Can I just say how happy I am Ryan Adams didn’t die. I’m almost as happy he didn’t die as I am sad Jacko was able to stop, drop, and roll on the Pepsi shoot in ’84. The world would have been better off he just flamed out after Thriller.
The lifestyle, the drugs, the prolific musician thing. As a fan, Ryan Adams has made you nervous over the years. It wouldn’t have surprised anyone to see Adams turn up on the CNN ticker given his past behavior. He walked past me at a club in Manhattan last Spring and he looked like Rick Moranis playing the ghost of Christmas past. He was even using a cane.
Clean and sober, on Easy Tiger Adams does his best to remind us all what we love about him—and what can frustrate as well.
About song 6 after the thunder and lightning of “Halloweenhead,” Easy Tiger goes into a bit of a wasteland with half a dozen songs where Ryan doesn’t seem to be comfortable in his own skin. We get Ryan doing Willie again on “Tears of Gold.,” some self aware breathy vocals on other tracks, and not much you’ll want to send to a friend.
But what takes Easy Tiger to that B+ mark as a record is a strong finish with the last two tracks “These Girls” and “I taught myself how to grow old.” Finally the glove fits, and Adams makes some magic with two straight ahead alt-country staples sung in true voice. I was convinced “These Girls” would have the best lyrics of any song on the album from the onset with, “Well girl sometimes I feel just like a boy. Put here on this earth for you to toy around with, like Matchbox cars you buy and burn in your backyard. Like monsters underneath your bed, you ain’t afraid of yet.” You kiddin’ me. How solid is that?
But then I listened to “Oh my God, Whatever. Etc.” Holy shit. While a nice song, the lyric is so superb it’s worth the money just to hear why Adams has the potential to be a legend. A sample:
“If I could, I’d fold myself away like a card table, a concertino, or a Murphy bed. I would. But I wasn’t made that way, so you know instead I’m open all night and the customers come to stay and everyone tips, but not enough to knock me over, , ,”
That ladies and gentleman is as impressive a lyrical flex and anything Eminem did in “8 Mile..” Good on paper, but to hear it sung shows Adams deft touch for the prose. And makes me want to just leave the ring waving the white flag as a writer myself. Unreal.
“The Sun Also Sets” is the perfect example of the Ryan Adams debate. It starts awkward with Adams doing his best Violent Femmes. The voice is all wrong, but then he sweeps you off your feet and waltzes you around the room for the chorus, and suddenly we have a ballroom sized ballad on our hands—and you’ve found a new favorite track on the album. One of the darkest songs on the album, a love song with one hand on the throat, “The Sun Also Sets” will kill live and become a favorite deep track for true fans on Easy Tiger.
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