Ryan Adams & the Cardinals

VMGACg

I have been listening to this guy a lot lately. Man, can he write a beautiful song. I wanted to know who else is a fan and what is their fav stuff by him. I was saddened to learn about his last tour causing him to lose hearing. Anyone know anything else about that?

catefrances

i am a ryan fan. in my eyes he can do no wrong. i totally love his cover of wonderwall. stand out songs for me are i see monsters, sylvia plath, come pick me up, damn sam, AMY, my winding wheel, easy plateau. ah crap there's just too many to name and not enough room.

Cropduster84

Shadowlands, How Do You Keep Love Alive, Nightbirds........'nuff said.

such a great songwriter......

itsevobaby

im loving the live studio version of dear john on the follow the lights ep

Byrnzie

I like him, but I've also nicknamed him Mr Derivative. Seriously, every fucking song sounds like something else.

I prefer listening to his drinking buddy Jesse Malin. More original, more interesting , and more rockin'.

transplant

I am firmly in the 'he can do no wrong' camp as well. I mean seriously, listen to How Do You Keep Love Alive. I get chills typing that.

PJGARDEN

I love Ryan Adams. The new EP Follow the Lights is great. Love is Hell is probably my favorite album of his.

smithnic

The guys written like 200+ songs, so there is no way you can like everyone of them. to me he's a very manic-depressive in that his good stuff is freaking fantastic, but his bad stuff is absolutely horrible!!
That said, see him live! He's great if for nothing more than his seemingly manic-depressive view of the audience.

thunderDAN

I really like Ryan too! My favorite album of his is Love is Hell- the complete one. I like it because it's really different. I also think Gold is really good too. My fav. songs are la cienega just smiled, Shadowlands, Harder Now that it's Over, and Mockingbirdsing

I haven't listened to him since Cold Roses. I have Cold Roses and some of my favorite songs of his are on there (Mockingbirdsing for one), but it was also the only album I listened to during a time in my life when I really really really down. So anytime I hear a song off it, or anything else he has done with the Cardinals in the studio it takes me right back there for some reason. It really sucks ass, but I guess music can bring you up and music can bring you down sometimes.


here is a good site for bootlegs. Most of them are audience recordings, but some of them are pretty good.

http://www.archive.org/audio/etreelisting-browse.php?collection=etree&cat=Ryan%20Adams

gtrplyr

I absolutely adore Ryan Adams. The Cardinals are his best backing band to date.

I can honestly say I enjoy 90% of his catalog quite a bit. The guy throws away songs that other bands would kill for. He writes like a maniac and I love his voice.

I met him a few months ago and gave him a CD that I told him would melt his face. He appreciated the fact that I wasn't fawning all over him like all the girls were. He's got his issues with drugs/alcohol but when it comes down to it, he's a genius. I hope he is able to keep it up for a LONG time. I'll never miss another show of his.

gtrplyr

Also,

He has a song called "Dear Anne" that he wrote about Anne Frank that is simply stunning. He said he won't release it on a record.

You can find it on his Sweden sessions bootleg and a live show in Sweden...one of my favorite songs of his.

intodeep

I'm a big fan. I just started getting into his stuff over the past 6 months.

Fav albums are
Love is Hell Part 1
cold roses
easy tiger
heartbreaker
gold

They all have good songs. Pnemonia from his whiskeytown days is also very good.

I must ask if you have been listening ot a lot of ryan adams lately i hope you are not thinking about commiting suicde?

His songs can be damn depresssing

thunderDAN

intodeep wrote:

I'm a big fan. I just started getting into his stuff over the past 6 months.

Fav albums are
Love is Hell Part 1
cold roses
easy tiger
heartbreaker
gold

They all have good songs. Pnemonia from his whiskeytown days is also very good.

I must ask if you have been listening ot a lot of ryan adams lately i hope you are not thinking about commiting suicde?

His songs can be damn depresssing

that is what I'm saying! They are very enjoyable but they make you think it's a good idea to feel that way all the time. Like most bands have some sad songs...every one of Ryan's is basically sad

edpearson

thunderDAN wrote:

here is a good site for bootlegs. Most of them are audience recordings, but some of them are pretty good.

http://www.archive.org/audio/etreelisting-browse.php?collection=etree&cat=Ryan%20Adams

I'm a huge fan, too. I am also in the "can't do no wrong" camp. I don't think you can go wrong with any album, but the ones that I don't particularly care about are:

29 (way too depressing)
Rock and Roll (although there's some classics on this album, too)

The rest of the albums are brilliant. Love is Hell (pt. 1 and pt. 2) is my overall favorite and his latest full release "Easy Tiger" is probably my 2nd fav. Go see him live, especially if you're into face-melting jams like the Grateful Dead used to do. Also, his between songs antics are worth the price of admission. You never know what he's going to do or what kind of mood he's in. Someone mentioned his cover of Oasis' "Wonderwall" earlier in this post. I saw him perform this song live this past January and it was 1000-times better live. A very chilling version he does!

As for bootlegs (which is why I quoted the above poster), forget Archive.org and go to his forum site: http://www.ryanadamsarchive.com/torrents.php

Pretty good community there, but nowhere near as good as this one (good brown-noser, ain't I?). Pretty much every show that's available can be found there -- in FLAC format, too! But you need to be familiar with torrents.

edpearson

gtrplyr wrote:

I absolutely adore Ryan Adams. The Cardinals are his best backing band to date.

I can honestly say I enjoy 90% of his catalog quite a bit. The guy throws away songs that other bands would kill for. He writes like a maniac and I love his voice.

I met him a few months ago and gave him a CD that I told him would melt his face. He appreciated the fact that I wasn't fawning all over him like all the girls were. He's got his issues with drugs/alcohol but when it comes down to it, he's a genius. I hope he is able to keep it up for a LONG time. I'll never miss another show of his.

gtrplyr, are you on the Ryan Adams forum, too? That story about giving him some "face-melters" on a CD before/after a show was posted on that forum during the Winter tour he did recently. Was that you?

fragileblake

You HAVE to see him live. Especially electric.

gtrplyr

edpearson wrote:

gtrplyr, are you on the Ryan Adams forum, too? That story about giving him some "face-melters" on a CD before/after a show was posted on that forum during the Winter tour he did recently. Was that you?

Yep. Unfortunately, I have since been banned for arguing with a mod.

what - ever.

soclose

Maybe I'm crazy, but I find that I listen to Whiskeytown more than any of Ryan's solo/Cardinals albums nowadays. Unfortunately I haven't thought much of the last couple releases.

From May until October of 2005 I listened to little other than Ryan (though I'd been a super casual fan since I first heard Gold in 2001). I then decided I had to get into a couple of the other major "alt-country" bands (and fill up a new iPod). I started listening to Son Volt, Uncle Tupelo, et al and suddenly I wasn't all that impressed by Ryan any longer. I hate to draw those comparisons . . . but it's that's been my experience.

I still like him a lot though. I look forward to a new release and the chance to fall in love with him all over again.:)

corduroid

I'm a musician and heard a lot about Ryan Adams last year.

Grabbed a bootleg from a then-current show (7.07 Louisville KY) and it is very beautiful, well-played stuff. Really nice. Twenty six songs over 2.7 hours, a crack band, and some quite moving lyrics/passages.

Well worth checking out.

intodeep

soclose wrote:

Maybe I'm crazy, but I find that I listen to Whiskeytown more than any of Ryan's solo/Cardinals albums nowadays. Unfortunately I haven't thought much of the last couple releases.

From May until October of 2005 I listened to little other than Ryan (though I'd been a super casual fan since I first heard Gold in 2001). I then decided I had to get into a couple of the other major "alt-country" bands (and fill up a new iPod). I started listening to Son Volt, Uncle Tupelo, et al and suddenly I wasn't all that impressed by Ryan any longer. I hate to draw those comparisons . . . but it's that's been my experience.

I still like him a lot though. I look forward to a new release and the chance to fall in love with him all over again.:)

I dig both son volt and uncle tupelo a lot too. Ever get into the Jayhawks?

UKDave

The phrase musical genius should seldom be used but Ryan most definitely is, with and without the Cardinals, quite stunning music....

soclose

intodeep wrote:

I dig both son volt and uncle tupelo a lot too. Ever get into the Jayhawks?

LOVE the Jayhawks! And Golden Smog too.

Really, anyone who likes Ryan should check out the above bands. I know "alt-country" is just another stupid sub-genre, but so many of the bands that get thrown into that category make/made absolutely gorgeous, honest music. Ryan's done a nice job with the whole country/folk/rock thing, but the other guys deserve just as much (if not more) attention.

allornone

His songs are good, but I have to disagree with the others who insist on seeing him live. He was awful in St. Louis last year. His set was barely over an hour and had no opening band. Granted, it's the only time I have seen him live, and probably will be the last. That show left such a bad taste in my mouth, so personally I wouldn't label him a "musical genius".

blonde redhead

if you're lucky to catch him on a good night, he's good, if not, he's horrible...

i love "everybody knows" on easy tiger

Tek Money

I think he is an asshole. But, a genius. His music is beautiful, but he has a horrible personality. But, I don't care. I don't listen to him because I like him as a person. I listen to him because he is just incredible.

I saw him last September and he played over two hours. It was sexy. I would see him again, and I would love it (even if he throws a fit).

catefrances

Tek Money wrote:

I think he is an asshole. But, a genius. His music is beautiful, but he has a horrible personality. But, I don't care. I don't listen to him because I like him as a person. I listen to him because he is just incredible.

I saw him last September and he played over two hours. It was sexy. I would see him again, and I would love it (even if he throws a fit).

you know im glad ryan doesnt feel the need to be nice all the time. and yeah i couldnt care less if he is an asrehole cuase its all about the music as far as im concerned. last time i saw him, the crowd were being dumbarses and he yelled at us. made me smile.

gtrplyr

allornone wrote:

His songs are good, but I have to disagree with the others who insist on seeing him live. He was awful in St. Louis last year. His set was barely over an hour and had no opening band. Granted, it's the only time I have seen him live, and probably will be the last. That show left such a bad taste in my mouth, so personally I wouldn't label him a "musical genius".

being a "musical genius" doesn't really have anything to do with live performances, does it?

I've seen him 8 times I think. Severl times electric, once acoustic, and twice solo.

All the electric shows ave been phenominal 2+ hr face melters.

Once solo was at a benefit show so he only got 30 mins or so.

The other solo time, he was so stoned he forgot how to play his own songs...after 45 mins and only hearing 3 songs...it went from funny to sad...he was self destructing right in front of us.

Then I saw him with his band acoustic and they elft after 1hr...he was in a bad mood.

Since he's been clean, he's really been stepping it up and putting on some fantastic shows.

He reminds me of Morrissey...will walk off at the drop of a hat but when he's in a good mood, its great.

All the greats had attitudes...i think it comes with the territory.

catefrances

gtrplyr wrote:

He reminds me of Morrissey...will walk off at the drop of a hat but when he's in a good mood, its great.

i think being compared to morrissey would make him smile.

Tek Money

catefrances wrote:

you know im glad ryan doesnt feel the need to be nice all the time. and yeah i couldnt care less if he is an asrehole cuase its all about the music as far as im concerned. last time i saw him, the crowd were being dumbarses and he yelled at us. made me smile.

Exactly. I like honesty.

libragirl

I love Ryan Adams. I have been listening to Cold Roses a lot lately. I think Gold and Love is Hell are my favorite albums of his along with cold roses