Ryan Adams' 2024 Tetralogy
The Mercurial Singer/Songwriter Drops Five LPs on New Years Day
When Ryan Adams announced five albums, four of them new, in late fall 2023—I preordered them on vinyl. Many fans griped that they were only available as a vinyl release. Well, on New Years Day 2024, Adams dropped all five of them to streaming and for digital purchase.
When I was in law school I discovered a copy of Ryan Adams & the Cardinals’ LP, Cold Roses. I do not remember the circumstances, but I think I was perusing similar alt-country artists and his name kept popping up. Cold Roses was one of three albums released in 2005. It was the first with the OG Cardinals lineup, Ryan Adams, Brad Pemberton, JP Bowersock, Catherine Popper, and Cindy Cashdollar.
I think I must have played “Let it Ride,” “Magnolia Mountain,” and “Cold Roses” on repeat while studying, reading, and briefing endless cases. Fast forward several years later, a few good albums, one really great album1, a divorce, and one New York Times article torpedo to a career.
Adams brought a lot of that article on himself with his behavior over the years, there’s no doubt about that. I have my quibbles with some of the accounts, but what’s done is done. He has atoned in his own way I suppose, but without the results he was expecting. I don’t think these cancellation matters are always black and white, and I am certainly not into victim shaming or blaming. I just think each of these situations need to be fully examined before making a call. Kadrian Alvarenga over at First Pressing wrote an excellent piece about separating the art from the artist—and while I don’t necessarily agree with all of his points, I think that reevaluating artists is a good idea.
Adams is a prime candidate for this kind of reevaluation. Something I did a few years ago and am still doing today. Justin Sane of Anti-Flag is another example. However, in Justin Sane’s case, the abuse and predation was so pervasive that it was easy to make that call. Win Butler? Probably in the same realm as Adams, not laudable behavior by any means, but doesn’t rise to the level of cancellation either. Like I said before, a lot of these instances need to be taken on a case by case basis, a wholesale pitchforks and torches and mob mentality does not allow a for critical view of the entire situation.
Five years removed from that New York Times article, the author of which never doing any follow up, and the FBI clearing Adams of the most damning accusations2, Adams has apologized, publicly spiraled on instagram, got sober again, released some new music3—including the albums he was supposed to release in 2019. He also successfully toured solo and with a revamped lineup of the Cardinals—cut short due to his illness.4
All of which has not resulted in the return to his previous position as an artist with accolades, major label backing, etc. However, he is still making music and selling it—which on some level is all he really wants to do.
That is enough re-litigating the past, let’s get to the music. Star Sign is by far the strongest and, in my humble opinion, best new effort from Adams since Big Colors.
In true DIY fashion, Adams has been putting out all of this new material on his PAX AM label. He, for the most part if not all, plays every instrument on each of these releases. Until I get the physical copies with liner notes, I won’t know for sure. Star Sign seems to be the most polished of the four. It has shades of Gold, Ryan Adams, and Love Is Hell throughout while still standing out as a unique addition to his discography. “Shinin’ Through the Dark was first seen on the 2011 benefit album Live From Nowhere Near You, Vol. II,5 and then on the soundtrack for This is 406, a Judd Apatow flick which Adams has a minor cameo in. It has gone through a couple of iterations—my favorite of which was the version with the organ not on any official release since the version on the movie soundtrack is the live version. The version on Star Sign adds a new twist: accordion. I must say this version has supplanted all others.
Other highlights include, “Be Wrong,” “Speeding Car,” “Tomorrow Never Comes,” and the Springsteenesque “Stay Alive.” All of which run a range of various periods of Adams’ artistry, which to me, make this a spectacular release. I hope it gains some traction.
Sword & Stone is nearly as strong as Star Sign and has some really good highlights. I think my favorite track is “Manhattan in the Rain.” It’s an instant classic. “I Was Here” has some topical lyrics RE 2019 and its aftermath. The post-cancellation theme is sprinkled throughout, which is not surprising. This album is heavy on the 80s influence, lotta reverb, lotta echo, and some dope keys. If the keys weren’t laid down by Adams, frequent collaborator Daniel Clarke may have done them. “Never Run” and “Sword and Stone” are also great as back to back tracks. It’s just over a half hour of standard rock tunes, stronger than the final two releases, but not quite as strong as Star Sign.
Stronger might actually be the wrong word to use here. Heatwave and 1985 are both raw and in your face punk and surf rock. Heatwave is more of a surf rock sounding album and is vintage Adams—playing around in other genres that aren’t really his, but makes it work anyway. In the heyday of PAX AM releases, there was a series of 7 inch records with some great serious songs and some throwaway joke songs, like “Red Hot Blues.” Incidentally, it seems that a lot, if not all, of Star Sign was more than likely recorded around this time. It has always been Adams’ schtick to release fun stuff along with the serious stuff.7 I like Heatwave, but it is certainly not on the same level as Star Sign and Sword & Stone. I think those two were meant to be the kind of releases he would present to a major label. Some great tracks on Heatwave include the title track, “Heatwave”, “Lies,” “I’m Sorry,” and the new wave sounding “Walls.”
Probably the most in your face and brash albums of this lot, 1985 is a return to Adams’ homage to Hüsker Dü. The first instance of this was on 2014’s 1984 which contains a few of my favorite Ryan Adams songs, “Rats in the Wall,” “Wolves,” and “When the Summer Ends.” In my opinion, 1985 is not a great follow up. Sometimes less is more, and I think this album truly exemplifies that mantra. File this one under fun. As a completist, I preordered the physical copy, of course, but I doubt it will get as many spins as the three releases above. It’s 29 songs, and hard to really highlight any of them. My best advice is to go listen to 1984 and then try to listen to 1985. Different strokes for different folks.
I am kicking myself for excluding Ryan Adams & The Cardinals Alive (Volume 1) from my 2023 best albums post. A fantastic live LP that I hope gets pressed to vinyl someday. However, on New Years Day this Prisoners (Live) LP was included in the drop which features live versions of all tracks from his 2017 release, Prisoner. I believe these were all played on his last solo tour, so they are without a backing band, just Adams and an acoustic guitar or piano. Daniel Clarke did overdub some keys onto these tracks, and I am undecided about that. While I don’t think it sounds bad, it just sounds kind of strange in the live mix to have these recorded keys over top. All in all, this is a solid live album with songs from an album that I think is pretty great.
Given Adams’ recent creative output, I think it may be time for a lot of fans, and establishment music journalists to reevaluate him. It’s a tough sell for such a mercurial figure, but I think much of his work deserves to be heard far and wide again.
2014’s Grammy nominated Ryan Adams.
Sexting with a minor. The subject made a statement in the LA Mag article (linked above) about the situation as a whole. I don’t think it necessarily exonerates Adams—still gross, but I personally don’t think he should be framed as monstrous. Especially after he’s cleaned up his act. Presumably.
And cover albums that were kinda meh.
Probably other factors at play here too, but I enjoyed the concert I went to.
As “Shine Through the Dark.”
“Shining Through the Dark”
Who remembers DJ Reggie?
I'm a huge fan of his music from way back in the day; all the way back to Whiskeytown. I also wore out Cold Roses. As a matter of fact, I have the jagged rose from the album cover tattooed on my right arm. It was the first tattoo I ever got. Needless to say, I was shocked to see so many albums from him at once. He's known for prolific output, but goddamn! I've not had a chance to listen to any of them yet, but they're all waiting in my music library. I was psyched to read your review of each of the five and now really can't wait to hear Star Sign and Sword & Stone. Glad we've connected here, Christopher.
What's nuts about this is that he put out 5 albums in 2022. I listened to all of those last year and it's very hit and miss (how could it not be?), but take the best of them all and he could have made my favorite album of that year. My favorite of them might be FM, as I like the funky, yacht-rock vibe.
Maybe he's been influenced by King Gizzard and the Wizard Lizard. Maybe they have a bet on who can release the most records in a career. Thanks for the review of the latest batch and helping me prioritize their order!