Review: Ryan Adams and the Cardinals'' "Follow The Lights"

Here's proof positive that even Ryan Adams understands that he is far too prolific. Two of the songs contained on this EP are, to my ears, BETTER than the originals contained elsewhere in this prodigious musician's tangled oeuvre (that's pretentious for "other albums")

"If I Am A Stranger" is a very nice song from Adams' Grateful Dead-ish two-fer disc, "Cold Roses." But it really gets lost in the sound of the album; it sounds of a piece with everything else Cut here live in the studio with whatever configuration of Cardinals he has these days (sort of like Steve Earle's Dukes), the song loses some of its twangier edge and instead has new life breathed into it. The band opens it up and makes it live - that's sort of abstract, but if you compare the two versions, you might see what I mean.

He does the same to "Dear John," a tune from "Jacksonville City Nights" that he penned with Norah Jones. Again, nice song, but it gets buried in the honky-tonk conceit of the work from which it spawned. The treatment it gets here adds new dimension to the tune.

I also have to recommend the band's cover of Alice in Chains' "Down In A Hole." The other songs are also nice on first listen, but those are the three that really stand out

Prolific Ryan

This isn't a new concept, but conversation seems to rise about it with every new album Ryan Adams releases (there's a cover story in Paste this month): How much freaking music can this guy put out? I guess the answer is "as much as he wants." The better question is: How much should this guy put out?

Sure, Creedence and the Beatles used to jam out two albums a year back in the 60s, but the discs were only 35 or so minutes long. Ryan Adams put out three albums (!) in 2005. And now he is following a full-length release with an EP of (mostly) covers of his old tunes.

I cannot figure out the economic model for this. And let's be honest: not all of these discs really had to see the light of day. As of this writing, for example, I have yet to spin "29" more than 1.5 times. I see no reason to load up "Rock N Roll" more than once in a blue moon. Now that the hype surrounding it has dissipated, "Gold" is a mixed bag.

On the other hand, he polishes up a gem once in a while. "Heartbreaker" has some great songs on it. "Cold Roses" is emiently listenable (and proves that there is still an audience for the Grateful Dead). And "Jacksonville City Nights" has more depth to it than one might think. I'm usually willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. As long as he understands it's going to be a long while before I get around to fully digesting "Love is Hell."

In The Pipeline

So, yeah, I broke down and ordered up the new Neil Young disc. Also the new Ryan Adams EP, and some old Springsteen I had never gotten around to buying: "Tunnel of Love," "Human Touch" and "Lucky Town."

I never really got into Springsteen's work post-"Born in the USA." That was the first Bruce album I bought, as a freshman in high school, and I was totally blown away by it. My next steps were "The River" and "Born To Run." When "Tunnel of Love" came out, it was such a sonic difference (I would not get into"Nebraska," which, along with "The Wild, The Innocent and the E Street Shuffle," is his top work, until college) that I simply didn't take to it. My loss. Hearing him do both "Brilliant Disguise" and "Tougher Than The Rest" in concert underscored the need for me to get the album. Plus, it's got "Spare Parts" on it. The other two discs? They have some lows, but also some songs I'd rather have as part of the collection than not.

"Why don't you just download them, idiot?" A reasonable question, but I still like having liner notes and a tangible piece of work at the ready, rather than a couple of downloaded files on a small square metal box. I'm crazy that way.

More on Neil and Ryan later.