Do you have it handy Rev as I never buy that paper..........

Cheers for sending it through. Here it is for other posters to view: Ryan Adams 29 (Lost Highway) Is there no end to the tricks that science continues to play on us? First we had Dolly the Sheep. Now it's the turn of Ryan the parrot. Steady! This is too serious a subject for jokes about avian flu. Adams, a 31-year old musician hellbent on making a career out of underachieving, has released, not one, not two, but THREE albums in the last seven months. Once upon a time, in the days of prog rock bombast, these would have been welded together as a triple album. Today, such tomfoolery would be rightly frowned upon. So the uncanny Adams has doled them out one at a time. Yet these albums of noodling alt country jams and unfocused country honk recieved indifferent welcomes. Except for 29, the latest conceptual nine-track set comprising one song for each year of his twenties no less, which some befuddled surburban cowboys are trying hard to convince themselves is a work of exceptional merit. Those who wish to give credit where it's due would be best advised to start with The Grateful Dead, Neil Young, Gram Parsons and every other performer whose work Adams blatantly recycles in the misguided belief that his is an original voice. The signs were there a decade ago when Adams lead the so-so alternative country rock band Whiskeytown through a series of albums that promised much but never delivered. More was expected from Adams' solo work. In 1999 the intense Heartbreaker gave him an elevated status which he's heroically attempted to live down to ever since. The brash follow-up, Gold, sounded as if it was intended as his Born In The USA. By then even Elton John was thanking him publicly for being so inspirational. And Ryan had got himself some high-profile girlfriends, a reputation for intoxication and churning out albums. The lad had a troubled uprbringing. His father did a runner when he was nine. His mother, an English teacher, raised him. you suspect he's read a few books when you hear him say of his songs, 'They seem like dirty little secrets because nobody has heard them'. But hear the title track, which opens this collection, and marvel at how Adams claims to have written the song. Not even Noel Gallagher would have the nerve to try to claim authorship of a song that owes so much to the Dead's anthem Truckin'. Either someone made an administrative mistake on the credits or Adams is in worse mental shape than he's letting on. The nine minutes of Adams poetry that follows, Strawberry Wine evokes the spirit of Neil Young. But it's Blue Sky Blues, where, worryingly, he sounds as if he's trying to become David Gray, that prompts urges to drag him out the back and force him to watch as his guitar is roped to the back of a pick-up truck and dragged down a gravel road. Of course, 29 is not all irriating codswallop. But even tracks like The Sadness, with its Tex-Mex allure, is spoiled by inmature lyrics. He'll get there eventually because he does have talent. And 29 is probably his best effort since Heartbreaker. He just has to stop trying too hard and remember that one good well-crafted song is worth more, artistically and emotionally, than three albums of what Dylan once referred to as vomit writing.

I haven't bought the second album from last year yet and I wasn't too let down by Cold Roses because I knew what to expect from it but Jesus 29 was a disappointment. I've always liked Adams' piano driven stuff (Sylvia Plath, Sky Turns Blue) and the pre-release press made it sound as though it was going to be in that vein. It's just not very good is it?

I think it's a terrible review. The writer spends more lineage on Adams' personal life than he does describing what the album actually sounds like. Directed by a underlying theme of all things country, the writer sways way off topic to an almost sensationalist writing style, where he concentrates his efforts on making Adams sound like an amateur. That is fair enough if he feels like that about the artist, but he then contradicts all that right at the end of the review. Did he like or dislike this album? It's not really clear when he spends most of time citing other artists as the people who have been ripped off, but then says its his second best album. Granted that Adams hasn't done himself any favours through the years with infamous onstage antics and tour cancellations. But what has his father leaving home or who he has dated got to do with informing the readers of what his new album sounds like. Yes it is his third album within a year, nobody has to buy all three of them. And I think that the writer has totally missed the point of this album and therefore turned a review into a piece that should be titled 'Why can't he be more like Bob Dylan?'.

Here here. I hate lazy journalism and that is a prime example. Its a review of Ryan adams the guy not the album 29.

I think he flatters to deceive. I find Heartbreaker and Gold to be completely over-rated and Demolition is his best album and that's just a collection of b-sides and demos. Love is Hell has about 4 good tracks. He does have talent but when I listen to Josh Rouse I think of what Adams could/should be.

Lets be fair to Mr. Carr (who is a member of Horslips after all) Here are some of his pertinant comments. "Adams, a 31-year old musician hellbent on making a career out of underachieving, has released, not one, not two, but THREE albums in the last seven months...these albums of noodling alt country jams and unfocused country honk " "29, the latest conceptual nine-track set comprising one song for each year of his twenties no less, which some befuddled surburban cowboys are trying hard to convince themselves is a work of exceptional merit." "The Grateful Dead, Neil Young, Gram Parsons and every other performer whose work Adams blatantly recycles in the misguided belief that his is an original voice" "Adams lead the so-so alternative country rock band Whiskeytown through a series of albums that promised much but never delivered". "Hear the title track, which opens this collection, and marvel at how Adams claims to have written the song. Not even Noel Gallagher would have the nerve to try to claim authorship of a song that owes so much to the Dead's anthem Truckin'" "29 is not all irriating codswallop. But even tracks like The Sadness, with its Tex-Mex allure, is spoiled by inmature lyrics". "three albums of what Dylan once referred to as vomit writing." I think what Mr. Carr is saying, very clearly, is that (B)Ryan Adams is a pastiche merchant who writes crap songs. And I agree with him. Country ? Country me arse.

"three albums of what Dylan once referred to as vomit writing." didn't dylan mean that as a compliment? i haven't bought a ryan adams album since love is hell... heartbreaker is still my favourite... i still think he's a genius though... just a genius needing someone to tell him which tracks to put on his albums... if he'd released say 3 twelve song albums since heartbreaker, i reckon they'd all have been classics

You can't take anything that Eamonn Carr says seriously. Awful writer, awful music critic and awful person.

well, in a publication like the Herald, reviews generally are written to entertain, not inform. It's not badly written. And yes, Palace, Heartbreaker is the best album.

Back in 2001, I wrote a review of Heartbreaker by Ryan Adams on these hallowed pages (http://www.cluas.com/music/albums/ryanadams.htm), Since then I have concluded that it could well have been the best breakup album since Blood on the Tracks. Would Dylan describe his own work as "vomit music"? Since then I have followed his career with interest. His lowest point could well be Rock'n'Roll, an ill-conceived and poorly executed garage rock album. But I never ever felt that he wasn't trying.... that he wasn't exploring. The guy lives for his music. Sure he is infuriating, contrary but the talent is there. Somewhere. This review is a disgrace, in my opinion. The writer concludes that the 29 album is Adams' best since Heartbreaker. Is this a recommendation or not? The writer's command of English is, at best, tabloid-lite but, at worst, completely incomprehensible. Can anyone explain how the following sentence makes sense in the context of the review - "So the uncanny Adams has doled them out one at a time."? I feel that Cold Roses is the real sign that Adams' is on an upward curve. It could do with some judicious editing though. 29 was recorded before any of the previous 2005 records and sounds like it to these ears - but there are some beautiful moments on there. There are many more deserving targets than Ryan Adams. Oasis' Don't Believe the Truth an Album of the Year?

that review is a good example of what happens when the primary motive of the writer is simply to take as many cheap shots as possible. instead of a fair critique of the album, we get a confused, nasty and ultimately useless mess. on the one hand, eamonn carr apparently thinks that ryan adams is wasting his talent through laziness, accusing him of churning out albums and borderline plagiarism, but then finishes up calling '29' his best effort since 'heartbreaker', and suggests he should stop trying so hard. if there was such a thing as a 'confused' smiley, i'd put one right " " there. the references to ryan adams' private life are as irrelevant as they are mean-spirited, and the line about dragging adams' guitar from the back of a pick-up truck is in particularly poor taste. overall, a waste of time. in fact, the ink and column inches would have been better spent on an educational piece explaining the difference between "ryan" and "bryan" for the benefit of the weak minded. personally i think there are some really good tracks on '29', but 'heartbreaker' is still tops, closely followed by the 'love is hell' eps.

jaysus! not again! by my count that's the third post that rev jules has erased - way to stand by what you say.

Well, I was feeling stoked after surfing and felt prehaps to live and let live, but now, its raining and here is my post reinstated. There is nothing borderline about Adams' plagerism or Carr's accusation of same; Ryan is a blatant rip off merchant...but of course, you had to be a fan. Another simpering, wet, whiny, bland balladeer, pretending to be something they ain't. I suppose you like James Blunt too. To summarise: Bryan Adams: Poor man's Bruce Springsteen Ryan Adams: Poor man's everybody else And whils't I'm at it...the track listing for Rock n Roll points to some fairly wide ranging 'influences', ie, rip offs. 'The Drugs Not Working' 'She's Lost Total Control' 'Wish You Were Here' As for James Blunt, I saw that link you posted to that cartoon. There was an infinitely better (ie: actually funny) send up of him on BBC's Dead Ringers Xmas Special. Can't see why you don't like him, its more of the same dreary, touslehaired balladry you champion. Maybe its because he wasn't pretentious enough for you. Anyway, its good to see you have more than one cd in your collection.