Ryan Adams - Easy Tiger

[Mik 0]

I found this on Ryan Adams' MySpace...

 

It was, Ryan Adams says, this girl he's been spending time with; the title of this album is her fault. She wanted to go out to dinner at eight; I wanted to go right away. She said, "Easy, Tiger." And that hit me. It stuck with me to the point where I called up Neal [that would be Neal Casal, guitarist of The Cardinals] and left a message on his answering machine with those two words. "Don't forget this, I said, cause I want to use it."

 

Adams laughs and adds, "I think he's still got that message."

 

And I understand that. Some things you just save, because they're worth playing over again.

 

I think there are really only two kinds of pop music CDs these days. There are the ones you listen to only once or twice, maybe downloading the single good song to your iPod or computer; then there are others that grow stronger, sweeter, and more necessary each time you play them. Gold was that way; Cold Roses was that way; so was Jacksonville City Nights. I won't say Adams is the best North American singer-songwriter since Neil Young but I won't say he isn't, either. What I know is there has never been a Ryan Adams record quite as strong and together as Easy Tiger; it's got enough blue-eyed, blue-steel soul (with the faintest country tinge) to make me think of both Marvin Gaye and the Righteous Brothers. Probably ridiculous, but true. And the songs themselves are beautiful, the lyrics tightly focused and brief, the feeling one of melancholy calm that will probably be a revelation to fans that remember the old, sometimes angry Ryan Adams.

 

He agrees that the tone of Easy Tiger is different - not dark, just different, and suggests in passing that it may have something to do with both sobering up and growing up (he's 32). Then he goes on to talk about the process, which is clearly something close to his heart. "I write on a manual typewriter, he says.I get up, I have a cup of coffee, I sit down at the typewriter. I never spent a useless day behind a typewriter."

 

I say amen to that, but he's already going on.

 

"It's like I don't know, sometimes it's like chasing a pretty girl on the beach. And things I never thought I could do - I can do."

 

I mention how prolific he is, aware that I might be touching a sore point. After all, there are plenty of critics who seem to think that's a bad thing. Adams, however, just laughs.

 

"Yeah, yeah, in America people give you shit for working hard,"he says. "But - it's process, that's all. I process things. I went into the dream business. If people need em, I've got extra."

 

He talks enthusiastically about all the unreleased material he hopes to set free in a box set, maybe at the end of the year ("If people hear it all, then they'll get the connections," he says), but that's then. Now there's this, maybe the best Ryan Adams CD ever. And I know you want to listen to it right away. But slow down. Take your time. This album asks for that, and it will reward your full attention.

 

In other words - easy, Tiger.

 

--Stephen King

 

Not sure what Stephen King has to do with it but sorta builds up my excitement a bit. The single is decent, if not a little short.

 

With only one album out this year, in comparison with the 3 last year I'm hoping this has no filler and all good tracks, but that's probably too much to expect from Ryan Adams.

[vivalaultra 0]

I haven't heard the album or the single, but I can say that that was the best-written Ryan Adams article of the last half-century. Yeah...

 

I'm sure the album will be decent, if forgettable. I have no idea how Ryan Adams will sound like Marvin Gaye. That should be interesting to hear.

[C Dubya 04 0]

I don't like the number with Sheryl Crow. I can't place why. I'll still probably give the rest a try though as I like most of his other stuff.

[Guest George's Box]

This just reminds me of when wildpegasus said "tiger" was the sexiest thing any woman could ever call him, and now I'll never enjoy this particular Ryan Adams album. I probably wouldn't have enjoyed this Ryan Adams album anyway. I'll just wait for the one that comes out four months after this one, Even Gap Models Get The Blues.

 

She said, "Easy, Tiger." And that hit me. It stuck with me to the point where I called up Neal [that would be Neal Casal, guitarist of The Cardinals] and left a message on his answering machine with those two words. "Don't forget this, I said, cause I want to use it."

Man, if somebody tells him to hold his horses, we'll get a career-retrospective boxed set.

[MrRant 0]

Who?

[justsoyouknow 0]

Summer of '69.

[godthedog 0]

one of the gallagher brothers had a similar story about how 'what's the story morning glory' got such an awful title.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

I used to like Ryan Adams more than I do now, but he still has a handful of songs that make me all swoony. His ballads, usually.

[Guest George's Box]

I just can't forge a connection with his music, so I find myself not being able to justify what an arrogant unlikable douchebag he is. A more handsome, less accomplished Jeff Tweedy, I suppose. I don't know. It's not bad music, really, it's just not very captivating to me.

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

Summer of '69.

 

You beat me to it, but when I glanced at this title, I read it as "Bryan Adams - Glass Tiger".

[Mik 0]

Got the torrent. I need to listen to it a few more times but I can say now, without a doubt in my mind, that this is his best CD since Gold.

 

Maybe even better. It's in the Gold, Heartbreaker echelon of his albums.

[C Dubya 04 0]

Did you like Cold Roses Mik?

[Mik 0]

Yeah, I'd have liked it a lot better if it were 1 disc. But as it stands now I'd put that towards the top.

 

I like this disc better.

[Hank Kingsley 0]

I had preordered it on iTunes, so I'm restraining myself from downloading the torrent. As it stands I'm really excited. "Two" has grown on me and I really like "Everybody Knows."

[justsoyouknow 0]

I've listened to this album twice so far, and nothing is really throwing itself at me. Halloweenhead and Two are, of course, really good songs, but the rest of it just seems recycled. I mean, shit, "Off Broadway" is off of the Suicide Handbook, which came out before Gold, and I'm getting a little tired of the obligatory "this song is sad, that means I'll play the piano" approach he keeps taking.

[Hank Kingsley 0]

I'm listening to it now and it is all over the place, but I really like it. Even if Ryan sounds like a complete goof saying "GUITAR SOLO!" in Halloweenhead.