Ryan's new album is available for listening in full here. So glad to have him back. He's gone back to his old style, at least that's what it sounds like. It's not as good as his first [solo] album Heartbreaker, but it's definitely a very solid effort and it sounds like a grower. So far my favorite track is album opener 'Dirty Rain', but that could change by the minute seeing everything is still so fresh..

 

Oh yeah, Norah Jones features on a few tracks as a backing vocal. Pretty weird collab, was my first thought, but at least it works!

I used to be a big Ryan Adams fan but eventually his constant run of below par albums wore me down. The last one I truly enjoyed was 29 and even that only got a few spins. His Rock N Roll album was the beginning of the end, I went to see him live and he was awful, completely pissed/high and was barely audible and managed to forget how about seven of the songs went.

 

If the new one is a return to the sounds of Heartbreaker and Gold then I may take a listen but I don't hold out much hope for him these days.

I still love 'Gold'

 

Must listen to this.

His first albums are definitely better than his post Cold Roses releases but I would dare to say this is at least a big step in the good direction. I wouldn't say Rock N Roll was the beginning of the end, personally I think Cold Roses and Love Is Hell are absolutely stunning. I haven't listened to 29 [yet] but for me Easy Tiger (the follow-up) is the lowpoint of his career.

 

I never saw him live (although he is on my ever-growing list) but I think he's off drugs now :lol:. What year did you see him?

It must have been about 2003ish - it was on the Rock n Roll tour.

 

Actually, I did enjoy the Love Is Hell albums but I always associate them with being before Rock n Roll for some reason, probably because they're more akin to Gold musically. I wasn't so fond of Cold Roses, it was okay but seemed like a paler version of previous glories to me. I agree that Easy Tiger was terrible, that was the last album of his I bought I think - 9 albums in 8 years was a bit too much, he needed someone to help with the quality control by the end of that period.

I saw Easy Tiger in a record store and it was 6 euros, but the shopkeeper said "don't buy it" :lol:

Hahaha, money well.. not spent I must say.

 

he needed someone to help with the quality control by the end of that period.

 

True, I don't think ''The Cardinals'' did much good to him tbh.

Edited September 26, 201113 yr by Atonement

Album released today in the Netherlands and to my absolute surprise it's #1 in the Dutch iTunes :huh:

What's going on??

Can't believe it but entered the Dutch album top100 today at #2!!

His highest peaking album in the Netherlands before this one was Easy Tiger at #37. Surprised to see this being such a succes.

I don't get it..It's selling loads everywhere.. In the UK, in the US... What's going on?

I know he did promotion on a very popular Dutch show (which gets about a million viewers per show - with a market share of around 20%), but artists only get to sing for 1 minute on there so I didn't think he would gain that much attention (obviously he made an impression though).

 

I've noticed a general increased interested for alot of (altnerative) country/folk/roots etc. artists this year. Emmylou Harris had her highest charting album since her 1977 Luxury Liner (in the Netherlands AND US). Gillian Welch had surprising succes as well in the Netherlands, UK and the US even though her first 4 albums didn't do alot (if ANYTHING) in the charts. Lucinda Williams' last albums all had a reasonable same-y chart succes and Steve Earle's new album was his highest charting so far in the UK and one of his biggest in the US (only to be surpassed by his 2009 album there).

There could be more artists that I'm forgetting about as well, but just looking at this these working artists are finally getting some much deserved attention.

Hmm I think it's more of a solid fanbase which leads to decent first week sales -> pretty high chart position.

 

But, then again Dolly Parton for example had her first top ten studio album in the UK and it's sold quite well actually.