Album Club
27-03-2013, 20:40
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
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