Album Club - Week 86: 26.03.13: Whiskeytown - Strangers Almanac (Deluxe Edition) 1997

[Album Club]

With apologies to Tim for posting his choice a day late, here's this week's Album for your delectation.

Whiskeytown - Strangers Almanac
Released: July 1997 (deluxe March 2008)
13 tracks - Running time 51:52
Alt.Country/Rock

The Album:
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w63/greatgig/51eFybMLYoL_zps0c74ff9b.jpg

http://open.spotify.com/album/35lWNQB6g0vI0EeBtg8iJM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strangers_Almanac

The Band:
Ryan Adams - Acoustic/electric guitars, piano, banjo, percussion, lead vocals and principal songwriter
Phil Wandscher - Electric guitar, organ, percussion and backing vocals
Caitlin Cary - Violin and lead/backing vocals
Jeff Rice - Bass guitar
Steven Terry - Drums, percussion and backing vocals

Well I promised Alex a pure country album for my next choice - now I could be wrong, but I still don't think AoS is really ready for country as it hardly ever gets played in Spinning Today and judging by the comments made about Lyle Lovett, its not a genre many folk on here enjoy - unless of course there are some closet fans hiding out there . . . . ? Anyway, if you want to pigeon hole this album (sorry Chris) this 'could possibly' be described as an alt.country album with some rock thrown into the mix, in truth it probably sits as half country and half rock n' roll and the songwriter has been described as many things, but he's not IMO a 'country' artist, in fact one of his strengths is an ability to seamlessly switch musical styles. So, I chose this album mostly to introduce members to the hugely talented and still relatively unknown 38 year old singer/-songwriter Ryan Adams, who hails from Jacksonville, North Carolina. Ryan is one of my most played and favourite singer/songwriters and doesn't seem to feature on AoS that often. This album was predominantly written by Ryan and is the bands second offering from a total of 3 Whiskeytown releases. The band have long since ceased to exist and even when they did, it was a very short lived and turbulent career, but this album shines through as a classic 90's release and a high-point in Ryan's career.

What makes this particular album stand out are the 24 extra tracks which were not included on the original release. I guess its cheating as the original album was just 13 songs (this is presented whole as the first 13 tracks), but this release is well worthy of a place in any serious music fans collection, not only for the original album but for the excellent extra material, which really highlights Ryan's talent. You could vote on just the 13 tracks if you like, but I strongly urge you to explore the second bonus disc if you can.

Ryan Adams has had a very turbulent and sporadic career, marred at times by ill-tempered outbursts and drug abuse, together with breaks from both recording and performing, but these never last as long as he claims they will and when working he can turn out product at a prodigious rate. As well as Whiskeytown there has been Ryan Adams & The Cardinals and now his predominantly solo career, but he did perform at the Albert Hall with a full band last week for the first time in 4 years. If you are new to Ryan Adams and like what you hear, you are in for a treat as there is a lot to discover, not just from Whiskeytown, but also from his Cardinals period and the solo albums. Musical milestones for me are his highly acclaimed solo début Heartbreaker, followed by Gold and his latest album Ashes & Fire, but they are all good TBH - there are also some real gems of performances from some EP's, in particular a live in the studio performance of Dear John on Everybody Knows, which he co-wrote with Norah Jones and is truly wonderful. For me Ryan is often at his very best performing solo with just a guitar or piano as its clear he struggles with the world at times and people often piss him off - however, judging by his very relaxed performance at the Albert Hall, it looks like he might be mellowing. This was the best I have seen him and it was a truly spellbinding performance.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whiskeytown

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_Adams

[John]

I rarely listen to country I have tried to get into Ryan Adams before but guess just a bit to commercial for me
I quite like some Steve Earl but his music is a lot darker
I let you know how I get on

[Audioman]

Looking forward to this. I only have Heartbreaker and Ashes and Fire by Ryan Adams. Jury is out on both still. Both great in places. The fact that Glyn Johns produced Ashes and Fire swayed me to try it. Both vinyl pressings aren't the best - probably from Rainbo or United in the US which often Stink. I'm not sure having 24 bonus tracks is a good thing as overlong extended editions rarely hold my attention.

[Bazil]

Played Ashes and fire on Spotty a few times but can't get into it, I do have Easy Tiger by Ryan Adams and The Cardinals (because it was on orange vinyl :D ) and I quite like that. I shall give this a few spins :)

[Tim]

I'm not in all honesty expected this to score highly, but maybe it will bring something new to somebody ;)

John, Ryan Adams .... commercial :scratch: never thought of him as that TBH, but thanks for giving it a go - I like Steve Earle too and I really rate his son, Justin Townes Earle, superb songwriter and a fun live act too.

[John]

Well perhaps commercial the wrong word I kind of see him as AOR but in a country vain if that makes sense (at least what I heard)
I check out Justin Towns Earl

[Tim]

Well perhaps commercial the wrong word I kind of see him as AOR but in a country vain if that makes sense (at least what I heard)
I check out Justin Towns Earl
John, try Harlem River Blues and Nothing's Gonna Change The Way You Feel About Me Now. The last album is especially poignant when you research a bit about his life story and what an arsehole his father was to him. Justin had a very troubled childhood and pretty much all of it was down to Steve. His name comes from the singer/songwriter Townes Van Zant who Steve greatly admired. TVZ (also a great talent) may not be to your liking however, but I rate him highly as well - he has a strong cult following amongst musicians, but is relatively unknown, especially over here. He died aged 52 following years of substance abuse.

[johnB]

Tim, thanks for putting this album up. Nice to see some alternatives to the usual Prog-twiddling :)

In my opinion Ryan Adams is a genius (if somewhat flawed, but which great artists aren't?).

I like the Whiskeytown stuff but his first two solo albums, Heartbreaker and Gold, are great. However, when he plays solo he is just stunning.

Anyway in support of Country music here's Dale Watson singing about "new country".

http://youtu.be/lCGIQZQgQa4

[RichB]

A nice 7 out if 10 from me.... Well recorded, good songwriting, talented musicians, I think there's enough in here to transcend the country label given. This one is providing an enjoyable bedtime listen on my headphones. I'll spin it again on the main system.

[The Grand Wazoo]

You've got to worry about an album with a bloke called (B)Ryan Adams on it, playing a track called 'Everything I Do'!
But it's not like that at all, honest!

This album is excellent - I've been buying Ryan Adams albums since I got 'Heartbreaker', his first album, out of my local library soon after it was released in 2000. After a while I discovered he'd been in Whiskeytown and investigated their work.

As Tim suggests might be the case, like the Lyle Lovett, I reckon it's another one of those records that are done an injustice by being labelled as country music - it has rather more bite than that label implies.

A good solid 8/10 from me.

[John]

Sorry only a 4 from me just cannot really get into Ryan

[synsei]

Okay as background music I guess but that's about it for me. There are some Eagles influences here but not enough to keep me interested, 4/10 from me also.

[Bazil]

Go back a few years and I would have used this as a frisbee but times change , we change, past prejudices no longer apply.
So , yes I like it , very listenable 8/10

[Tim]

Go back a few years and I would have used this as a frisbee but times change , we change, past prejudices no longer apply.
Can't argue with that ;)

Do try Heartbreaker and especially Ashes & Fire by Ryan Adams - Love is Hell is very good too.

[Audioman]

This is a rather pleasant listen if a little bland. Deserves 7/10. Not sure if I would buy it though. Only listened to the original album tracks via spotify.

[MartinT]

It's all very pleasant but it doesn't fire me up. It's not that I don't like Country, I just need something like a great voice to trigger my senses into listening intently. To be honest, Ryan Adams just hasn't got the voice for me. Perhaps this would be very much more interesting live? 5/10.

[keiths]

I've been catching up on recent album club selections over the last few evenings. This is the first Ryan Adams I've listened to and rather enjoyed it - certainly country influenced, but with pretty good crossover appeal, I'd have thought. 7/10 from me.

[Alex_UK]

Well, I'm certainly not anti-Country, and this is pleasant enough but like a couple of others have said, it doesn't really fire me up, so I don't think it would be one I'd buy, but I will certainly include it in my Spotify listening - 7/10.

I do have to say though that it sounds excellent even through Spotify (Premium - I'm guessing this must be 320kbs) and very well recorded/produced.

[Tim]

and very well recorded/produced.
That was part of the reason I chose it Alex, as I know a lot here are influenced by such things - but it really needs to be heard on a full system to really 'get it'. I'm surprised by some of the remarks TBH, but then mention the word 'country' and y'all go running for the hill's here on AoS :lol:

Like Chris (TGW) I'm not that keen on labels, listen and see first before you hang a tag on something. I used to do that and missed out on so much great music - these days I know better and have learnt that 'country' is not what I thought it was, but then what is? There is some very fine work on this album, hence the deluxe edition release, but I'm biased. I certainly wouldn't personally call it a country album, very far from it ;)

Anyway, thanks to those that gave it a go - you might not thank me for my next choice either, which I just submitted for the next round.

:sofa:

[MartinT]

but then mention the word 'country' and y'all go running for the hill's here on AoS :lol:

I'm not sure that's the case really, Tim. There are a lot of open-minded members here and some of us have had a good listen. I think the problem boils down to style as there's country and then there's Country!

To me, an album like Emmylou Harris' Wrecking Ball is so excellent in every way, such a blazing achievement in her career, that half way into the first song you're not thinking country or any other genre, you're thinking 'bloody hell this is good'. The same goes for, for instance, Trio by Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt.

My issue is with twangy pleasant line-dancing fodder with non-notable singing voices that don't go anywhere and take a long time getting there :lol:

So really, putting music into genres often doesn't do it service. There's simply good music and poor music across all genres in my book.

[Tim]

So really, putting music into genres often doesn't do it service.
Indeed . . . I also think there are people who 'hear' music and those that 'listen' to music, these two are also very different.

Interesting though :)

Talking of Emmylou, I'm seeing her on Thursday and I cannot wait Martin - really, really looking forward to that one.

[MartinT]

Talking of Emmylou, I'm seeing her on Thursday and I cannot wait Martin - really, really looking forward to that one.

Now that I would have liked to have gone to :(

[Tim]

Now that I would have liked to have gone to :(
I think you still could ;)

http://www.eventim.co.uk/tickets.html?fun=erdetail&doc=erdetaila&erid=918625&affiliate=HAL&referer_info=AEG_HamApollo_HamApollo_Website_Emmyl ou_09052013