The new track "Lucky Now" could be a reference to Ryan Adams' newfound peace alongside Mandy Moore, Mrs. D Man's favorite celebrity wife. Who knows? But one thing is certain: Adams has penned so many great, imminently listenable country rock songs, it is difficult to deny the talent stoked from his creative embers. He releases Ashes & Fire in October, his first proper album since 2007's Easy Tiger. Enjoy.
4 comments:
Very excited for this album in October. Seems that recently Ryan has left behind the quantity over quality strategy for a more focused an cohesive album: Ashes & Fire. I read he feels this is his most focused album in years, recorded with 100% analogue eqipment for the highest possible fidelity. Based on the first two songs released, it sounds like he is back to his roots ,with a mostly acoutstic approach. He is most effective this way. Like many others, I appreciate and love Ryan's playful side, but lets be honest, he is most effective when simplicity rules the day.
Hopefully this is a return to the brilliance of Heartbreaker, Cold Roses, and Gold - but even if it falls short, he is still his generation's best and most prolific songwriter.
I've been meaning to post the following for quite a while now but just haven't found the time.
During a recent jaunt up to NYC (before Irene, thankfully), I picked up a copy of Spin to read on the train from D.C. Most of the issue was a tribute to "Nevermind." What I found most interesting were the brief statements by different artists about what the album meant to them. As I read each one, I couldn't help but reflect on how the album affected me as a youth. I won't say that it was life-changing (because it wasn't), but it did expand my musical horizons, and I'm thankful for that. Anyway, I think that it would serve jcstark well to read that issue (most of it's online) and reassess his position on the whole Cobain-wasn't-cool debate.
That's all for now. Keep up the great posts, D Man.
Hey Desmond - I'm having a little jam session tonight and thought I would respond to your comments. I was in Minneapolis about a month ago, and picked up this very issue of Spin to read on the plane. I'll start by saying it was interesting to read what Nevermind means to people I respect, like Eddie Vedder, Peter Buck, Henry Rollins, Wayne Coyne, and Jeff Tweedy. But I can't seem to understand why comments by Billy Ray Cyrus and Gregg Gillis (Gril Talk) matter here... Oh well, just seemed odd to me. Anyway, its clear that a lot of very talented people think Kurt is pretty cool, and damn talented - I just can't hear it, not to the extent people like Darren can. Thats cool, I'm all about a marketplace of ideas. I just find it odd how much praise is heaped onto this band and album - there was a lot of interesting music going on in the early 90's, Nirvana became mythic not because they sounded like Neil Young for a new generation, but because their somber and shy leader died very early. Maybe its a generational thing, I was 6 when Nevermind was released, so maybe I didnt hear it when it would have been most effective.
Excellent post, Desmond. In Stark the Vinyl Shark's defense, he has a massive void in his music catalog from 1980-1994. However, I give him credit for recent reclamation projects, as he has been spinning The Police, The Talking Heads, and others. Give him some time.
The statement that gives Stark away (because it is so dead wrong): "Nirvana became mythic not because they sounded like Neil Young for a new generation, but because their somber and shy leader died early."
First, Nirvana did not need Cobain's death to catapult their influence into the stratosphere--the band was already there. Clearly, Stark did not live through the seismic shifts in popular music due to Nirvana's dangerous accessibility. They were huge. They were exciting. They were authentic.
Second, forget Neil Young--Nirvana was the Beatles for an entire generation of disaffected (or just plain excitable) kids. The kids never listened to Neil Young, and never will. We should be very clear about the scope of the band's reach.
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