Ryan Adams & the Cardinals | III/IVEmpty Bottle Evenings

Oct252015October 25, 2015November 1, 2015No Commentby Bake

Ryan Adams & the Cardinals | III/IV

Posted in Music

Many people are not yet aware that Ryan Adams can write his own songs since his fame has exploded recently only after covering Taylor Swift’s 1989, and most of those fans are probably not aware of anything but instagram, quinoa, and a combination of the two. But Adams has wrote literally hundreds of songs, and a lot of them are absolutely worth checking out. And as mentioned in the 1989 write up, Adams has always been able to write sappy songs that Swift fans could actually enjoy. As for break up songs, I would say start with his classic “Come Pick Me Up” from his debut album, but that seems more for the fellas. Instead, men and women (Swift fans or not) I’m imploring you to check out “Lovely and Blue”. I’m not going through a break up but for whatever reason I’m listening to this song repeatedly like a fiend. I’m serious. I’m just a few repeats away from Peter Griffin and “Surfin Bird”.

The only objection that I had was that this song was released on Adam & the Cardinals’ double album III/IV; a record titled that way to reflect it being the sequel to Cold Roses (Discs 1 & 2) even though the songs sound entirely different. Apparently these songs were recorded at the same time as 2007’s Easy Tiger, but they don’t sound anything like that album either. They are more in the style of Rock & Roll or Love is Hell, mostly staying away from the rest of the alt-country ways of his Cardinals phase. And the lyrics are honest as hell and mostly self-depreciating, just the way I like them. If you’re a new Swift-introduced fan don’t worry there are few songs that sound like his re-interpretations too, but there are also a few tracks that sound like a more polished version of The Replacements whom Adams also loves. Apparently, you CAN love both Taylor Swift and Paul Westerberg. Who knew?

Anyway, I didn’t love this album when it was first released in 2010 because it’s all over the place. You could tell why it wasn’t released back when it was recorded, and getting it a few years later only made this songs feel more like a double disc of b-sides. Some of the lyrics are weird and dorky and some of the music drags out at times, but this album keeps growing on me. It’s not just the obsession with “Lovely and Blue” either, or even the songs on here most resembling it. Even those that are unarguably pop songs, like “Dear Candy” and “Stop Playing with My Heart” I’m impressed with. They could have definitely cut this into one real album with the other tracks as actual b-sides and I think a lot more Adams fans wouldn’t forget about this album. I’d probably start with the 3 aforementioned songs and add “Numbers”, “Gracie”, “Breakdown Into the Resolve”, “Wasteland”, and “P.S.” for starters.

When you create so many albums they’re not all going to be gems, but overlooking a record with great songs just because there is some filler is a mistake we should all try to avoid. Sometimes the best songs are surrounded by the worst, and sometimes an album that you’re not feeling at first doesn’t actually suck. I never really enjoyed Love is Hell all that much, but a few months ago I was depressed as hell and I could have made love to that album right there. You know, if I could somehow make love to digital files on my computer. Don’t think about this too hard. Focus back on III/IV, which if you are the one reader who is starting to getting into Adams now that 1989 has infiltrated your brain or you’ve dabble in his more well known records, you might transition into this album pretty easily assuming you’re not done craving some more heartbreak.