A Buncha CD's from Joe Part One

Michigan people? Is it true? Big Bear is gone?! Discontinued? I was just planning out my 40th birthday party where I was going to import some exotic 40's for the festivities and found out you couldn't buy it anymore! Bummer! My day is ruined! 

Well, maybe I 'll go check ye olde mailbox...A big stack of bills and disconnection notices oughta cheer me up...

 WHAT?! YES!!!  A package of CD's from my old friend, Joe! Score! I haven't got a chance to listen to all of them yet, but I have made it thru most...Here's what was in there...

Ryan Adams III/IV. I looooooved this...I'm a huge fan of the more rocking side of Ryan Adams and a lot of my favorite songs on the legendary Joe Mix Cd's are on here..."Dear Candy" has rocketed to the top of my favorite Ryan Adams tracks since I heard it...This stuff makes me feel so warm and nostalgic even though I've never heard most of it before...Like listening to the radio as a kid and hearing great rock song after great rock song...I had the same visceral reaction towards his 2014 self-titled album, but III/IV feels a lot more contemporary, as opposed to the throwback 80's Tom Petty vibe of self-titled...

Nada Surf: You Know Who You Are. I am and always will be a frothing Guided by Voices addict. I was talking to Joe a few years ago and he hepped me to the fact that none other than Doug Gillard was playing guitar for Nada Surf...I went out and bought "The Stars Are Indifferent to Astronomy" and loved the shit out of it...It probably became one of my most listened to albums that year, as the guitars brought back sweet memories of GBV's "Isolation Drills" and "Speak Kindly of Your Volunteer Fire Department"..."You Know Who You Are" sounds like another good one...On first listen, it seems a little softer and the instrumentation a little more diverse than the standard guitar/drums/bass indie rock lineup, but manoman are there some thumping good pop songs on the second half of this thing...Looking forward to wearing this one out too,..

Red Fang. YES! Just what I needed to prop up the sagging final hour at work...Some stripped down, fuzzy, heavy shit...I'm very happy with the current heavy metal landscape...I talk about this a lot, but for the longest time it seemed metal had become irredeemable...With all the rappers, wrestlers, and cookie monsters that characterized the '95-'09 era it had become nothing but a big joke...I viewed it in the same way I view country and rap..A good artist here and there, but for the most part, a creatively bankrupt genre that really needed to be put to sleep...But then around 2009, there were great new metal records coming out left and right...I'm hoping punk goes through a similar resurgence soon...

Jesse Malin: New York Before the War. I picked up Jesse Malin's "Fine Art of Self Destruction" yeaaars ago and enjoyed his classic singer/songwriting style...A good mix of grit and slick and he continues that style here...There's maybe a bit more straightforward pop and some punk in it, but it's still characterized by a twinkly, latenight vibe...I always like his stuff...

And there are three more CD's in the package! Thank you so much, Joe!  I'll continue this listening session later...

Ryan Adams: Ryan Adams

Ryan Adams: Ryan Adams

2014

Pax Am Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Gimme Something Good  2. Kim  3. Trouble  4. Am I Safe  5. My Wrecking Ball  6. Stay with Me  7. Shadows  8. Feels Like Fire  9. I Just Might  10. Tired of Giving Up  11. Let Go



Man, I hope he doesn't kick me off this blog for saying it, but this album kinda sounds like early Bryan Adams...Think "Run to You" or something from that era...And that cover font looks awfully familiar...



 It also reminds me of various other albums that rootsy artists put out in the 80's...I hear a bit of "Scarecrow" by John Cougar Mellencamp,  80's Springsteen,  some old Tom Petty and a tiny scrap of "Tim" or "Pleased to Meet Me"-era Replacements...Simultaneously sterile and cavernous, yet gravel-throated and heart-rending...Oddly enough, it feels like an 80's throwback album without keyboards on it, which is a very difficult thing to convey when you think about it...

It's also, by far, my favorite Ryan Adams album...And possibly the best album I heard in 2014, which is hard for me to admit, since this was also a year that saw the release of a Stephen Malkmus and two Guided by Voices albums...But goddamn, this record is good...

Remember how those rootsy 80's anthems would be kind of cool until they inevitably reached some corny, overblown  chorus? Well, the simple fix to all that is never let the cool simmering verses come to a complete boil...No cathartic "Na na na's or "Oooo Sha la la's"...This adds an odd air of mystery and endless replay value suggesting a sort of infinite possibility...There are exceptions to this... "Feels Like Fire," finds a repetitive, laid-back, almost Motown-ish drum beat blooming into a knock-out chorus and "Gimme Something Good" would have been a huge hit back in '84...I can't shake the weird feeling that I'm hearing a song I once loved but had somehow totally forgotten about...A deju vu head-rush of a pop-rock single...

And the 80's MOR keeps on coming with "Kim," "Trouble," and "Shadows" that all sound like some playlist from my childhood in some alternate universe...And I'm this close to declaring "I Just Might" as Springsteen's finest Reagan-era release...This is one of those albums that I cannot pick a definite highlight...As every new song come on I find myself repeating, "Oh yea...This one is the best one..."

This is the exact type of album I'd always hoped Ryan Adams would make...I'm drawn to his more "rocking" side than the quieter stuff, but when he put out a full-on rock album with 2003's  "Rock N' Roll" it was a bit hit or miss for me...The songs either knocked my socks off or left me shrugging...Honestly, prior to this, my favorite Ryan Adams album was "Orion," but this lives up to the promise of those handful of stellar tracks that kept me coming back album after album...Holy shit, can we please have some more of this?

 Here's "Gimme Something Good" by Ryan Adams...This is a pretty good video...It kinda looks like the video for Danzig's"Mother"...Plus it has Elvira in it...

Ryan Adams: Rock N Roll

Ryan Adams: Rock N Roll

2003

Lost Highway Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. This Is It  2. Shallow  3. 1974  4. Wish You Were Here  5. So Alive  6. Luminol  7. Burning Photographs  8. She's Lost Total Control  9. Note to Self: Don't Die  10. Rock N Roll  11. Anybody Want to Take Me Home  12. Do Miss America  13. Boys  14. The Drugs Not Working

This is Ryan's attempt at a straightforward rock album, and I think he mostly pulls it off. This album gets pretty mixed reviews, which I think may be attributable to the record getting off to a pretty slow start, before hitting its stride.

"This Is It" is the big bombastic "This Rocks!" intro, not bad but not great either. "Shallow" is a little better, featuring a pretty cool chorus. I can't tell if "1974" is supposed to be a Stooges style "Year" song or if he's just trying to remind everybody of his birthday. "Wish You Were Here," is more of the same.

It isn't until "So Alive" comes on that the record really comes to life. The fire alarm guitars and Ryan's vocals sound like a tea-kettle boiling over. It  really lives up to the album's premise.  It sounds like Ryan Adams yet it rocks just a little bit more.

Oh yea, it also sounds exactly like U2. Whatever, I'm sold.

But I like "Luminol" even more. The laid-back manner in which he sings the song suits him better than the approximation of Kurt Cobain's famous rasping scream he employs on some of the other tracks. This guy can really sell a hook! All these middle tracks work for me!

We hit another bum patch with tracks 9 through 11. "Note to Self: Don't Die" basically crosses the line into Nirvana parody.  The title track is a mumbly piano number, whose sole purpose, as far as I can tell is, irony (The only non rock n roll track on the album is called "Rock N Roll," Get it? Huh?) and "Anybody Wanna Take me Home" is just ...bleah....but the last three tracks are a perfect finish! "The Drugs Not Working" is drop dead awesome! I could complain it goes on a tad too long, but it's an album closer...so I'll cut it some slack.

I recommend giving it a listen...and why not?  Maybe it's not the most substantial music that ever existed, but blasting some poppy rock n roll on the weekend never hurt anyone, and Ryan sounds like he's having fun here. I honestly think he should do some more stuff like this...

My God, 2003 was a long time ago now...it just seems like yesterday I was covering my face in embarrassment at the "Rave" scene in the "Matrix: Reloaded..."

... and rocking out to Ryan Adams' "So Alive." Wait...Should I have been hiding my face in embarrassment that I was rocking out to Ryan Adams? You decide...Below is the video...

Ryan Adams: Gold

Ryan Adams: Gold

2001

Lost Highway Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing:  1. New York, New York  2. Firecracker  3. Answering Bell  4. La Cienega Just Smiled  5. The Rescue Blues  6. Somehow, Someday 7. When the Stars Go Blue  8. Nobody Girl  9. Sylvia Plath  10. Enemy Fire  11. Gonna Make you Love Me  12. Wild Flowers  13. Harder Now That It's Over  14. Touch, Feel and Lose  15. Tina Toledo's Street Walkin' Blues  16. Goodnight, Hollywood Blvd

Wow, I hadn't listened to this in a looong time. I remember me and my old friend (and former band-mate)  Joe used to listen to Ryan Adams a lot.  I bought this somewhere around its release and played it to death back in the day.  I can't recall playing it at all in the last 5 years, so it was fun rediscovering it.

It's a pretty laid back affair. Think of a relaxed, sprawling classic rock record with a somewhat modern, millennial, over-emotive feel.  A good record to pull out when you're in the mood to listen to some Eagles, but then you realize that you can't stand the Eagles.

The uptempo stuff on here is really where it's at. I like "New York, New York," which is a strummy acoustic rocker that references a  bunch of cross streets. God, this guy loves cross streets. Sometimes, he even goes as far to make up his own. "Firecracker" is another winner that follows in much the same mode. "Tina Toledo's Street Walkin' Blues," is pretty much a Stones rip, but a cool one. I don't mind Stones rips as long as they're done well...

The record also has its share of weepy, country-tinged ballads. Here's where things can get a little mixed, for me. Sometimes his ballads can be melodic and moving ("When Stars Go Blue," "La Cienega Just Smiled,") but sometimes some of these long stretches of slower-stuff can  make the album feel like it runs a bit long... But I guess the album should feel a bit long, since it does clock in at 70 minutes. 10 of which belong to "Nobody Girl," which isn't bad at all.  Does it need to be 10 minutes? No, not really... But what's a double album without an overlong guitar workout? A single album, that's what!

All in all, I think this still holds up. A pleasant listen for your afternoon barbecue, or if your Friday Night Record Party needs a good, slick weeper...I know I  usually have  a lot more pictures and singles covers and stuff, but modern records don't really have singles per se...just recommended itunes downloads...and I can't post a picture of a download, dammit!

Well, let's watch a video, then...one of the few thriving artifacts from the days of music's tangibility.... I can recall seeing this video for "New York, New York" shortly after 9-11... As it notes at the start of the video it was shot on September 7th, so the Twin Towers were still intact. It felt a little weird watching this at the time, but now it stands as a pretty cool tribute to the way things were... Long live September 7th!