Album of the Week #49: "Gold" by Ryan Adams

Zapp Brannigan

Winner of this week,

Comments and opinions!

raindog.promo

I thought Heartbreaker was class so went out and got Got Gold. Was a bit disappointed to be honest.

lordgoat

Gold is his worst album. A piece of pop-crap in my opinion.

JæKæ

I like about half of Gold. The mellow heartfelt songs are excellent like La Cienaga, Stars Go Blue, Wild Flowers. The more lively numbers are shiite, like Tina Toledo, Nobody Girl, Gonna make you love me.

Amazotheamazing

This album sounds like a bunch of well concieved pastiche songs, it's worth it to listen to the first 8 or so tracks and work out who he's ripping off on each track.

Bubs101

Harsh harsh words. Gold is a fantastic album and is certainly his most accesible album. As Jaekae pointed out, the heartfelt tracks are great, Stars go Blue and La Cienega are certainly some of his best and I have a massive soft spot for Harder now that it's over. As for the lively tracks being crap, they aren't . Firefly (which I'm pretty certain Lordgoat is reffering to aswell) is a great song. So what if it's poppy, just because something is poppy doesn't make it bad. Nobody Girl is a great track as is Enemy Fire. Tina Toledo is best forgotten though

lordgoat

Bubs101 wrote: »

Ht . Firefly (which I'm pretty certain Lordgoat is reffering to aswell) is a great song. So what if it's poppy, just because something is poppy doesn't make it bad.

Bubsy ya know i like ya but it's a **** song!! I cringe when i hear it or NY, awful songs!

Amazotheamazing

Bubs101 wrote: »

Harsh harsh words. Gold is a fantastic album and is certainly his most accesible album. As Jaekae pointed out, the heartfelt tracks are great, Stars go Blue and La Cienega are certainly some of his best and I have a massive soft spot for Harder now that it's over. As for the lively tracks being crap, they aren't . Firefly (which I'm pretty certain Lordgoat is reffering to aswell) is a great song. So what if it's poppy, just because something is poppy doesn't make it bad. Nobody Girl is a great track as is Enemy Fire. Tina Toledo is best forgotten though

Do you not think there's an element of "here's Ryan doing a Dylan-type song, here's Ryan doing a Van Morrison type song" and so on all the way through the album? I know Rock and Roll was his big joke album, but really think Gold is just a less obvious joke.

Bubs101

Smoothtalking me will make no difference Lordgoaty , Firecracker (yes i got the name wrong the first time) is amazing, NY is pretty good. Firecracker's harmonica bridge is a little cringeworthy but that's no bad thing. Is the Lion King a bad film because the end is cringeworthy? No.

As for the copying element, it's no secret that Ryan effectively copied Gram Parsons' style but I don't think gold is anything like Dylan and I'd be curious to see where you think it is. the piano on La Cienega is very anti-Dylan and I'd be of the opinion that his voice is too good to be dylanesque. Don't listen to Van so I can't comment but as for the Joke comment. Not only is it not a joke but you have just brought the wrath of Lordgoat down on you for insulting Rock'n'Roll

Amazotheamazing

The entire album isn't like Dylan, it's just one song, one of the opening ones.

Here's what Allmusic had to say (part of a generally positive review)

Half the fun of the album is playing "Spot the Influence": "Answering Bell" is a dead ringer for Van Morrison (with fellow Morrison enthusiast Adam Duritz on backing vocals), "Tina Toledo's Street Walkin' Blues" is obviously modeled on the Rolling Stones, "Harder Now That It's Over" sounds like Harvest-period Neil Young, "New York, New York" resembles Stephen Stills in his livelier moments (Stephen's son, Chris Stills, plays on the album), and "Rescue Blues" and "La Cienega Just Smiled" suggest the influence of Adams' pal Elton John. Of course, everyone has their influences, and Adams seems determined to make the most of them on Gold;

I'm surprised no-one else seems to have noticed it. It's been obvious to anyone I've spoken to in person about the album.

Course it's a fine line between being influenced and just taking the piss, I think Adams sails a little too close to the latter.

Bubs101

Well I have Harvest and I don't think that Harder now that it's over sounds like much on the album but I'm open to suggestions. I could see how the Rescue Blues sounds like Elton but La Cienega is far too non-extravagant for an Elton song. To me, it seems like they're strectching a little

jethro081

Bubs101 wrote: »

Smoothtalking me will make no difference Lordgoaty , Firecracker (yes i got the name wrong the first time) is amazing, NY is pretty good. Firecracker's harmonica bridge is a little cringeworthy but that's no bad thing. Is the Lion King a bad film because the end is cringeworthy? No.

As for the copying element, it's no secret that Ryan effectively copied Gram Parsons' style but I don't think gold is anything like Dylan and I'd be curious to see where you think it is. the piano on La Cienega is very anti-Dylan and I'd be of the opinion that his voice is too good to be dylanesque. Don't listen to Van so I can't comment but as for the Joke comment. Not only is it not a joke but you have just brought the wrath of Lordgoat down on you for insulting Rock'n'Roll

Ok two points.
1 To call this album a joke is wholeheartedly unfair. i can understand you not particularly liking it but you have to respect the variety and the craftmanship of the songs. it's not by any stretch of the imagination my favourite ryan adams album but its still pretty damn good.


2 Bubs i'm a massive RA fan and adore his work but Rock N Roll is a joke and a particularly un funny one at that. the song rock n roll is beautiful but its quite short. Ms. America is a good enough song but apart from that it's cringeworthy.

Apologies but its just my opinion.

Bubs101

jethro081 wrote: »

.


2 Bubs i'm a massive RA fan and adore his work but Rock N Roll is a joke and a particularly un funny one at that. the song rock n roll is beautiful but its quite short. Ms. America is a good enough song but apart from that it's cringeworthy.

Apologies but its just my opinion.

I never bothered getting Rock'n'Roll or Demolition because the reviews were so bad but I seem to remember Lordgoat defending it on more than one occasion. Also, why apologize?

lordgoat

Rock N Roll is a great great album. To me it reminds me of Monster by REM (not musically). Both completely unexpected by fans and generally slated by critics. I love both of them. Now RNR would not be my fav album of his but i just hate people slating it and singing the praises of Gold. I went back and re-listened to gold over the last two days, I forgot that La Ciegna is on it and it's def a saving grace for it. Overall it just grates on me so much. There's no edge or anything to it. Any of the decent lyrics that may exist (La Ciegna excluded) just get swamped and drowned out by loud brash chords and cheesy over production.

Also the summary from allmusic is a load of cock, i hate comparison to other artists as i think to write a review you should not need a paragraph of name dropping. There is no resembelence to Van or Elton John!

I think gold is his most successful album commercially (may not still be true) and i admit i do like some of the recent versions of tracks when played live (stars turn blue) and it probably got him a good bit of publicity when he needed it but for me it's an annoying little album.

Bubs def get demolition i won't push RNR on you just yet...

All opinion contained within are not to cause argument just to stir debate.

idlesupernova

Sweet Black Magic & The Bar Is A Beautifal Place are two magic tracks that should have been on the album and not the bonus disc that came with the original pressings. That being said I wish he put The Suicide Handbook out instead of Gold which is a great album, but TSB owns it. Fantastic album of songs




The Suicide Handbook is one of many unreleased albums by Ryan Adams, recorded at Javelina Studios in Nashville, Tennessee sometime in early 2001 (possibly January) soon before Adams' album Gold was recorded.

In Q Magazine, September 2007 edition, Adams states regarding the Suicide Handbook album, 'The album was supposed to be on Lost Highway (record label). It would have been the follow up to Heartbreaker. It was about some really heavy stuff and it's just.....I mean it is amazing. Beautiful strings. If anything it's my most majestic piece ever'.

In another interview from Harp magazine, Adams recalls the turmoil he was experiencing at the time: "I was really stressed out. I had a lot of personal things going on that were more than I could handle. Everyone was worried about me. I'd lost all this weight; there was a lot of Seconol involved. It was just a real bad time." Adams also recalls the studio session with fellow musician Bucky Baxter:

"Bucky [Baxter] and I decided to go into Javelina [Studios], which was RCA Two, Chet Atkins' room. We had one microphone, and I taught Buck the songs right before we played them. We did the original version of 'Answering Bell,' which was called 'Just Saying Hi' with different words. We did it all in one day, 21 tunes." [1]

It is a subdued acoustic record similar to Heartbreaker, but in contrast to Gold's higher level of production and more complex musical arrangements. Like Heartbreaker, it has a sad, sentimental tone concerning the breakup of an intimate relationship (while the title of "Idiots Rule the World" might indicate political overtones, Adams has claimed when playing it live that "it's about not being able to score chicks").

chris d

I must look into finding The Suicide Handbook in internet land. Terrible name mind.

Gold is brilliant you critical pigs*

The sweet, crisp tone when that telecaster comes in on the chorus of New York is sonically majestic. Then it turns into some Bruce Springsteen symphony of good. Great stuff indeed.

Firecracker is an effortlessly enjoyable way to spend three minutes. The man can knock out a tune.

On the critics side, Answering Bell nearly always get the skip treatment. I just don't like that vocal melody at the start. Money in the Bank is below par for him as well.

But back to the good stuff...
La Cienga,
Rescue Blues,
Nobody Girl,
Where do you go,
It's Harder Now,
Goodnight Hollywood Blvd

all out of the top drawer.
He's an impressive wanker when it comes to songwriting. To have, maybe 5 or 6 poor songs out of the amount of stuff he's released. (That 5 or 6 is totally off the top of my head, could be less or more for me. I'd have to think about it.)

Oh, and Rock'N'Roll is the balls. Saw the Cardinals in Cardiff last year and they finished with Note to Self: Don't Die. It was lovely filth.

*I don't think any of you are pigs really.

lordgoat

chris d wrote: »

I must look into finding The Suicide Handbook in internet land. Terrible name mind.

Gold is brilliant you critical pigs*

The sweet, crisp tone when that telecaster comes in on the chorus of New York is sonically majestic. Then it turns into some Bruce Springsteen symphony of good. Great stuff indeed.

Firecracker is an effortlessly enjoyable way to spend three minutes. The man can knock out a tune.

On the critics side, Answering Bell nearly always get the skip treatment. I just don't like that vocal melody at the start. Money in the Bank is below par for him as well.

But back to the good stuff...
La Cienga,
Rescue Blues,
Nobody Girl,
Where do you go,
It's Harder Now,
Goodnight Hollywood Blvd

all out of the top drawer.
He's an impressive wanker when it comes to songwriting. To have, maybe 5 or 6 poor songs out of the amount of stuff he's released. (That 5 or 6 is totally off the top of my head, could be less or more for me. I'd have to think about it.)

Oh, and Rock'N'Roll is the balls. Saw the Cardinals in Cardiff last year and they finished with Note to Self: Don't Die. It was lovely filth.

*I don't think any of you are pigs really.

Ah Mr D. I think i'm the only critical pig in regards to gold. And i know you love me. IT's still poor though i think it bottom of the RA pile for me. I have a copy of the suicide handbook (agree awful name alright) Whenever we get around to bumping into each other next i'll bring it along.

RNR is the balls alright.

Alice Junge

La Cienega Just Smiled and When the stars go Blue I think are two of the best songs he has ever done, as far as his best album, Heartbreaker is what he's all about!!!

chris d

Think Cold Roses & Jacksonville might be at the top of the pile for me. Playing with the Cardinals seems to be good for him, haven't heard of too many dodgy performances since they've been going.
Staying off the herion is probably a good idea too.

Gold has it's dodgy areas, but still gets a consistent play on the old pod.
One of the great artists of the time surely.