Review- Ryan Adams "Ashes and Fire"

So Ryan Adams has a new album out tomorrow. You've been able to listen to it for a while (through NPR, his website, etc) so I figured I'd take the time to give it another full listen through and flush out my thoughts/opinions.

I should point out, for those who don't know- I have been a huge Ryan Adams fan since about my senior year of high school- way back in 2001 when Gold came out. But I can't take credit for discovering it on my own- that goes to my friend Nolan, who shared his music with me and will be joining me at the show in Dec- yay! Figured I should put all my biases out there. Love the music...though I'll admit he can be an asshole a lot.

The first track is called "Dirty Rain" and once you hear it, you'll breathe a sigh of relief. Yes, he's back. Whiskeytown, alt country esque Ryan is finally back. He has been making ok albums, but I'd say his last great album was Cold Roses that he did with the Cardinals back in 2005. Superb double album. This song is very bare bones and allows Ryan to showcase his songwriting abilities. The man has a way with words, sometimes so rich with metaphors and imagery and sometimes so raw and uninhibited with literalness (if that isn't a word, it is now- Update: Dictionary.com says it's a word).

What I've always enjoyed about his good albums were how visual they were. Listen to Heartbreaker and I dare you to convince me you didn't once remember back to a bad breakup. Cold Roses is steeped in images of the South, albeit an idolized South. Gold brings images of everything a road trip should be.

It's overall a much slower and somber album. Mandy Moore and Norah Jones lend some lovely background vocals- and trust me, I was very skeptical of what Mandy Moore would be able to contribute, if anything (listen to "Kindness" and your mind will be changed as well). There are some strings used, but sparingly, which I think works well for him. My beef with string arrangements (and as a former violinist, I love them) is that sometimes the string arrangements can overpower the rest of what's going on, but Adams and producer Glyn Johns took the time to make sure that the string arrangements complimented the song and didn't overtake the rest of the music. The echo on "Do I Wait" just makes it sound so lonely, so isolated, so perfect. Especially once the song picks up in the last minute- combine that echo with some great guitar? Yes, please!

The first single for the album is "Lucky Now" and it's a good introduction to the album- simple arrangement, great production quality and classic Ryan lyricism- "Waiting outside while you find your keys, like bags of trash in the blackening snow..." and it seems like a very self reflective song for him. "And the lights will draw you in, and the dark will take you down, and the night will break your heart...I feel like somebody I don't know, am I really who I was?" And let's face it, after Gold, he's had a lot of lows. So it's nice to see him face some of that through song.

So maybe marriage has grounded him? Or the fact that he is clean again and took 2 years off to recover from some ear disorder? Who knows. All I know is that I'm glad he's back- and hopefully to stay.