Slang Editorial :: Never Underestimate The Value Of A Holla'

Friday, July 24, 2009
Finding Songs For Summer: RYAN ADAMS (GASP!)

This week off has been a gut punch of life to my body and spirit.*** I am convinced right now that nothing could happen to dull the pulsating throb of JOIE D'VIVRE that is making me head spin in pleasantly disorienting circles.

One pleasurable activity i've engaged in this week, beyond standard activities, is catching up on my love of music. Durrr... yes. Despite a 24 hour generalized obsession, all the work-work makes even Jeffrey lose touch from time-to-time and need a check in on what makes the world explode with rockets and screaming camels.

This week, those tunes have included: Magnetic Fields, Jesse Malin, Joanna Newsom, Benoit Pioulard, Jamie Lidell, Panda Bear, Clinic, and, yes, Ryan Adams.

My relationship with the man and his music has been well-documented--here, here, here, here, and, most significantly, here--mostly involving me projecting constant, unwavering hate toward him and his work until I finally giving him another try and coming to more refined terms with my feelings (ie, SURPRISE!, sometimes I can go overboard being a dick when people rub me the wrong way). At this point think he's a silly boffo dude who I could generally care less about but who has truly made some very listenable (if still generally kind of hollow) tunes in the 90s and 00s. Most of Whiskeytown still sounds empty to me, and a lot of his solo career (Rock N Roll, Gold, Love Is Hell, anything after the 2005 trio) is pretty garbage, but i've definitely come to enjoy a lot of the rest.

Most specifically though, I think that I had a realization of sorts this weekend that in a strange way, I think that Pneumonia, the sort of forgotten/discarded last Whiskeytown record, is the best thing Adams has ever made.

Pneumonia was a record that brought Adams some earlier attention and acclaim on a semi-large label, but in the years since it was released (May 2001, after the release of his first solo record Heartbreaker) it's been mostly slept on or outright dissed as a slick pop effort. I won't claim to have the best knowledge of the Ryan Adams universe, but i'm not aware of too many people these days who'd stand up for it as argument toward the legitimacy of Adams either.

I remember the first time I heard Pneumonia back in 2001 or 2002 and instantly hated it. I tried again in 2006 after deciding I had the capacity to stomach Adams after all, but to little avail. However, at some point in the past 18 months my feeling about the record changed. And now I have just listened to it five times in the past three days and am stunned at how much more I just want to keep listening to it.

It's true that it's a pop record, and it's certainly a glossy one... but in a way I think is interesting, it's actually a far less slick record than much of what he's done (Rock n Roll, on the other hand, being actually slick). There is something strangely genuine about the fact that on Pneumonia, Adams is actually trying to make sweet, hooky pop-country, rather than the rustic-country, Grateful Dead-country, or new wave (country) he's also made still filtered through a sweet, hooky pop-country sensibility.

It's hard for me to explain why I like Pneumonia so much other than that a) it's just so fucking digestible (with one odd exception$$$$), and b) it's polished feel somehow helps me get over my typical hang-ups that Adams is a douchebag who constantly tries to sound "raw" and "down to earth" when he is in fact a just a hyper self-aware identity manufacturer capable of wearing many clothes well but none naturally. Well, I'd say he's more natural and at ease on Pneumonia than anywhere else.

Of course, it wouldn't be a Ryan Adams record without out least one cringe-worthy "is this dude really THAT pretentious?" moment, coming as a fade out of closer "Bar Lights". Here, Adams voice arises above the beautiful wind-down din of the music and you hear, "Can you believe that? I forgot the line, started laughing, then my string broke. Alright I'm going to the bar, fuck this." Seriously!! I can't make this shit up. Anyway....

You should go ahead and ....

LISTEN:

Whiskeytown - "Don't Wanna Know Why", from Pneumonia

Whiskeytown - "Crazy Bout You", from Pneumonia

And here's two bonuses: a live cover of the knock'em down Fleetwood Mac track "Dreams" (so good!!) and a lovable Jesse Malin track, which incidentally it and the record it was on were produced by Ryan Adams:

Whiskeytown - "Dreams" (live) (bonus for you... i fucking love this)

Jesse Malin - "Almost Grown"

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Old Thoughts

As a funny aside, I stumbled today across an old list from 2004 I posted called "a completely objective list of the five best albums EVER". From the November 21, 2004 post Sing it again, Rod.

1. Velvet Underground - black s/t

2. Modest Mouse - the Lonesome Crowded West
3. Rod Stewart - Never a Dull Moment
4. the Smiths - the Queen Is Dead
5. the Breeders - Last Splash

I'm happy to say that while I wouldn't pick those records again, I wouldn't really try to shoot them down either.

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Ok ok, onward and over!!

--Jeffrey Beaumont

NOTES:

*** -- Though, to be perfectly honest, I haven't actually showered in five days, as for some reason I have decided that swimming in a freshwater lake is an adequate substitute for bathing. Really, not joking here.

$$$$ -- Track 10, "What The Devil Wanted", is a bizarre and unnecessary mid 90s Beck-aping curio that, beyond being not that good of a song with terrible lyrics, is also a song, strangely, apes mid 90s Beck.

Labels: mp3, music, ryan adams

posted by Nihilist Loves Hate, Hates Everything at 7/24/2009 03:47:00 AM 1 comments

1 Comments:

Lew R said...: Pneumonia is a terrific album, but how anyone can dismiss Love Is Hell is just totally beyond me. So he's an ass sometimes, aren't we all, and aren't there bigger ones? I admit to being a fan, starting with Whiskeytown and still. Cold Roses and LIH earned him a place in Music Heaven forever as far as I'm concerned, and I still love his voice, his rhythm guitar playing, and at least a handful of songs on every album. I never have understood the hate aimed his way,
all I know is, his music has been very important in my life and I'm grateful for it.; 7/24/2009 11:48:00 AM