905. Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker (2000)

Track Listing

1. (Argument with David Rawlings concerning Morrissey)
2. To Be Young (is to be sad, is to be high)
3. My Winding Wheel
4. AMY
5. Oh My Sweet Carolina
6. Bartering Lines
7. Call Me On Your Way Back Home
8. Damn, Sam (I love a woman that rains)
9. Come Pick Me Up
10. To Be The One
11. Why Do They Leave?
12. Shakedown on 9th Street
13. Don't Ask For The Water
14. In My Time Of Need
15. Sweet Lil Gal (23rd/1st)

Review

A great album of alt-country. That's what this is, Ryan Adams goes all the way back to Dylan and The Byrds for inspiration and this is a very good thing. The album is traditional in a way, but it is lyrically adventurous and musically interesting.

Ryan's voice is pretty great with a folksy timbre, his lyrics are also of very high quality. The songs arrangements are very effective in updating the music to a contemporary audience and it is not hard to see why this broke the barrier into a more indie audience.

Ryan Adams also has one of the most unfortunate names in good music... why keep that name? Adding a B to it would make it most unfortunate. Fortunately there is nothing in common between Bryan and Ryan. Great album.

Track Highlights

1. Come Pick Me Up
2. Oh My Sweet Carolina
3. My Winding Wheel
4. Shakedown on 9th Street

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

According to Adams, the album's title originates from a poster of Mariah Carey: "My manager called and said, 'You have 15 seconds to name this record,' "My eyes focused on this poster of Mariah wearing a T-shirt that said HEARTBREAKER. I just shouted, 'Heartbreaker!'"

Come Pick Me Up: