Ryan Adams & The Cardinals - Cardinology: Album Review
Ryan Adams & The Cardinals, Cardinology (Lost Highway, 2008)
I saw Ryan Adams & The Cardinals here the other day, and it was one of the best concerts evar. Adams, who can be erratic at times, showed up with his motherfucking a-game. It was almost a bit too Las Vegas slick, not unlike his last album, Easy Tiger. Will this new album follow suit? Let's have a look.
Ryan Adams' MySpace is also pretty slick, especially with the new music player.
BORN INTO A LIGHT
More Cold Roses than Easy Tiger. And the steel guitar is slighty reminiscent of Jacksonville City Nights. I notice Adams' voice has got a bit of that Neil Diamond feel to it, not unlike he had on that song "Halloweenhead." I wonder if that's on purpose or if it's a matter of aging.
GO EASY
A fairly straighforward roots rocker. The chorus just goes, "Go easy, go easy." I don't dislike it, I'm just wondering if I couldn't have come up with that myself. I might have to get my Ne-Yo on. Nullus. Adams puts some real stank on his singing here. Think some of the more dramatic moments on Rock N Roll. His voice, when he's all agitated like that actually sounds a bit like Bono.
FIX IT
The lead single. Maybe you've heard it. It's way edgier than that crap "Two" from Easy Tiger, which, I'm not gonna lie, I enjoy the shit out of when it comes on the Muzak at the BGM. This, on the other hand, I'm not even sure if they'd be able to play. It's not that crazy. It's just a little bit dramatic. And you don't want to discourage people from spending money.
MAGICK
Reminds me of some of the harder rockin' stuff from Rock N Roll, but minus that layer of sheen. I remember hearing this live and wondering if the chorus, part of which goes, "Turn the radio on, turn the radio up," is a reference to Lisa Loeb's "Stay." If so, that's just awesome. It'd kinda have to be, right? Who just pulls a construction like that out of his ass?
COBWEBS
"If I fall, will you catch me?" Word? I wish I was 15, so I wouldn't notice that as much.
LET US DOWN EASY
The most country-ish thing so far on an album that, up until this point, has placed more of an emphasis on the rock aspect of country roxk. It's got an easy rolling groove not unlike Cold Roses' "When Will You Come Back Home?" but there isn't a whole lot about it that really grabs me.
CROSSED OUT NAME
Like a more tossed off version of "Off Broadway." It's mostly just Adams and acoustic guitar, though there might be some other shit going on. I'm no expert on music. I just expect people to listen to my opinion as if it means anything at all.
NATURAL GHOST
For example, I probably would have advised against the harmony vocals in the chorus to this one, not to mention the fact that it seems to contain a few words too many. The whole thing just doesn't seem to work quite right. (Also, I would have insisted on more cowbell.)
SINK SHIPS
This one might grow on me. It's got kind of a '70s AM radio feel to it, and even a bit of a prog element.
EVERGREEN
I skipped this one to finish up the rest of the post, so I could go ahead and be done with it once the album is over.
LIKE YESTERDAY
Not a whole lot remarkable about this one, I don't think.
STOP
Mostly Adams alone at the piano. I was ready to write this off as meandering, but it does build towards the end.
COMMENTS: Crap, this isn't as good as I was hoping it would be. The first few songs in a row all rock right the fuck out. But then it falls off big time. The rest of the runtime sounds like rejects from Easy Tiger, albeit with less of the sheen that I thought was a bit of a detriment to that album. In general, you get the idea that The Cardinals are playing better than ever, but that Adams might finally be running out of good ideas for songs. I shouldn't say this, but he might consider going back on drugs.
BEST TRACKS: "Born into a Light" "Fix It" "Magick"
BONUS VIDEO: "Fix It"
