For the remainder of 2009 we will be featuring albums that meant a lot to us this decade. I have really enjoyed spending quality time with my record collection and not just what is new and current. One thing this collection will not be is all-encompassing. We will be deliberately leaving out some of the universal favorites (Kid A, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Funeral, etc) because you’ll see them everywhere, and the last thing we want to do is state the obvious.

Instead, this collection will very much an outlet for us to share/discuss our favorites over the past 10 years with a focus on albums that we feel have been overlooked in the lists we’ve seen roll out this far.

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Ryan Adams | Cold Roses (2005)

2005 was a landmark year for Ryan Adams amongst a decade that found him releasing (by our count) elven albums. Yes, you read that correctly, eleven! Already a proficient songwriter, Adams upped the ante in 2005, releasing three albums, the first of which, Cold Roses, was also his first with the Cardinals, and arrived sporting cover art hat tipped in the direction of the Grateful Dead’s American Beauty. It wasn’t just the cover art that drew from the Grateful Dead’s influence, throughout two discs worth of material, Ryan Adams closely mirrored the guitar and feel of some of our favorite Grateful Dead albums. If you saw him live around this time, and he had his shit together, you certainly saw an artist firing on all cylinders.

I realize that picking Cold Roses as one of the best albums of the decade probably conjures up debate amongst Adams’ faithful followers and music critics in general, but it has remained, since first listen, the essential Ryan Adams album in my record collection. You see, Cold Roses is the album that brought me back to Ryan Adams. I was a huge fan of Heartbreaker and Gold, but his output that followed did little to excite me the way it once did. That changed when I bought Cold Roses, I knew just holding it in my hands that this was something special. I can distinctly remember running my fingers across the packaging that seemed crafted with extra care and attention – a feeling that even so many years ago already began to feel foreign in a rapidly rising digital age.

Cold Roses is a roller coaster ride of listen, one that keeps you hoping the operator lets you go around one more time around. It’s complete in the sense that over two discs and eighteen songs you’re hit with all that Adams can deliver. There are rock songs, slow songs, and songs that make you want to cry your eyes out. It’s a record for all occasions and sounds amazing on road trips.

Best Live Show I Saw: Barrymore Theatre, Madison (2008) | Overture Hall, Madison (2009)
Best Tracks: “When Will You Come Back Home” “Let It Ride” “If I Am a Stranger” “Magnolia Mountain” “How Do You Keep Love Alive” “Cold Roses” “Friends”
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Buy: Ryan Adams & The Cardinals – Cold Roses

++ Keep up with our Best Albums of the Decade by bookmarking this page ++

As a big Ryan Adams fan, I tend to spend a lot of time revisiting his albums and the plethora of high-quality live bootlegs I’ve come into over the years. While some have been burned by Adams in concert, I’m lucky in that I’ve only been wowed by the man. Around 2001, Adams acquired the friendship and admiration of Sir Elton John. I grew up coveting my parents Elton John records, so it was cool to see the musical worlds collide. Above, Elton does one of my favorite Adams penned tunes, “Oh My Sweet Carolina.”

Below, you can (and should) download Ryan Adams delightful take on Elton John’s “Rocket Man” from The Blue Note in Columbia, MO.

MP3: Ryan Adams + Leona Naess – “Rocket Man” (Elton John) [Live, 12/3/2001]

NPR has been providing a steady diet of great musical goodness lately. Today, you can hear Leonard Cohen’s new album, Live in London, in its entirety, on NPR Music.

I’m hoping to be in the crowd for either of Leonard Cohen’s Chicago Theatre shows on May 5th & 6th. Anyone got their tickets yet?

Elsewhere:

The Avett Brothers new album will be called I and Love and You, I heard a couple tracks from their set at SXSW last week, Rolling Stone has some details on the new record.

Ryan Adams + the Cardinals ended their tour (is it their last) at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta last week. Take a listen to the show here.

This winter I’ve had the Cowboy Junkies Trinity Revisited on heavy rotation. Recorded at the Church of the Holy Trinity in Toronto (2006), the album features a healthy dose of Cowboy Junkies with additional support from the likes of Ryan Adams, Natalie Merchant, and Vic Chesnutt.

It’s essential listening as far as I’m concerned. Watch the video above, and grab a taste of the album below. You won’t be disappointed.

Download:
MP3: Cowboy Junkies + Ryan Adams – “200 More Miles”

Find MP3′s at The Hype Machine or buy from Amazon

I regularly return to the audio of Ryan Adams + The Cardinals last time through Madison. Last night, in an e-mail message, Ryan hit followers/fans with the special home recorded version of “Cobwebs” above.

Chicago fans can catch Ryan Adams + The Cardinals supporting Oasis this Friday, December 12th at Allstate Arena. Tickets are still available.

Previously: Review: Ryan Adams & The Cardinals – Overture Hall
Previously: Review: Ryan Adams – Barrymore Theatre, Madison
Previously: Ryan Adams :: Riverside Theater, Milwaukee

Myspace: Ryan Adams
MP3: Ryan Adams + The Cardinals – “Cobwebs” (Madison, 10/5/2008)

Find MP3′s at The Hype Machine or buy stuff from Strictly Discs | eMusic

By Pete Donahue

So Ryan Adams and his gang of Cardinals have a new album? Indeed, and it was just last year when he dropped the excellent full-length Easy Tiger and EP Follow the Lights. On top of a busy 2007, we’re talking about a group of musicians who released three full albums (Cold Roses, 29 and Jacksonville City Nights) in 2005 and backed Willie Nelson on 2006′s Songbird. Hence, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that this week the busy bees released their newest album, Cardinology.

The first four tracks, “Born Into A Light,” “Go Easy,” “Fit It” and “Magick” are all rocking, upbeat cuts that display the more band-oriented sound I love from Ryan Adams & The Cardinals. “Go Easy” is so warm lyrically and features more piano than electric guitar. Personally, I consider it one of the best songs off the album (along with “Fix It,” but more on that later). “I will love you still/And I always will/If only to say this to you myself/I will always love you/So go easy on yourself” is not really a unique grouping of words in Ryan Adams’ music, but something about hearing him say it in that beaten-down, unlucky-sounding plea makes it a classic Adams line.

“Fix It,” another personal favorite, sees the band chart new waters with a slower, 70′s r&b rock groove. “I know it’s not a game/but it feels like losin’ when someone you love throws you away.” Consider “Fix It” Cardinology’s “Everything Changes” from Easy Tiger.

With “Magick,” Rock ‘n’ Roll fans will likely perk up, as the guitars are louder and fuzzier, blasting out some power chord pop with a hint of lap steel in the bridge and outro to make it a legit Cardinals track. In this song, Adams lets his words flow from apparently anywhere, but it works: “Zombies runnin’ all around/Eventually we hit the mall/Lock it down at nightfall,” he snarls. Ryan Adams: Dawn of the Dead fan? Quite possibly.

Now, as we’ve heard in his music before, Adams considers artists like Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Gram Parsons, Grateful Dead and Emmy Lou Harris major influences. They are all present here in some form of another, but Cardinology sees Adams expanding his influences. Case in point, the spacial “Cobwebs” sounds like it could have been backed by U2 circa All That You Can’t Leave Behind instead of The Cardinals. Lyrically, it isn’t a Bono song, but more the traditional self-loathing Adams: “If I fall would you pity me?/Would you confuse my love for the cobwebs?” he continually asks. Towards the end, the electric guitars slowly build up and shimmer and then Ryan is howling in and out in his falsetto voice to seemingly anybody who will listen.

Musically, “Sink Ships” sounds nothing like an Elvis Costello & The Attractions song, but more along the line of country rock Ryan Adams fans are used to. Lyrically, however, it seems Adams has borrowed a few pages from Mr. Costello’s book, as there a few clever quips in the words: “This position is not open now/The application forms got shredded/There was faulty wording in the documents,” he sings in the chorus.

“Like Yesterday” is breezy little laid back number with Adams and Cardinals guitarist Neil Casal sounding like they’re channeling their Allman Brothers influences throughout the song. “Let Us Down Easy” and “Natural Ghost” sound not far off from Cold Roses songs, whereas “Evergreen,” a pretty rustic little shuffle, could have gone on Jacksonville City Nights. Album closer, “Stop,” is definitely worth the wait (provided you listen to all 12 tracks in order). It’s mostly Adams solo on piano with his vulnerable, shaky voice letting out a few confessions before an unexpected yet pretty string section kicks in before the Cardinals join in and quietly bring the track to a close. “Slow down, you don’t have to talk/Lie down, breathe, stop, slow down/It’s not your fault/Look around, there’s so many of us/It’s not your fault, ever,” he says. Is this Adams coming to terms with apparently being sober? “There is a darkness and there is a light and there is a choice/For a balance to be made every night/For a weakness must be found if you want it to stop.” Perhaps, and if such is the case, “Stop” certainly makes for an interesting choice of Cardinology’s last song. Does it mean closure?

I would like to mention that Casal’s high harmonies have never worked so well with Adams’ voice than on this album. His inclusion in the band a few years ago really makes Adams’ voice soar in all the right places in all the right ways. Lap steel player John Graboff’s voice remains warm and soothing quietly in the back round of Cardinal harmonizers.

I feel the best way to sum up the album is to say it draws on the “traditional” Adams sound, flexes a few more influences, but more importantly: it has great songs. Who knew a guy that down on his luck could write about the same feelings so much and still sound fresh. The album may win over some new fans, but I feel people who hate Ryan Adams will probably hate this album. And Cardinology will keep Ryan Adams fans happy until his next release…which might come out, what, in a few months? Hey, it’s not that farfetched.

Previously: Review: Ryan Adams & The Cardinals – Overture Hall
Previously: Review: Ryan Adams – Barrymore Theatre, Madison
Previously: Ryan Adams :: Riverside Theater, Milwaukee

Myspace: Ryan Adams

Find MP3′s at The Hype Machine or buy stuff from Strictly Discs | eMusic