 | By: Ryan Adams Label: Cooking Vinyl Released: 31 Oct 2000 RRP: Average Rating:  |
This was the second album that I heard of his. Must have been about 5 years ago now. I remember going out & buying it after having & loving Gold. Coming back to my room. Sitting dead still rooted to my bed, looking out of the rain spattered window, shivers down my spine for about a whole hour immersed in this wonderful world of pure heartrending beauty & emotion. No other music had ever had this effect on me before. And I didn't even know what it was to have my heart broken then.
Opening with To Be Young (is to be high), Ryan creates an anthem for youth. Any generation could relate to it. Sounds like a Bob Dylan track. It makes alll this heartbreak business alll sound fun. However from here on he takes us on an amazing journey down the heartbreak highway. Stretching our emotions to breaking point before sucker punching us with a whiskey soaked, cigarette stained fist with the most optimistic ray of light to pick you up, then repeats. Like the ray of sunshine after the storm. Although to most of us the storm is the most exciting bit. Tears are likely to break out on even the hardest of folk.
Its foolish for me to pick highlights. Although To Be Young, My Winding Wheel, Sweet Carolina & Come Pick Me Up, are perhaps amongst the greatest songs ever recorded. The whole sound of this album is timeless.
I recommend everyone to check out his live show. Watch a genius at work. Watch the perfection in alll of his little flaws. If you want a perfectly played, dare I say dull, then go & watch James Blunt. If you want a tattered, soul bearing, life enhancing performance go & see Ryan. Its the same with this & alll of his album.
I can't describe this album in the way it should be. I just cannot begin to do it justice. A true classic. Every music lover should have a place in their (soon to be borken) heart.
So whats it like? Look I don’t want to just sell you another album so if you are looking for an artist to say if people ask you “hey man whos your favourite?” then this isnt for you! I can honestly say with my hand on my heart that apart from Morriessey & ofcousre the Smiths & maybe Jeff Bukely, Ryan Adams changed my like.
Heartbreaker wasn’t the first album of his I purchased, I was sitting doing homework one night flicking through music telivision when I stopped to see the video for New York New York, it caught my eye as it was less than a month after September 11th , & to see a man with an acoustic guitar singing under the Broklyn bridge in full view of the then Twin towers was quite breath taking & I guess a little surreal.
I thought alllot after that of the song & forgot alll about the artist I was only fifteen at that time & to be honest have always had a different music taste to anyone I know of my age either then or now!. A few months later on my 16th Birthday in December I took a trip to Belfast with my brother with the money I had received thankfully.
I was doing the usual hunting around for whatever I could find in the sales when I saw a great two for twenty two deal or something lik that, after much scavaging I instantly had THAT song in my head so I searched but couldn’t quite remember the artists name. After asking an assistant she directed me to the A section, So there it was a picture of a guy infront of the stars an strips readjusting his shirt!. This was ofcourse Gold Ryans second album. As I was about to leave I noticed another album, this time black with a simple picture of a dude smoking, I checked the name & year two different albums in two different years by the same artist for twenty two quid!
As I bought them the girl behind the till assured me these were his only two albums to date. Strange but I had never heard a song or even reallly took in what he looked like I just knew this was special. I can admit I never listened to Heartbreaker for one whole month, Gold blew me away & rightfully so it is a fantastic album, but for some reason I had only glanced over the other one. One listen the whole way through changed my music taste forever, its reallly as simple as that, it touched me so much, My sweet Carolina is by far the most outstanding song on the album it has so much context. “I aint never been to Vegas but I gambled up my life” Superb.
“Amy” & “Come pick me up” are other great stand outs, but pleae don’t take my word for it!. And what about opening your first album with an argument about Morrissey & what songs are on Viva Hate! Pretty brave! Ryan has since made some great work & producing three albums last year was crazy, we live in a time were giving magazine interviews & appearing on reality tv shows seems more important than actuallly making music….funny eh?
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