Ryan Adams

Prolific alt-country rocker Ryan Adams is working with a full band for his first of three releases this year. But unlike the follow-up efforts, Cold Roses is actually the product of a band. All of the songs are credited to multiple songwriters and you can quickly tell these aren’t the solo product of the oft-indulgent Mr. Adams. Where Rock N Roll found him proving (disproving?) that he could be a young hip indie rocker like The Strokes, Cold Roses showcases what he does best -- country rock in the vein of Gram Parsons and Neil Young, mixed with healthy doses of Roy Orbison and Fleetwood Mac. This album is a return to his old Whiskeytown ways. It’s loose and effortless country-rock, but still showcases tight pop songs.

With 18 songs already burning themselves into my subconscious, it’s hard to single out a few as the standouts. But I have to say that “Sweet Illusions” and “Beautiful Sorta” are vying for my favorite right now. The former is a beautifully anachronistic ballad that would’ve played well on the Glen Campbell Show. And the latter could be a lost Replacements gem circa 1985.

Surprisingly, I don’t think he needs an editor this time around. On some of his previous solo efforts, he was often about four tracks beyond a great album. But this time around I wouldn’t have cut any tracks. The album deftly balances the mopey brilliance of his Love is Hell period with his default rootsy-rock sound. Both nine-track discs flow very well; maybe it’s because it isn’t 18 straight tracks. There may not be as many standout pop songs as on his previous albums, but on a whole this may be his most consistent album since the Whiskeytown era. Maybe having a band is a good way to keep his overactive pen and guitar in check?

This album will be a slow burn, but in time this may be the Ryan Adams album that you recommend to your friends (you know...the ones that are actually fully-engaged music lovers). This album doesn’t have a "New York, New York," to bring it a lot of media attention, but it has 18 tracks you can really sink your country-music-craving teeth into. - Doug Kamin

Last time we received a dispatch from Ryan Adams, the self-styled savior of rock & roll, it was in 2003, when he delivered his straight-up rock & roll record (aptly titled Rock N Roll) and his two-part mope-rock EP (later combined as one LP) Love Is Hell. Admirable records both, but not quite the sequel to Heartbreaker that fans craved. They also weren't quite as successful as all the hype surrounding their release suggested that they would be, so Adams briefly retreated from the spotlight to regroup, heading back in 2005 with a planned triptych of new albums, the first of which is the double-album Cold Roses, recorded with his new backing band the Cardinals and released at the beginning of May. Three albums in one year is overkill even for an artist predisposed to releasing his every whim, and while it's too early at this writing to judge whether he needed to release all three of the records, it's safe to say that Cold Roses is the record many fans have been waiting to hear -- a full-fledged, unapologetic return to the country-rock that made his reputation when he led Whiskeytown. Not that the album is a retreat, or a crass attempt to give the people what they want, but it's an assured, comfortable collection of 18 songs that play to Adams' strengths because they capture him not trying quite so hard. He settles into a warm, burnished, countryish groove not far removed from vintage Harvest-era Neil Young at the beginning and keeps it going over the course of a double-disc set that isn't all that long. With the first disc clocking in at 39:39 and the second at 36:29, this could easily have been released as a single-disc set, but splitting it into two and packaging it as a mock-gatefold LP is classic Ryan Adams, highlighting both his flair for rock classicism and his tendency to come across slightly affected. As always, he's so obsessive about fitting into classic rock's long lineage that he can be slightly embarrassing -- particularly on the intro to "Beautiful Sorta," which apes David Johansen's intro to the New York Dolls' "Looking for a Kiss" in a way that guarantees a cringe -- which is also a problem when he drifts toward lazy, profanity-riddled lyrics ("this sh*t just f*cks you up" on "Cherry Lane") that undercut a generally strong set of writing. But what makes Cold Roses a success, his first genuine one since Heartbreaker, is that it is a genuine band album, with the Cardinals not only getting co-writing credits but helping Adams relax and let the music flow naturally. It's not the sound of somebody striving to save rock & roll, or even to be important, but that's precisely why this is the easiest Ryan Adams to enjoy. The coming months with their coming LPs will reveal whether this is indeed a shift in his point of view, or just a brief break from his trademark blustering braggadocio. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi