Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker

Decade - 2000s


Label - Bloodshot
Producer - Ethan Jones
Country - US
Genre - Alt Country

1	(Argument With David Rawlings Concerning Morrissey)	0:37
2	To Be Young (Is to Be Sad, Is to Be High)	3:04
3	My Winding Wheel	3:13
4	AMY	3:46
5	Oh My Sweet Carolina	4:57
6	Bartering Lines	3:59
7	Call Me on Your Way Back Home	3:09
8	Damn, Sam (I Love a Woman That Rains)
9	Come Pick Me Up	5:18
10	To Be the One	3:01
11	Why Do They Leave?	3:38
12	Shakedown on 9th Street	2:53
13	Don't Ask for the Water	2:56
14	In My Time of Need	5:39
15	Sweet Lil Gal (23rd/1st)	3:39

Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker (2000)

I'm quite open to alt country. I'm a huge Wilco fan and also love Tweedy's stuff in Golden Smog so I was quite expecting to like Ryan Adams, or at least think it is a pretty good album.

And yep, it ended up just "pretty good".

As the title suggests, Heartbreaker is an album about....heartbreak. Not quite as emotionally intimate (or one noted) as Beck's Seachange, but it is still an album essentially about the ups and numerous downs of love.

Two problems for me with this album - one is that it's very front loaded and so drags about 3/4 of the way through. The second is that it's about 5% too country rather than alt-country for my tastes. That of course, is not the album's fault.

Generally though, I like it and I'm keeping it. The duet with Emmylou Harris is sweet and I really like Adams' voice. The first track (one of only two up tempo rock tracks) "To Be Young" is just very very fun.

Unfortunately I read this is his most under-produced album so I don't think I'll be checking out his later stuff that eagerly. Maybe one day.

Score - 8/10
Recommended - Yep.