Look at Ryan. He’s all wiped out from just recording some excellent alternate renditions of songs from Easy Tiger back in March. These performances were videotaped in front of a curtain of white lights and some of them were released on a bonus DVD. Now, thanks to the magic of audio-ripping, you can listen to them on your iPod even if it’s not a fancy video one.
These tunes are my salute to Mr. Adams as we both head towards California in the coming days. He’s been kind enough to arrange a roll through the SF Bay Area during the same time I’ll be there for my cousin’s wedding, and he is going to rock me in several different cities. I am looking forward to it, wahoo! I’ll take 62% less ramble/38% more music this time aroundpor favor.
And since we’re talking about alternate versions of things, this performance was taped on Letterman, but they aired “Two” instead (which was also lovely and caused me to go to bed singing that melody):
Eric said it best about halfway through the 80+ responses to the question, “What’s your favorite Ryan Adams lyric?” when he wrote: “You know, no matter who wins, I’m tickled by these responses, as I’m sure Heather is, too.”
Reading these responses was just fantastic for me — kinda like my favorite hypothetical situation which has not yet occured for me in real life: a bunch of us all sitting in a bar together, each taking a turn to share our favorite lyric and our reasons. Your entries made me spend the last, sheesh, two hours listening to Ryan Adams with a depth I haven’t done in far too long. Thank you for taking the time to share if you did.
Many of my favorite RA lyrics were represented in the contest entries, from Elizabeth, You Were Born To Play That Part (the whole song pretty much slays me), the line from Hard Way To Fall, “I could find her in a thunderstorm by the way that the rain would fall” that always gives me chills, the lyric from Oh My Sweet Carolina where he bitingly notes that “sunset’s just my lightbulb burning out…”
Then there was mjs who compared a line from My Winding Wheel to a favorite poem around these parts, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. Jozef gave me ten sets of lyrics (including that excellent one from Halloween that always makes me smile a secret half-smile: “and the secrets that she’s keeping, they are really only dangerous to her“) and Stefan submitted a poem he wrote in NYC while listening to Ryan. There are stories of moving and missing, doubt and lust and drinking in a darkened room.
Several of you quoted the debated line that people either seem to hate or love (I love): “I would’ve held your mother’s hand on the day you was born” (from How Do You Keep Love Alive), and the perfect small Dear Chicago got a few deserved nominations (I always ache at the offhand way he tosses off the line “I been thinkin’ some of suicide…). Nathan‘s a sucker for girls who can sing and play the guitar (a common lament).
Jimmy Diggs quoted the fab unreleased Monday Night, and the best part was the way he wrote it out:
All I want is to roll through your fingers All I need is to make it alright All I want is to be your connection Win your affection, be your reflection On a Monday Ni-hi-yi-hi-yight On a Monday Ni-hi-yi-hi-yight
If you’ve heard the song . . . that’s funny.
But this entry was the first I thought should win, and I’m gonna stick with that (impossible as this decision was!). Steve emailed this to me, and I related exactly with what he had to say and his explanation of how twisted and backwards Ryan’s head is in these lines. I’ve been there too. So congrats Steve, who wins the lithograph and a copy of Easy Tiger with this:
La Cienega Just Smiled I hold you close in the back of my mind And raise my glass cause either way I’m dead Neither of you really help me to sleep anymore One breaks my body and the other breaks my soul
From reading your blog, I get the feeling that you’re a lot like me in the sense that we’re both generally happy people. Things have gone well in my life and different forms of success have come pretty easily – what I’m trying to say is that I don’t have much to complain about. Yet when it comes to pop music, I find myself being drawn in by the slow and contemplative songs where singers are depressed and at a loss in their life – the sadder the song, the better.
I want to be that character in the song who is at a bar by himself and walking the streets thinking about what could have been. I want to have the love of my life leave me and move away to Paris. I want to be sick and tired of my family and friends and sit alone in my apartment with the lights off looking down at the street I live on. I want to be Rob from High Fidelity (I really don’t want any of these things and that’s why it’s perfect that I can use sad songs and get that feeling for 3 or 4 minutes at a time).
This brings me to La Cienega Just Smiled and the lines written above . . . they just kill me. In four lines he pays a tribute to the girl he loves, and to his other vice, and then shatters them both and perfectly describes how they’re terrible choices for him. He uses the line “I hold you close in the back of my mind” throughout the song and it’s a haunting line. She is constantly there inside of him and he can’t escape her but it’s as if he needs that part of him to always be there or else he loses her forever. It’s a lose-lose situation because if he doesn’t keep her inside of him, then she will no longer exist yet it’s breaking his “soul”. The alcohol, on the other hand, is something that can presently help him and he might as well drink himself into oblivion because he doesn’t have the girl that he needs (either way he’s dead, broken heart or alcoholism). And not only are both the girl and the alcohol unable to help him sleep, one is breaking him down mentally and other is breaking him down physically.
I just love the image of Ryan at home in some NYC apartment at night drinking (not anymore!) a scotch while he’s thinking about his lost love and coming up with these lyrics. Like I said, I always think I want to be living this sort of life so I can be creative and write like this but I am perfectly content just living vicariously through the songs I love.
La Cienega Just Smiled – Ryan Adams fantastic live electric version from Brixton Academy in 2001, listen at 3:37 for the best portion of the song.
And Steve’s entry is really just a longer version of what Brandon said succinctly: “women and booze. my man got it right.” —————————————————————————- Oh and finally, a really close runner-up was Cara (love this gal):
wow, what a bunch of romantics. obviously the best lyrics come from “…Look who got a website“
my favorite: “Kevin Bacon Makin Waterworld 3 They ain’t even made 2 yet Yo that was Costner partner”
And here’s the second contest of today, this one to celebrate the official release of Ryan Adams‘ ninth studio album Easy Tiger (out today on Lost Highway):
That snarly, wild piece of wall art is a limited edition Ryan Adams lithograph, hand-numbered out of 100, that I have to give away. It would fit nicely if you live in Alaska, or maybe have one of those urban-wolf decoration schemes. It also showcases (assumedly) Ryan’s hand quite nicely, and . . . it’s cool.
The contest also includes a copy of the Easy Tiger album, which I have been enjoying quite often these last few weeks. Although it has not risen to “absolute gem” status for me yet, I definitely think that it is a familiar step into a very good direction for Ryan. There is, as you have likely read in any of a dozen other reviews, a greater focus from Ryan here and a tighter feel to the album.
It is still Ryan, though, so it wanders some (though not unpleasantly) and feels a little bit jarring to me in places. But all nine of his albums have always varied wildly in their style and mood from one to the next. From burnished alt-country, to gorgeously sad rock ballads, to humid Southern jams, to squealing punk, Ryan doesn’t stay the same and I do appreciate that creativity. I hope Easy Tiger does very good things for him; combined with a newfound sobriety, I also hope that he delivers a string of focused live shows to reinforce that talent and convert a new round of folks to his musically-winning ways.
TO WIN THE PACKAGE: Since I’ve been in a pensive lyric mood lately, I would like to discuss your favorite lyric ever penned by Mr. Ryan Adams. I will pick a winner this weekend, make sure to give me a way to contact you.
RYAN ADAMS TOUR DATES June 26 – New York, NY – Hiro Ballroom 28 – Philadelphia, PA – The Fillmore 29 – Boston, MA – Somerville Theater
July 10 – Charlottesville, VA – Paramount Theatre 11 – Louisville, KY – Brown Theatre 12 – Germantown, TN – Germantown Performing Arts Center 14 – Austin, TX – Paramount Theatre 19 – Los Angeles, CA – Wilshire Ebell 21 – Santa Cruz, CA – Catalyst 23 – San Francisco, CA – Herbst Theatre 24 – Berkeley, CA – Berkeley Community Theater 26 – Portland, OR – Aladdin Theatre 27 – Seattle, WA – Moore Theatre 28 – Vancouver, BC – Orpheum Theatre 31 – Salt Lake City, UT – Red Butte Garden
August 2 – Boulder, CO – Fox Theatre (AAA Records & Radio conf) 3 – Morrison, CO – Red Rocks Amphitheatre
Earlier today at the noontime hour, lucky denizens of the city of brotherly love got a treat from Ryan Adamsand the Cardinals, sounding fantastic and amiable on NPR’s World Cafe. From a friend who was there, the report comes in that “Ryan had on a suit and tie and black sunglasses the whole time, a very John Cusack look.” He also is still not playing guitar due to a torn ligament — but definitely not as bad as that broken wrist from falling off the stage in Liverpool. Check out this fine little setlist, and for those of you who have heard Easy Tiger — whaddaya think? The album is out June 26th from Lost Highway.
And in related news (via . . . the fact that they’re pals, and last time I saw them in concert it was together) – who else is in for Jesse Malin tonight at the Bluebird? He’s playing with Acute, who I featured on a previous Monday Music Roundup, and it should be a good show. I keep thinking of this; I’m excited.
Matt writes some background on the song: “this song was tracked all at once, live… and this was the 3rd or 4th pass through. i vividly remember looking out into the tracking room while i was singing this, and seeing everyone completely in it. hunched over their instruments, eyes closed…entrenched in the words and the motion of the song. riding it like a wave. just absolutely KILLING it!… i hadn’t really experienced that kind of connection, that kind of communication, in the studio before… 6 people working like one. and the yearning and the desperation of the lyric totally came through them. through us…”
The deeply good new album Some Mad Hope will be out August 14th on Vanguard Records.
Ûž Finally, just one album a year for Ryan Adams is never enough (even though that’s A-OK with me). Lost Highway announced yesterday that there is a chance they will put out a Ryan Adams box set, with unreleased materials from the 48 Hours and Suicide Handbook “albums,” live songs from the Bedheads, and cuts from the Easy Tiger sessions.
If you preorder the (very strong) Easy Tiger album now, you get a bonus CD containing a live version of the song “These Girls,” which I got to hear on the album the other day. The most exciting news for me is that the song These Girls is actually a re-working of forgotten cast-off tune “Hey There Mrs. Lovely” from the ’99/2000 era, a song that I have long adored. The lyrics are different, and I am not sure if I like them as much as the original, but it is still a great-sounding song. The first 100 preorders also get a signed 7″:
Moderate apologies for the punny picture (I couldn’t resist), but I nearly fell out of my chair the other night when I read reports that Ryan Adams had spiced up his Kingston, NY set with an acoustic cover of Alice in Chains‘ “Down In A Hole.” AIC? No one covers AIC, but they had a proprietary chunk of my musical heart back in 1993 when I first started to get into, shall we say, decent music. Before AIC and Pearl Jam I was trapped in a world of oldies (which actually comes in handy now, since I can sing along with most any tune on the AM radio), Bel Biv Devoe, and Petra.
In any case, Alice in Chains has aged moderately well for me and they’ve certainly got some evocative lyrics and construction behind even their heaviest scream-tastic stuff, more readily apparent in their duo of fantastic EPs, SAP and Jar of Flies.
Don’t Follow – Alice in Chains (from Jar of Flies)
AND – these just hit my inbox, so I’ll throw ‘em on here too: Two new tracks from Easy Tiger, coming out June 26th. It’s nice to hear a non-radio-rip of Two, and Everybody Knows is growing on me in a big way:
Ryan Adams‘ celebrity playlist hit the UK iTunes earlier this week. Whether he meant this list in seriousness or jest (?) I’ll say it again, I love this man — even if he listens to Linkin Park, I guess.
In related news, I think I will be seeing Ryan again at a new festival goin’ on at Red Rocks on August 3rd (with –check this lineup– Lucinda Williams, Old ’97s, Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter, and Denver superstars DeVotchKa). Tickets onsale Saturday. Not a bad way to be introduced to Red Rocks – it’ll be my first time at the hallowed grounds.
Who’s in with me?
***************** RYAN ADAMS: CELEBRITY PLAYLIST
Lost One – Jay Z This is my favorite song (yes, song) of the year, maybe of all time. I listen to this every day when I leave home and hit the streets of the Big A – Manhattan representing or something . . .
Do You Believe In Rapture? – Sonic Youth This is a band that will apparently never suck, and will have changed your life no matter what kind of music you listen to. This is some lovemaking music or go crazy music. Either way. Both.
“Hip Hop Is Dead” – Nas Although I strongly disagree with the message of this song – because it’s awesome – which would mean it – being hip hop – only suffered minor injuries. Mainly people not unlike myself having access to breakbeats. Ah, snap.
“Kingdom Come”- Jay Z Man, this song made me almost get my license. I’m not lying. I started talking about it and everything because I wanted to jam this song in a car. People hate it when you jam songs in THEIR car too loud. So if he continues, I need a car and you people need to build a freeway in the forest for me where I cannot cause harm to others. I would press all the knobs in the car and mess with the seat and never get to the jam. Jay-Z is probably, in my opinion, the first person who should be allowed to perform in outer space and that is saying a lot.
“How To Save A Life” – The Fray This is perfect songwriting and anybody that says otherwise is a jerk. Amazing hair-raising stuff. I would write songs like this if I had an attention span, but they would have more wizards, problems, and space references, etc . . .
“I Can’t Make You Love Me” – Bonnie Raitt Instant tears. Flawless. And a sick guitarist to boot who, I have to say, sorry, but is hotter than Martian asphalt.
“Don’t Stop Believin’” – Journey Don’t worry Journey. Nobody will stop. Although Sartre would stop. Because it’s all, you know, nothing.
“Numb” – Linkin Park Amazing band, nice folks, kick-ass music. Everyone steals from them and they don’t care. They still do it like it was yesterday and yesterday was tomorrow. Times five.
“Is It Any Wonder?” – Keane This song really shook me to the core when I first heard it. I felt like the words were so on time and that the melody and meaning reminded me of that pain a person can feel right before it all goes up in smoke. Very beautiful and scary.
“Over the Mountain” – Ozzy Osbourne I once listened to this album six times in a row in one evening. Alone. It was fucking great. The album, I mean.
Enjoy an (unverified) recent post from Ryan to his dot-com-motherf-ers the Ryan Adams Archive. It certainly sounds like Ryan to me — he writes about their time in the studio, the new album Easy Tiger, a fancy website under development with the witches, and a fall tour.
There’s also some discussion of ninja stars, “wizards lightning and lazers,” and Pitchfork. I love this man.
UPDATE FROM RYAN hows yr summer? early days here in Gotham. just checking in to say hello and pass along some info to you nice folks. Gotta say that the new tunes are feelin real sweeeeet at rehearsal. We (the cardinals) have worked up an entirely new set list of never before heard tunes (with the new ET tunes) for our new set up, which is more or less based on the GD “reckoning” set up- (me and neal on acoustics- JG on a single steel, B on his awesome new compact drum kit percussion thing (its actually the size of a small boat considering he is 7 ft 16) SWolf on the hollybody and our friend producer and sepcialist Jamie on piano (really great vibe having Jamie rocking that with us- totally awesome having him in the fold). Jamie likes italian food and his turn on’s are sky-diving, undersea exploration and map collecting. he is an aquarius with some capricorn and virgo on his brother randy’s side. Jon Graboff is to elitist to eat food at the street carnival near practice but whatever, the Dunkin Donuts there is sketchy and maybe poisoned my drink because i was too “over-excited” about going, so i stopped going. wha? jamie also poisons my stuff. (jerks) The fall tour should be a blast when that gets going what with all the tunes we will know due to learning to be almost two bands with two song lists that ore or less never borrow from each other. maybe we will open for ourselves. gross. And also, considering the promo stuff done for ET will be more or less at the time it comes out, i’ll let you in on a few things here. S Crow sang on “Two”, yes and how awesome, i am a huge fan of her tunes and boy can she rock a bass, but it is not a duet. she sings w neal and i on the chorus. its all laid back and v three voices at once vibe. not that i wouldn’t sing a tune with her like that given the opportunity. i have always been lucky enough to be asked to jam with her when im around and shes kicking it live. also, Picknosemedia listed “these girls” as “three girls” but the song is actually called “14 girls and Randys trans am” Randy wrote it.
ALSO, we are building a new Cardinals site that i am v excited about. it will take a little bit of time to launch it as it will be the hub of info, tour dates, some streaming vids and audio of band related stuff and really the place to go for updated info thsi year (imagine that). of course the RA spaceship will always be out there for the nuts, and right now its all gone a bit HAL and the pod bay doors wont open. prob for the best. but soon enough more madness there. so, for now, you should be seeing the cardinals and myself doin our mellow vibe with a rock gig here and there full amped. we have been callin the mellow set up BLUE SABBATH for lack of a better name, but come fall its THE CARDINALS> plenty to be done between then and now. THE FALL TOUR IS the ROCK. so its no lack of amount of things to do or appearances that prevent a summer tour, but lets just say, in order to do the tour that is unlike any tour before with well more badass set up wizards lightning and lazers a few things need to be built. i am really looking forward to full integration of the cards vibe in the fall with a full on badass streamlined new show.
HAVE A COOL SUMMER AND KEEP ON THE LOOK OUT FOR SOME SPECIAL NINJA IN THE DARKNESS GIGS. throwing stars are just metal pizzas when yr sleepy. RY
p.s. we learned “how the god’s kill” by danzig acoustic. remind somebody to play that one if yr passin thru planet cardinal and happy 21s ferris. THE CARDINALS- ” NUMBER ONE PROFESSIONALSIM IS OUR MIDDLE NAME”"randy” tyra-mail also be sure and check out 20/20 this winter. for those of you who think you have the finished 48 and S HNBK etc….wait til you hear how those records really sounded w o.d.s strings/ mixes/ missing tunes. you might like the actual finished product. plus those records between the released ones that never got leaked on the world wibe web. more on that later. right now its all about the tiger. YO. the TIGER. LATER SK8ters
I promise I am really not obsessed with moustaches (far from it, although I do think I had a dream with Tom Selleck in it after last week’s post) but I feel obligated to share the results of the competition I mentioned previously over at Cinco de Moustache. The results are in and the photos alone are some of the most fun you can have at work without getting fired or the clap. Check them out.
I saw evidence with my own eyes of this new holiday, if you will, on Saturday night at Sancho’s after the KOL show. An entourage of (fake) moustachioed dudes were getting down in the middle of the bar to the irresistible pull of “(I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine,” which was my selection from the jukebox. When combined with the absurdity of the facial growth, their limber grooves were wholeheartedly the best thing I’ve seen in a long time, and made me hope for the continued “growth” of the Cinco de Mustache movement.
It makes any face just a little more special.
New music for this week:
Goodnight Rose (live on Henry Rollins Show) [pic] Ryan Adams A friend of mine feels that this is the best thing Ryan Adams has written in 5 years, and I gotta admit that there are moments here where I want to agree with that bold statement. This version of new tune “Goodnight Rose” is long and winding, jammy and filled with noodling and clocking in at 8+ minutes, which sometimes with Ryan can be a red flag for me. But something about the combination of the chord progression and the lyrics on, “If you get scared, hold my hand. Get out of that dress . . .” just pokes a blunt stick at my heart (and yeeeah, I can see how that suggestion would work to make me feel better, Ry). I would love to hear this song reinvented as quietly haunting, like the different versions I’ve heard of “Hard Way To Fall.” I’m crossing my fingers for how Easy Tiger pans out as a whole (note: Sheryl Crow adds vocals to two songs, which could be cool) and where he goes with it after all the quick-change versions of Ryan Adams we’ve gotten over the past decade.
I smile at the the charming addition here of the four-part acapella harmonies that Ryan and band add at the beginning, middle interval, and end – “Henry Rollins Show, Henry Rollins show, Henry Rollins Show….” If this rock-country musician thing doesn’t work out for Ryan, he could always join a barbershop quartet.
They’re Leaving Me Behind Nick Drake The folks over at Tsunami Records were much appreciated ’round these parts when they dropped this mp3 into my inbox last week, another sample track off the upcoming Family Tree album, a collection of early rarities and home recordings left unreleased by Nick Drake before his untimely death in 1974 (at the age of 26). What I’ve heard of the album so far isn’t going to radically shake-up what we already know about Drake and his lovely folksy fingerpicking output, but it’s great to hear some “fresh” sounds. Nick Drake always sounds to me like that gauzy, hazy layer of fog that burns off right before sunrise; there’s something so ephemeral and perfect in his music.
Roll On (feat Jenny Lewis) Dntel The new Dntel (aka Jimmy Tamborello, of The Postal Service acclaim) album Dumb Luck (Sub Pop) is a collage of densely fascinating electronica with a host of guest vocalists helping out along the way. Jenny Lewis’ contribution has a surprising bluegrass twist (with lyrics like “son of a gun”), with the subtle electronic layers adding interest to the song construction. It reminds me of the welcome breeze through an open window. The album also features Conor Oberst, Mystic Chords of Memory, and Grizzly Bear, among others. Up next (someday) for Tamborello is a new Postal Service album with Ben Gibbard that’s been in the works since last Spring.
Hold It In Jukebox The Ghost I’ve been hearing a bit of a buzz building behind Washington D.C.’s Jukebox The Ghost, whose herky jerky sound is a perfect complement to the warmer weather that I know in my heart of hearts will someday come to Colorado to stay for a spell. This reminds of stuff like The Futureheads or The Caesars, that is to say, it’s perfect for a future iPod commercial.
Rusty Cage (Soundgarden cover) Johnny Cash Although I still prefer the bloodcurdling ferocity of the original version of this Soundgarden song, which unforgettably opens their 1991 album Badmotorfinger, I have to appreciate Johnny Cash’s masterful take on it as well. Cash could take anything and loan it that dusty, apocalyptic, country-preacher feel, bringing up shaded nuances that you missed the first time it was done. And I have to say that as many times as I’ve listened to the original in the past 13 years, this cover was the first time I understand a good deal of the lyrics. This was originally released on 2005′s The Legend of Johnny Cash(the same album that gave us his cover of NIN’s Hurt).
And in case you need some paint stripping done today (Heather’s moment of specific interest in this song lies at 2:52, unreal): Rusty Cage – Soundgarden
Lookee – album art from Ryan Adams‘ forthcoming album Easy Tiger, due June 5 on Lost Highway:
Ryan’s just announced a show on May 16th at the Ulster Performing Arts Center in Kingston, New York. Presale for the in-crowd starts tomorrow and you can get more info here. He’s also doing a show 5/15 at the WXPNMountain Stage Live fest in Glenside, PA and Stonehenge (yes, that one) on the day the album drops, June 5. Not even sure what to categorize that move as, but what a freaking venue.
As for the album art, I was kind of hoping for something more along these lines, but I suppose that handsome and effortlessly charming photo above will have to do. I wonder if that fatty computer watch is what he uses to record all that electronic website music and update his site, with the help of the witches. That timepiece is bitchin’, circa 1985.
Name: Heather Browne Location: Colorado, originally by way of California Giving context to the torrent since 2005.
"I love the relationship that anyone has with music: because there's something in us that is beyond the reach of words, something that eludes and defies our best attempts to spit it out. It's the best part of us, probably, the richest and strangest part..."
—Nick Hornby, Songbook
"Music has always been a matter of energy to me, a question of Fuel. Sentimental people call it Inspiration, but what they really mean is Fuel." —Hunter S. Thompson
Mp3s are for sampling purposes, kinda like when they give you the cheese cube at Costco, knowing that you'll often go home with having bought the whole 7 lb. spiced Brie log. They are left up for a limited time. If you LIKE the music, go and support these artists, buy their schwag, go to their concerts, purchase their CDs/records and tell all your friends. Rock on.
Look at Ryan. He’s all wiped out from just recording some excellent alternate renditions of songs from Easy Tiger back in March. These performances were videotaped in front of a curtain of white lights and some of them were released on a bonus DVD. Now, thanks to the magic of audio-ripping, you can listen to them on your iPod even if it’s not a fancy video one.
That snarly, wild piece of wall art is a limited edition Ryan Adams lithograph, hand-numbered out of 100, that I have to give away. It would fit nicely if you live in Alaska, or maybe have one of those urban-wolf decoration schemes. It also showcases (assumedly) Ryan’s hand quite nicely, and . . . it’s cool.
AND – these just hit my inbox, so I’ll throw ‘em on here too: Two new tracks from Easy Tiger, coming out June 26th. It’s nice to hear a non-radio-rip of Two, and Everybody Knows is growing on me in a big way:
Ryan’s just announced a show on May 16th at the Ulster Performing Arts Center in Kingston, New York. Presale for the in-crowd starts tomorrow and you can 
Name: Heather Browne
