Afraid Not Scared March 4, 2009

This song is one of my favorites to hear live, and I swear that’s not just because it’s off of my favorite album.  There’s an intensity that you can really feel in the room during this one.  It doesn’t have the same effect on the rest of the fans in the room, since some of them came to hear more Heartbreaker and Gold songs than from the rest of the catalog.  But while they’re itching for him to bust out the harmonica, there are those of us who are more than happy to hear this one.  It’s a very different energy than what you get out of a song like “Magick” or “Peaceful Valley”, and it’s something I really appreciate. 

There are some lines in this song that are, to put it simply, terrifying.  The best/worst is “I’m getting really cold and I’m looking at you/And you’re not moving.”  No offense to a certain song off of Cardinology, but this is my favorite Ryan Adams song that features an aquatic disaster.  I’ve always felt that the song deserved a bigger, more powerful ending than it got.  It just fades out, while I’d like to hear it get the same treatment as “Political Scientist.”

Crossed Out Name February 1, 2009

Last night, I went to Champaign to see Jeff Tweedy doing a solo show at Foellinger Auditorium, and decided to listen to Cardinology on the trip up there.  One of the passengers in the car (who I hadn’t met before earlier that evening) noticed the Ryan Adams/Cardinals posters in my room and said he was a fan, too.  What proceeded was one of the greatest nerd-offs ever: the debate over what the best song on Cardinology was. 

He agreed with me that “Magick” and “Crossed Out Name” were the two best, it was the order that we couldn’t reach a consensus on.  He said he felt like his voice was a lot stronger on “Magick” than on the rest of the songs, and that it was probably the best representation of The Cardinals playing off of each other.  I argued that, while “Magick” totally kicks ass, it doesn’t contain the emotional knock-out you get when you hear lines like “I wish I could tell you just how I’m hurt” and “When I close my eyes, I see a fire so plain/And my crossed out name…” 

Really, hearing him sing “MY crossed out name” seems to hit a lot harder than “a crossed out name.”  He doesn’t sing it much differently, but those two letters completely transform the lyric for the listener.  I don’t know about the rest of you, but I feel like that’s what makes this song go above and beyond the rest for me…

Fix It January 17, 2009

As I mentioned before, I abstained from listening to any of the new songs before I saw the band live. Part of this was because I really wanted to go into it completely open-minded and take each song in one at a time. I will admit that I read some song titles and found out that first single was going to be “Fix It.” I read what a few other people had to say and noticed that it was described as… (gasp) “funky.”

My biggest fear was that it was going to be something like “Discotheque” by U2, which it absolutely wasn’t. They played it in St. Louis and I finally understood what they meant. It’s about as “funky” as Ryan Adams & The Cardinals can get, which, let’s be honest here, isn’t that funky. Oddly enough, though, those ringing guitars do make me think of mid 1980’s U2. I mean, there’s no way a song like “Fix It” would sound right on The Unforgettable Fire or anything, but I do feel like there’s some influence by the Edge on this track.

I don’t feel like this was the obvious choice for the single, since it isn’t that reflective of the album. Personally, I would have probably gone with “Crossed-Out Name” or “Magick” for the sake of sales. But I guess someone decided that “Fix It” was right at the time…

Cobwebs January 9, 2009

This fall, I made it a goal to avoid listening to the new songs before the shows I went to in Indianapolis and St. Louis.  There were times I was tempted by YouTube and the abundance of bootlegs out there, but I managed to hold out.  When the band went onstage in Indianapolis and started playing something unfamiliar, I immediately started paying close attention.  The song didn’t have any elements of country or folk…  It had a bit of a U2 vibe…  Somehow, the Cardinals managed to jump right out of the alt-country genre and not sound out of place. 

The inconsitency is one of the things I admire about Cardinology, though.  There are elements of funk (“Fix It”), garage rock (“Magick”) and whatever you’d like to categorize  “Cobwebs” as.  (It’s my second-favorite track on the album, by the way) It starts off with Brad Pemberton’s killer floor tom pulse with some synthesizer chirps in the background.  That’s when the minimalistic guitars find their way to the front of the mix.  Add a really great vocal performance (my favorite part is at the end, “The cobweb-ee-ebs…”), and you’ve got a modern classic.  It made for a really strong opener, and I feel like it should have come first on the album, too.  (I made a thread about the sequencing on RAA, to the dismay of several users)

The lyrics discuss a recurring theme in Ryan Adams’ recent work: New York City.  It’s obviously a city he feels strongly about, since he describes it so romantically. (“I always pause if I can on Fifth Avenue/Look uptown with my head in the stars/Somewhere the buildings give way to sunlight/Give way to East and West Central Park”)  I’ve never been, but after he put it so poetically, maybe it’s worth checking out.  I guess I always thought it would be dirty and dangerous…  Velvet Underground style…

Anyway, I think “Cobwebs” shows the right direction for Ryan and the Cards to move in.  It seems like they’re slowly but steadily leaving country behind, so I wouldn’t be entirely surprised if they end up writing more songs with this powerful sound.

Magick December 21, 2008

The first time I listened to Easy Tiger, I was shocked (pleasantly, I might add) that “Halloweenhead” made the cut.  It didn’t fit in with the rest of the songs, it was kind of dumb, and sort of messed up the momentum the first few tracks had built up.  Before I heard it, I read that “Magick” was another big, dumb rock song and I got scared.  However, when I heard it in St. Louis back in October, my feelings changed. 

Cardinology has some pretty solid rock songs.  I can’t think of many Ryan Adams albums where a song like “Cobwebs” or “Fix It” would fit, since they aren’t a thing like the folky/acoustic alternative style he had been perfecting.  However, the newfound sense of confidence the Cardinals have brought to this album is really shining through.  “Magick” is loud, cocky, and dangerous.  How many good songs can you think of that reference a George A. Romero movie?  Exactly…

There are killer harmonies between Ryan and Neal on this one, particularly in the pre-chorus and the “zombies running all around” line.  I didn’t actually pay any attention to the lyrics until I had listened to the album a few times, mostly because I didn’t have a chance to.  It hit the crowd in St. Louis like a…  Well…  Like a warhead (on legs)…  It barely lasted two minutes, and completely blasted everyone in that theater away.  (To hear it, the quality of the recording on Archive.org is amazing)

So this song that serves as an ode to the power of rock is way better than the previous big, dumb rocker and keeps up the live feel of the album.  Hopefully he’ll keep up this tradition on the next album(s).