Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker

*Note: this is from a series of emails I am exchanging with a good friend about the Ryan Adams Discography.

This is a live-email of my thoughts as I listen to the album.  No wikipediaing or research on my mind.  Just initial impressions.

1046 pm - Track 1: An Argument Concerning David Rawlings
The only thing I can decipher from this argument without resorting to Wikipedia is that they are both big Morrissey fans, but I am too, so I don’t begrudge them that. At the same time I’m not sure why it is there unless it is to provide some sort of buffer for the ABSOLUTE sonic badassity that is about to ear fuck us.

VERDICT:  Could take it or leave it.

1047 pm - Track 2: To Be Young (Is to Be High)
Holy shit, from the 1, 2, count in then the high pitched squeal of the guitar lick to the bass line, I love everything about the opening and verses of this song. Amazing hook “when you’re young, you get sad, and you get high…Oh, Man!” Another fantastic guitar lick on top of an already bad ass bassier guitar lick.
I like when they decide to slow it down but the falsetto part of the song takes the foot off the gas pedal a little to much for my liking.  I definitely do like the way it kicks you in the ass when it all comes back though.  A little rockabilly session and they end us wanting, needing, more.  I could listen to this track on repeat.

Verdict: Instant Classic

1103 pm - Track 3: My Winding Wheel
A nice finger picked chord progression for the verse, fantastic melody, and the perfect complimenting drum track.  I’m not sure who produced this album but guessing (on a whim) that it was David Rawlings and he fucking killed these first two songs.  A faint hint of a moog or melotron or organ comes onto the last verse/chorus of the song and makes me think weepy-eyed.  A definite compliment

Verdict: Instant Classic

1107 pm - Track 4: Amy
Sort of strange vocal melody that perfectly traces the melody of the guitar (a personal pet peeve.)  Again that moog or melotron or whatever appears accompanying Adams’ and his guitar.  Also a whole a string quartet or just violins maybe.  I don’t mind them.  I can’t stop thinking about how disappointing this melody feels after the genius of the first two.  Lyrics are enjoyable enough.  The melody of the chorus is pleasant enough but again the guitar plays parallel to the melody.

Verdict: Good song, but feel let down after the high of the first two flawless tracks. I suppose it had to happen sometime.  Finished this whole thing, verdict included and realized I still had one minute left in the song.  Losing even more points now. Flourish of strings and ride symbol at end of song took points away.

1110 pm - Track 5: Oh My Sweet Carolina
Holy shit.  The simple guitar, the bold melody, his voice, amazing.  A few piano keys to accompany, it may not even need that but, it works brilliantly.  No liner notes on SPOTIFY, which is terrible in this 21st century world, but the female that accompanies him is Emmy Lou Harris and the first time she came in I got chills. The next verse we get a solid, simple drum beat.  The piano comes in a lithe heavier, chords now, some organ for the second chorus.  I am lying on my stomach with my eyes closed.  The piano solo is nice, it gives the song fluidity, but it all feels superfluous to build it up just to strip it back down.  Maybe the beauty is in the excess though.

“I miss Kentucky and I miss my family…”

To my knowledge Ryan Adams has never stepped foot in Kentucky besides on a tour bus but I believe him, and I feel sympathy for him, maybe he just misses the bourbon but I do too if I don’t have it for a while.

Verdict: Surprisingly, as overplayed as I felt it was 14 years ago, today this song is my favorite on the album thus far, and I cannot say enough about how amazing I think To Be Young is…Amazing!

1116 pm - Track 6: Bartering Lines
Awesome start.  More guest vocals from a female singer that I cannot recognize. I think he’s playing a Resonator here instead of a classic acoustic, the sound is hard, like this guy could kick my ass.  I feel like this song was the spawn of the later folk rock group “The Civil Wars.”  I bet they covered this song stoned and decided they could just recreate this song 30 times and still sell 100,000 records. They were right, unremarkably. This is the kind of song that if someone puts out on a mediocre record it stands out and screams for repeat listens.  Somehow, because of the enormity of the awesomeness of this album it just kind of was lost to my memory.
Just harmonies and banjos here near the end of the song.  Always a way to pump you up.

Verdict: Wow, another great song.

1119 pm - Track 7: Call Me On Your Way Back Home
Sitting on my couch now with a slight grin on my face.  Unbelievable string of songs.  While Bartering Lines may have been a fore bearer to The Civil Wars, this track feels like a fore bearer to Damian Rice (I don’t know when Damian Rice started, literally no idea, just that he had a song that Clive Owen, Julia Roberts movie).  The strings sort of sound like they’re coming from an 80s synthesizer, but the lyrics and melody are phenomenal.  Even a timpani in there.  The first use of the harmonica on the record and it is a resounding success.  Feel like they could scale back the synth strings and let the harmonica feature a little more.

Verdict: This is getting ridiculous. Great song.

1123 pm - Track 8: Damn Sam (I Love a Woman that Rains)
I feel like Adams’ thrives as a melodicist more than a lyricist.  This feels like a b side, but works as a way to give us a break from the unending onslaught of slower “heartbreakers.”  Maybe an homage to someone that had to influence him, Bobby D.

Verdict: A decent enough track. A breather that fits well into the flow of the album.

1125 pm - Track 9: Come Pick Me Up
Here is that harmonica I wanted!  Again with just an amazing melody at the hook, some more female backing, which I know he was used to in his band before this (Whiskeytown).  A full band that sounds like its played live.  A weird kind of finger picking repetitive banjo action during the chorus which leads a little to be desired. The piano slides in effortlessly and beautifully.  The drums are understated but still make it feel like a rock song.  Its almost like the banjo player that day did not know how to play exactly, so they just said “keep your fingers like this and use this pick up and down.”  Which is alright, because the song does just fine with that one distracting detail.  “The I wish you’d make up my bed,” part is fucking fantastic.  Again the lyrics seem a little fast and loose but the tone of the song is just fucking perfect.  I can smell the trailer park out of this MacBooks speakers.

Verdict: Might be the most complete track on the record.  Amazing that it feels like the 6th single so far.

1130 pm - Track 10: To Be The One
The harmonica is really making itself known on the second side of this record. I’m not entirely sure on this song, but 1:34 in I’m wondering aloud if this is the first stinker on the album, but then he came in with “the empty bottle IT misses you,” and I am reminded of Uncle Tupelo and I think if this was a Tupelo track I would like it more.  Maybe this is the first song on the album that does not feel genuine, if that makes sense.  It is like Ryan Adams is playacting through this one.

Verdict: Okay song, it is the first less than good song on the album.

1133 pm - Track 11: Why Do They Leave?
Now it feels like he got carried away.  This song to me feels like a b side, something that is not quite finished.  The “simple cards and things” hook is beautiful, and genius, and I get giddy every time it rolls around, but lots of the rest of the song is very, very, blah.  More harmonica.  More guitar tracing the vocal melody almost exactly, more organ squealing in the background.

Verdict: I think this is a better song than To Be The One but still not as fleshed out as some of the better tracks we had heard earlier.  Feels like the third “filler” track of the album.

1137 pm - Track 12: Shakedown on 9th Street
Badass guitar lick.  Silly lyrics but the song is all about energy and the guitar cuts through everything else.  As this album progresses, and I do really like this song, it has me tapping my toe, shaking my hips, I wonder if this is sort of a track by track homage to everything that made Ryan Adams who he is.  I may be gifting him entirely too much credit for something that because it is easy to create a ton of homages to people subconsciously but, just a thought.
Most of these songs are so tonally different that there has to be something to it.  

Verdict: A great rock song, and another incredible live song for him to play when he tours on the record with To Be Young.  Coming in at just over 2:30 minutes it is the perfect length.  A very fun song.

1140 pm - Track 13: Don’t Ask for the Water
I have literally no thoughts.  None at all.

Verdict: If Ryan Adams made a song patronizing Ryan Adams this would be it.

1143 pm - Track 14: In My Time of Need
I’m not big on him whispering into the mic at the beginning of the track.  I do love the guitar, and the backing piano.  I think this is the song Don’t Ask For the Water dreamed of being.  Finger picked minor chords are to Ryan Adams what low fastballs are to (Cardinals first baseman) Matt Adams, HOME RUN MATERIAL. The banjo comes back here, a little palm muting, and Adams gets his signature drawl going.  I cannot explain what makes this song so much better than the one that precedes it but it is, and Ryan Adams has to know it, which is why he chose to close with this much better song.

I think Ryan Adams was probably 25-27 when this came out, maybe younger, maybe older, anyways this song is the first one that has lines of real inspiration the last stanza about “being married young, et al.”

Verdict: Another great song.

1149 pm - Track 15: Sweet Lil’ Gal (23rd/1st)
This song must be a later SPOTIFY addendum.  I have never heard it before. Sounds like Adams free styling on a Rhodes which is alright I guess.  Like this clear B-Side more than Don’t Ask for the Water and he somehow put THAT on the album.

NO VERDICT NOT ON THE ALBUM

ALBUM VERDICT:  8 Amazing songs.  2 Really Good songs.  Don’t Ask for the Water should have never made the album.  I feel the same way about To Be The One.  If he would just put out a 10 track album and nixed those two tracks this is a (arguably?) flawless album.  None the less this is for better or worse (sorry Tupelo) the definitive folk rock album of our time until someone else comes and takes the title from him.

Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker (2000): I love this album.


Next up is Ryan Adams’s Gold (2001)

Snowpiercer and how are VOD numbers not public?

I rented Snowpiercer on VOD tonight and I was left with a couple of thoughts.

1)  How in the hell are Video on Demand numbers not public?  It amazes me that both the cable providers and distributors have not allowed some sort of boxofficemojo.com for VOD numbers to exist.  I think this is valuable information for indie filmmakers and indie distributors.

2)  Brave, action film making is still possible and big movies can be made and still be entertaining.  Unfortunately, Snowpiercer will not have box office success like Transformers or the new Cars movie but it was refreshing to see an exciting action with at least a nod to some sort of social issue.

3)  I loved the film.  A fun ride, exactly what you want from an action flick.

4)  Now a tall glass of wine and finishing Henry Miller's late trilogy with Nexus.

Editing your own work is hard.

I began the re-reading of this manuscript today and it is more brutal than I had imagined.  There are obviously parts you want to kiss and hold dear and then the next paragraph will make you feel like a hack and want to throw the whole thing into a wastebasket.

I suppose this is par for the course, especially for a first time novelist.  I will say that even though I wrote this without an outline my background in screenplay writing, which is almost purely structural, helped immensely.

There is a story here most importantly.  Prose can be manipulated or removed all together but we need our hero to go through his ups and downs (as demonstrated so brilliantly by Mr. Vonnegut.)

This process will be taxing, but simultaneously rewarding.

If nothing else, I just want to continue to grow as a writer.

I may need a beer or two as I re-read this, but to paraphrase Peter de Vries: "Write sober, edit drunk or write drunk, edit sober."

From Draft One On...

Two months ago I had accomplished something I had wanted to do my entire life.  I finished my "novel."  The manuscript for How I Broke Into Heaven came in at 220 pages and nearly 55,000 words.  The story felt strong in some places and weak in others.  I did not use an outline, hell most of the time I did not even know where the story was going.

It felt amazing, for about three minutes.  Then I realized that it had taken me about a year to finish the manuscript.

The writer I was at the beginning of the journey and the writer I grew to be were vastly different.  There were tonal differences throughout as my life went from good to great to bad to worse and back to good.

That said I still like the story that is buried in there deep beneath all the bullshit that lends itself to first drafts.  I also remind myself that the first draft may not be the end of it but it is the most important step.  You must sit down and write, if you want to be a writer.  Regardless, of the success or publication of this manuscript and the couple screenplays that preceded it, I can now honestly call myself a writer.  A good one?  Probably not yet.  But a writer nonetheless.

I promised myself eight weeks off to work on a screenplay but now am forced to delve back into How I Broke Into Heaven.

I have written second, third, fourth, fifth, drafts of screenplays but that is a different animal than a manuscript.

I suppose my game plan from here on out is something like this;

1) Re-read in entirety, take detailed notes, highlight thoughts I love, try to remain objective and dismiss material that doesn't lend itself to the story.

2) Re-write the entire novel from page one.  No copy and pasting, no transcribing long blocks of text from the finished manuscript.  Explore ideas that you like with an open mind.  Do not attach yourself to past thoughts.  Remind yourself to always serve the story.

3) Finish re-write in two months to try to keep quality of writing consistent throughout.  

4) The novel itself is the telling of two parallel stories.  I would like to try to make sure those two stories match thematically and tonally throughout.

5) Aim to be a more visual storyteller.

6) Be honest to yourself and to your story.

So on July 23rd, 2014 here we go.

The Breaks of the Game - David Halberstam

The Breaks of the Game by David Halberstam
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Halberstam's The Breaks of the Game chronicles the turbulent season of the Portland Trailblazers two years removed from their Championship season.

The book doesn't tell the story of the cohesive team as much as the individual stories that make for a tediously long NBA season.

Incredible insight into the responsibility these grown men feel being paid a princely sum to play a child's game. From the coaches to the general manager to the lead scout the player personnel feel the pressure of the surmounting television money that is ever increasingly surrounding the game.

A great, and I think timeless look, at how mentally strong a human being must be to perform as a professional athlete at the highest level.

Highly recommended.

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What the Dog Saw - Malcolm Gladwell

What the Dog Saw and Other Adventures by Malcolm Gladwell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What can I say about Malcolm Gladwell except everything he has written has been an absolute joy to read.

This unlike his other books I have loved, Outliers, Tipping Point, is merely a collection of essays that have appeared in the New Yorker.

At over 400 pages the book is no quick read but the essays are so damn enjoyable that I finished quickly enough.

Again, this is only receiving four stars in comparison to two of his other works which were worthy of the fabled five star praise.

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The Million Dollar Portfolio - Who Cares?

The Motley Fool Million Dollar Portfolio: The Complete Investment Strategy that Beats the Market by David Gardner
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Inspiring but only quasi informative book about beginning in the stock market.

Definitely dedicated to those long term investors with plans of buying Dividend stocks.

Overall worth the read but not something I will be revisiting in the future.

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