Sobriety agrees with Ryan Adams, giving him the one thing he's always lacked: focus. Easy Tiger suggested as much, with its tight, clean lines supported by its rehab-celebrating publicity, but its 2008 sequel, Cardinology, reveals that this straight and narrow path was no new detour for Adams, but rather the main road. It's the first time in his solo career that Adams has tread the same trail for two albums in a row, which only confirms the suspicion that now that Adams is sober, he's getting down to the business of being the troubadour he's always aspired to be, assisted by a band so sympathetic to his style that he's named his album after them. In a certain sense, Cardinology does play as a showcase for everything that Ryan Adams & the Cardinals can do: it's rooted in Deadsy country-rock but frequently strays into '80s alt-rock territory, whether it's the sighing, romantic "Cobwebs" or how "Magick" echoes like prime U2. The Cardinals shift moods with ease but Cardinology isn't quite a showcase for how the band plays -- it's too intimate and too concentrated on the songs to be a record about the group itself, nor is it about Adams' range, as earlier records like Gold were. This is a very simple, classicist singer/songwriter album where the pleasure is within the songs themselves, how "Born into a Light" unfolds with understated grace, how "Let Us Down Easy" glides into its call-and-response chorus, how "Natural Ghost" has a comforting spectral quality, how "Evergreen" skips delicately, how the details in "Sink Ships" spill out to its loping beat. These are modest pleasures, but these days Ryan Adams is all about carefully measured craft instead of big statements, a tradeoff that makes his albums more predictable but also more satisfying, as Cardinology quietly proves.
Ryan Adams, shenanigans and all, has kept me company over the years with his brand of alcohol-tinged balladry. Releasing album after album of alt-country ear candy, he has continually won me over and kept my interest, even when his talent and discipline was overshadowed by his coke-fueled blunders, even when he didn't share his pizza [...] No related posts.
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I skimmed two or three reviews of Ryan Adams and the Cardinals' latest release, Cardinology, last week and all basically boiled the album down to three words - "Eh, it's okay." I spent the weekend listening to the album, hoping a light would go off and I'd fall in love. I didn't, but it's not because [...]
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While most critics and listeners will receive it as merely 'disc 2′ of last year's Easy Tiger, Ryan Adams' Cardinology (a frank reference to his most excellent backing band)...
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Ryan Adams and the Cardinals - CARDINOLOGY [2008] 8.4/10 Ryan wears his heart on his sleeve. No doubt. He tried so hard to get his new album stamped with the name 'Cardinals', just Cardinals...No Ryan Adams, no Ryan Adams and the Cardinals, just Cardinals. When he eventually lost that battle with his record company, Lost Highway, he found the need to apologize to his band, and...
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Sounding mysteriously like a religious cult, 'Cardinology' attempts to brainwash us into thinking that Ryan Adams is nothing but an average country and western artist. Hopefully everyone won't pay a blind bit of attention to it, says Sean Bamberger.
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Another year, another Ryan Adams album. One of the most prolific singer/songwriters of this generation presents another solid set of songs after last year's Easy Tiger . Adams has spoiled us into expecting consistently great music and he and backing band The Cardinals don't disappoint. After apparently cleaning up his life and kicking drugs in 2005, Adams continues his messages of hope and...
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Ryan Adams teams up with The Cardinals and makes his best work, Cardinology. The record is full of...
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iLike have a stream of Ryan Adams' new album. We want to know what you first thoughts are and whether you think he's still guilty of quantity over quality? Will you be listening to it, or do you wanna wait for your copy on vinyl to arrive rather than listen to a stream?
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Love him or hate him, the man's hard to figure out. He's blogging one day, and the next, he's gone....erased, vanished. I then turn around and he's got a Youtube channel and he's videoblogging like Shakespeare if Shakespeare was running around in nothing but tubesocks. But then wait... I take a deep breath...and that page is erased too. And then there's the blog again. But the blog stops a...
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Ryan Adams and the Cardinals - CARDINOLOGY [2008] 8.4/10 Ryan wears his heart on his sleeve. No doubt. He tried so hard to get his new album stamped with the name 'Cardinals', just Cardinals...No Ryan Adams, no Ryan Adams and the Cardinals, just Cardinals. When he eventually lost that battle with his record company, Lost Highway, he found the need to apologize to his band, and...
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If I fall will you catch me?If I'm sorry, sorry enoughIf I fall will you pity me?Will you confuse my love for the cobwebs?Confuse my love for the cobwebs?Night, Mog. xoxox
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A guilty pleasure -- perhaps -- but roll down the window and enjoy!
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I am really enjoying the new one from Ryan Adams. This song is a stand out, but the whole album is some of the best work he's done since the Whiskeytown days. I am looking forward to seeing Ryan and the Cardinals Open for Oasis in December.
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Cardinology is out soon, and Ry's celebrating by setting videos of himself doing new songs on Vimeo to PRIVATE MODE. But since we have the password, you should probably head over and watch. (Password = "classic") Also, you can hear a snippet of the studio version of "Fix It" at the once-again resurrected Foggy blog (thanks again, Matthew B.).
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Ryan Adams teams up with The Cardinals and makes his best work, Cardinology. The record is full of...
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Sounding mysteriously like a religious cult, 'Cardinology' attempts to brainwash us into thinking that Ryan Adams is nothing but an average country and western artist. Hopefully everyone won't pay a blind bit of attention to it, says Sean Bamberger.
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'Cardinology' gets its release on October 28th via Lost Highway. Shitty title aside, I for one couldn't be more excited. Tracklisting and tour dates inside.
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Head over to Lost Highway records to listen to the first couple tracks off of the new Ryan Adams and the Cardinals album Cardinology “Fix It” and “Born into The Light”. Unfortunately the streaming is not working for me right now.. but give it a shot.
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On Saturday night, Mr. Adams found himself in the BBC studios doing a live session for Radio 2's Dermot O'Leary programme. Of course Cardinology was on the menu (via the Letterman-approved "Fix It"), but it seems the mercurial tunesmith is already looking beyond his recently released set, offering up an unexpected cover of the Foos' radio staple "Times Like These." The first few bars suggests ...
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For those losers with jobs who couldn't make it to SoHo on their Tuesday lunch breaks , Ryan made his second public appearance this week, at the Ed Sullivan Theater, saying hello to his friend and fan Mr. Letterman for last night's Late Show . Like when DR Adams visited Dave in those long gone Easy Tiger days, Team Letterman banked on the web appeal of the loony Tumblr mascot by airing one song...
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Our review of Cardinology is the second most active thread on Stereogum this week. That's partly because many of you feel passionately that the Cardinals have given us the very worst album cover of the year. The music is more promising. Listen to the whole thing at iLike while you imagine what nonsense Dr. Adams would write on your Facebook wall.
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New Wax Let me just preface this review with this: Heartbreaker is one of my favorite albums of all time. I'll always be a devoted Ryan Adams fan. Unfortunately, the more critical acceptance Ryan Adams obtains, the less I seem to enjoy his output. There were some solid tracks on Easy Tiger , but it was an overwhelmingly bland effort overall. Now a few spins into his new release with the C...
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| Title | Lyrics | Buy |
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| 1 Born into a Light |
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| 2 Go Easy |
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| 3 Fix It |
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| 4 Magick |
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| 5 Cobwebs |
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| 6 Let Us Down Easy |
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| 7 Crossed Out Name |
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| 8 Natural Ghost |
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| 9 Sink Ships |
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| 10 Evergreen |
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| 11 Like Yesterday |
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| 12 Stop |
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 "Cardinology")
