Ryan Adams: Cold Roses

Recently I was aghast at the news that a good friend had not only never heard, but had never heard of Ryan Adams. For that poor soul I present disc one of Cold Roses, one of Ryan's more artistically developed (sounds like the Dead), and critically well-received (unlike the Dead) albums of late. Enjoy.

LINK:
Ryan Adams: Cold Roses

For everybody else who already owns this one, be sure to check out the Internet Archive for a ton of great-sounding Ryan Adams live shows. I would recommend this show from Ludwigshafen, Germany in 2006.

Ryan Adams: Easy Tiger

When it comes to Ryan Adams, two things are certain: The man is a total self-absorbed douchebag, and also happens to be one of the most talented -- not to mention prolific -- songwriters of our time. I don't really mind the guy's personality, because let's face it, it's interesting. Rock'n Roll needs more loose mouths, and fewer poster boys.

Here, in it's entirety, is probably one of the more memorable answering machine messages in music history. Ryan drops in on Chicago Sun-Times critic Jim DeRogatis, with a few choice words concerning his review of a recent show. This is what I mean by interesting.

Fans are saying this new release, Easy Tiger, is the best since his debut Heartbreaker. The Grateful Dead tendencies continue on tracks like the excellent opener, "Goodnight Rose," but overall we see a pretty wide breadth of styles explored on this disc. Ryan's voice makes a welcome return back to Nashville, with the wavering yowl in full effect.

And just to spice things up for the haters, here's Ryan covering my favorite Alice In Chains tune, "Down In a Hole." Tell me who in the Alt-Country community covers Alice In Chains? Props.

Ryan Adams - "Down In a Hole"

LINK:
Ryan Adams: Easy Tiger

New Okkervil River - "Our Life Is Not a Movie or Maybe"

Once Stage Names, the new Okkervil album coming August hits I'll have a few hundred more plays piled on to the old Last.fm tracker (which, by the way, you should get).

Here's the opening cut from the album, and it's predictably mega. Even better it shows that Okkervil River continue to explore some new directions while refining everything that made their last album Black Sheep Boy the best release of 2005 (IMHO of course). Will Sheff comes even closer to blowing out his voice on this track -- and in fact may have.

LISTEN:
Okkervil River - "Our Life Is Not a Movie or Maybe"