in a single year. On the strength of Heartbreaker I became a completest and managed to get hold of many of his unreleased albums. Each album has a few terrific songs, but as many critics have pointed out he could have used some editing from time to time and nothing in total has ever really matched the power and beauty of this album.
No comments:
Post a Comment