Music Collection #6: Ryan Adams, Love Is Hell

Artist: Ryan Adams
Album: Love Is Hell
Favorite Song: English Girls Approximately
Origin: Amoeba, $9.99

So this is Ryan Adams' mope-rock album. God, I hate that term. It is, I'll grant, an album of mostly downbeat love songs, but then, so is Heartbreaker. Where this album is different is in the production values - lots of reverb in the guitars and vocals - which give it more of an urban feel that Heartbreaker's decidedly country aesthetic. Lyrically, this album covers an urban landscape as well - London, Manhattan, Baltimore. Maybe that's why I like it so much - I've always been a city guy at heart. The country is nice to visit or drive through, but I'd much rather ride on a noisy streetcar through rainy streets at 2 o'clock in the morning. So I don't hear this as a depressing album, I guess, which is why I like it so much.

Another thing this album does well - and which Adams improves on with Jacksonville City Nights - is tell stories. Many songs up to this point in his career were very impressionistic. Dear Chicago, for instance, is a beautiful, heartbreaking song, but the details of the relationship that is breaking down in the song are pretty sketchy. With this album, especially This House Is Not For Sale, I See Monsters, and Thank You Louise, Adams starts to flesh out his tales with little details that make repeated listens more intesting - I'd probably heard I See Monsters a hundred times before Annie pointed out that it's above Adams' girlfriend having a nightmare.

Finally, I guess I couldn't cover this album without mentioning the most famous song - a cover of Oasis' Wonderwall. And I'll admit, that was the song that first made me intrigued about this album back when it wasn't a proper album, but rather two EPs. Wonderwall was probably my favorite track, too, the first dozen times or so I listened to the album. It's a great stripped-down cover of a song so iconic as to be almost un-coverable. But I think it's a testament to the strength of this album and it's ability to grow on me over time that Wonderwall now seems almost a gimmicky addition - not even one of the best half-dozen tracks, to be sure.

Incidentally, if you're only a casual Ryan Adams fan, this is the final essential album of his - in addition to Heartbreaker and Gold.