July 5, 2007
Adams Takes It Easy
Posted by Sean Moores at July 5, 2007 6:15 AMEasy Tiger
Ryan Adams
(Lost Highway)
Before proceeding with this review of Ryan Adams’ new disc, “Easy Tiger,” it’s worth noting – if only for the sake of fairness – that no matter what he does, Adams can do little right in the eyes of his many admirers.
No Americana artist is more closely scrutinized. His every move is somehow deemed newsworthy. A search of this Web site on Wednesday revealed that he was mentioned four times in June alone. Fans, including myself, eagerly anticipate his releases, then rush to point out their flaws. The criticisms generally fall into two categories: 1) It isn’t alt-country, the genre in which he built his reputation; and 2) Adams needs an editor, someone who will tell him he doesn’t need to release every song that he commits to tape.
He didn’t ask for it, but in some respects Adams brought the attention on himself. He set the bar extremely high as a member of alt-country posterband Whiskeytown and on his first solo album, 2000’s “Heartbreaker,” which led to almost impossible expectations from his rapidly growing audience. Matching the quality of those recordings was made more difficult by Adams’ genre hopping, which has included stops at hardcore (side project The Finger), Smiths-like moping (the “Love is Hell” EPs) and modern rock (“Rock N Roll”). At times he almost seemed to be experimenting just to fan the flames of fan ire. Adding fuel to the fire was his erratic behavior, which included – but was far from limited to – leaving an angry rant on a critic’s answering machine, recording absurd rap songs for his Web site and releasing three albums in a year.
That last stunt occurred in 2005, when the overly prolific Adams released “Cold Roses,” “Jacksonville City Nights” and “29.” The backing band from the first two albums, the Cardinals, is again behind Adams on “Easy Tiger,” his ninth studio album in an eight-year solo career and his most even-handed effort in a long time. Its title implies that even Adams, 32, is ready to slow the pace and stress quality over quantity. For the most part, that’s a good thing. Perhaps the harshest criticism of the disc is that it’s a competent work by a prodigiously gifted songwriter. Ironically, it’s not full of great songs. Good, but not great.
“Easy Tiger” opens on a strong note with “Goodnight Rose,” which stylistically falls between the Grateful Dead-inspired sound of “Cold Roses” and country balladry of “Jacksonville City Nights.” It also comes from the point of view from which Adams’ aching tenor sounds best – that of the heartbroken troubadour. He follows it with another from the same vein, “Two,” which also features Sheryl Crow on background vocals.
After the first two tracks, though, “Easy Tiger” takes on a feeling of sameness. It’s mostly mellow, morose and midtempo. All but one of the 13 songs clock in at less than 3:30. Only the rocker “Halloweenhead,” on which Adams appears to be channeling the Strokes, breaks the general pattern. It not only seems out of place, but Adams lapses into lyrical laziness, calling for a “guitar solo!” and substituting profanity for emotion.
Overall, “Halloweenhead” is a minor misstep. The bigger problem is that “Easy Tiger” lacks the “instant classic” that has marked Adams’ best albums. His extraordinary reputation was built on songs such as “Oh My Sweet Carolina” (from “Heartbreaker”), “New York New York” (“Gold”) and “Let it Ride” (“Cold Roses”), but there’s nothing here that quite stands shoulder-to-shoulder with those songs.
The absence of a career-defining track keeps Adams from reaching that ever-elusive bar, but the overall quality of “Easy Tiger” serves as a reminder that Adams dashes off remarkably good compositions – such as “Pearls on a String” and “These Girls” – with startling regularity. The disc suggests a sense of focus and direction that should lead to not only more great songs, but more consistent albums as well.
Or perhaps Adams will release a punk album two months from now. You never can tell. As always, individual listeners’ mileage will vary. Some will find “Easy Tiger” too short at 38 minutes; some will think it’s just right. Others will listen to it once and file it away on the shelf. Most, though, will bide their time until his next release, eagerly anticipating its moments of brilliance and its inevitable disappointments.
I like Easy Tiger better then alot of his other work so far. In fact the only thing that I dislike about it so far is that he cannabilized one of his best unreleased songs, "Ms. Lovely", to make "These Girls".
The notion of this being his last "solo" album that has been floating around a bit is a good sign. The idea of him only doing albums as "The Cardnials" is great, the band has definently helped him along. Out of the last four albums only one wasn't very good, the one they weren't on. In fact I haven't heard many complaints about "Cold Roses" or "Jacksonville.." , an album that remains his best work since "Heartbreaker" in my view.
As much as fans complain about Ryans stuff we do all bu the album when it comes out. Probably because we know that even a bad Ryan Adams album is beter then 88% of the other junk out there.
Posted by: Patrickhayes at July 5, 2007 1:43 PMI personally really like this album...it doesn't make me jump for joy, but from top to bottom I feel it is solid. I loved Cold Roses actually, especially disk 2 and it remains my 2nd favorite behind Heartbreaker. I feel that "Two" is going to be a semi-breakout hit for him, as much as a "hit" as he could have I guess...I love that song, nice driving beat and solid instrumentation and what I feel is a great vocal. I'm with Patrick, the Cardinals make him better and this album beats the heck out of most albums that have been/will be released this year. I think if a newcomer had put this album out with all of the history (baggage) that RA has, it would be seen as a breakout album for an up and comer.
Posted by: Waylon at July 5, 2007 2:14 PMBTW, what I meant to say was if an up and comer WITHOUT all of RA's baggage put out an album like this, it would be seen as a breakout...sorry.
Posted by: Waylon at July 5, 2007 2:18 PMJames and I have had the "Ryan and Caitlin" conversation several times. My current thinking is that Ryan is a "broad strokes" kind of guy. He gets the big ideas -- LOTS of big ideas, but he can't polish them, finish them up as well. Whereas Caitlin Cary doesn't have the best ideas for songs, but she's really, really good at taking an almost-finished song and really making it shine. She's a polisher. Her best work has been done with others.
So that explains why Whiskeytown was so damn good -- Ryan got the ideas and Caitlin cleaned em up to a dazzling shine.
Posted by: larry at July 5, 2007 5:50 PMI was a huge fan of Ryan Adams and I'm not going to bash those who still are. "Easy Tiger" continues a musical path I'm not sure I'm going to keep following much longer.
Posted by: Hal at July 5, 2007 8:40 PMI've only had time to give "Easy Tiger" one listen so far -- and I haven't shelved it, so that's a good sign! -- but I've heard lots of "Two" on satellite radio and the like. I'm thinking that might just be the most boring song in the history of the world. Seriously? I think I could use it as a sleep aid. The lyrics are insipid, the melody is monotonous, and, man, it just plods. Hate it!
But so far I think the rest of "Easy Tiger" goes up from there, so I think ol' Ryan's picking himself back up a bit, god bless 'im.
Couldn't agree more about Two. The first time I heard it from a live recording I thought - 'hope that never makes it to an album.' Yeek.
If you're feeling wishy-washy about buying Easy Tiger after previous RA disappointments, you should download one of his recent live shows from archive.org. It's free and 100% legal and the band tours with special equipment to help tapers deliver high quality soundboard recordings. The link to the June 29 2007 show below has excellent acoustic versions of Let It Ride plus other favourites - and nearly all the songs from Easy Tiger minus Halloween Head. You can't lose.
http://www.archive.org/details/radams2007-06-29.sbd.flac
Margaret,
Good call on Archive.org...I've been frequenting that site for a while now and they have a TON of great shows.
As for "ET," I really enjoy it. Part of me wishes it was longer, but the majority of me likes the succinct, "to the point" nature of it. It isn't long just for the sake of it because the songs really don't need it. He finally showed some judicious restraint on this one and I appluad the results.
Posted by: Rage at July 18, 2007 2:36 PMHi, first-time reader. Got here from lonesome music--I liked your name.
I mostly concur with your review of Easy Tiger--I just have a few quibbles. Re Adams' genre-hopping proclivity and prolific output and that "At times he almost seemed to be experimenting just to fan the flames of fan ire," I would like to name a few names: Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison. Artists who unwaveringly follow their muse and make music because they have to are quite rare, and always suffer criticism from even their most ardent supporters. Adams may not yet be in the same league as the above-mentioned, but he is certainly in the same class. That his albums have been somewhat uneven is, for me, part and parcel of what makes him a great artist--clearly he puts out whatever is driving him at the time, and that takes cojones and heart.
One minor point re the comments about Adams with the Cardinals: don't even know if I agree or disagree, but don't forget that the Cardinals lineup has changed and changed again. . .just sayin'. . .
Thanks for the opportunity to comment!
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