This album confounds me. Released at the height of Ryan Adams's arrogant phase (drinking a bottle of wine over the course of a set, belligerently shouting down people who requested Bryan Adams songs), Gold feels a little self-indulgent, but it's hard to pinpoint why. I like most of the songs individually - or at least lots of parts of the songs - but few have ever found their way onto my Shuffle.
It took me a couple commutes to get through the whole album - not because it's too long (which it is, at 15 or 16 tracks), but because nothing particularly grabbed me. I found myself in the middle of songs, songs I could sing along to, not remembering them having begun.
This album could really go anywhere in my list, especially given its nascency. Ryan Adams is a bigger name, and probably a better artist than the guys from Slowreader, but I don't think I'd put his album into the CD player over theirs, to be honest. Frankly, I'd even opt for Toad the Wet Sprocket if you put a gun to my head (actually, I'd probably do other things if you put a gun to my head, none of them album-related).
I saw Ryan Adams on the street once. He was talking to Norah Jones on the street after a concert she'd given with her country band, The Little Willies. He was shaggy and scruffy and short - if someone hadn't told me who he was, I wouldn't have known who he was. Parallels are funny things.
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