19. 1989 / Ryan Adams

There is no irony in Ryan Adams' faithful reinterpretation of Taylor Swift's world-beating collection of pop songs from 1989.  It is clear that Adams admires the strength of the source material.  In response to Swift's tweeted wonderment about news of the project, he replied: Just finished Style.  Badass tunes, Taylor.  We're sandblasting them and they're holding steady.  Though some have winced at the seemingly too-cute play for attention, Adams' sure-handed feel for a great hook or a little songwriting moment makes the pairing too obvious in hindsight.  His keen grasp of almost every guitar-based styling - from power-pop to folk-rock to balladeering - suits Swift's material just fine.

1989 is not a poetic deconstruction in the vein of Mark Kozelek's AC/DC or Modest Mouse albums. Rather than completely reimagine (and sometimes surpass) the source material, Adams stays true to 1989's original intent, keeping the melodies largely intact while playing with tempo, texture, and tone.  That said, Adams cannot help but run the tracks through his wistful, past-the-heartbreak prism, long practiced over the course of more than a dozen solo albums.  Where Swift's renditions capture the fleeting climax of youthful exuberance, Adams' takes evoke a self-aware melancholy--things may not have worked out but it was worth trying.

Most listeners wanted to hear what he would do with the huge singles.  "Blank Space" is a soft-picked torch song, slowed down and sung in Adams' plaintive register as gentle strings and keyboards arrive and the whole thing simmers into a sad-eyed folk ballad.  "Style" is an 80's rock stomper, where Adams apes his Replacements influence and goes straight for broke, loose change rattling after too many drinks at the arcade, resulting in a solid but by no means perfect attempt at reaching the original's neon pop glow.  "Shake It Off" is a pensive, late-night affair.  The sticks hit the kit and the keyboards chime in, but there is never a release like the original.  Everything is pent up and frustrated, belying the song's supposedly feel-good, move-on mantra.  "Bad Blood" is the best cover of the big hits, a mid-tempo rocker that shows Adams at his sturdy best.

The real treats are the deeper cuts, if you can even call any track on 1989 such a thing.  "Welcome to New York" opens the album with glistening guitar pop, throbbing with energy and hope and a chance that everything may come together.  "Out of the Woods" could have easily fit on Ashes & Fire, a straightforward, folk-tinged plea for hanging on just a little longer, as it builds to a lovely stretch of violins, keyboards, and guitar strums.  "All You Had To Do Was Stay" is my favorite track on the record, probably because it is the precise intersection between Swift's buoyant electro-pop and Adams' unfussed guitar rock.