Ryan AdamsEasy Tiger
After hitting rehab for an ever-popular career reinvention, Ryan Adams hit the studio again to start recording Easy Tiger. With his newfound life direction, this album was billed as the second coming of his debut Heartbreaker by a little magazine named Rolling Stone. But Heartbreaker it is not; rather, this album was somewhat unexpected in execution and an overall letdown as far as inventiveness.
I heard the lead single "Two" (with vocal assistance from Sheryl Crow) when it first came out on Adams' MySpace. I was willing to think Adams could turn it around and escape bad lyrics like "It takes two / when it used to take one." I was also willing to admit that although the music was tight, it was borderline mom-rock. Being the fan that I am, I even preempted and downloaded the leak hoping to strike gold and uncover some hidden gems buried deep inside the album.
Before we get into how much of a buzzkill this entire affair is, let's at least hit on some of the good things - surprisingly there are a few highlights on this release. "Off Broadway" finally made it onto a complete, studio release after being spotted on the bootleg Suicide Handbook, but the version was vastly changed. It wasn't the stripped down, no frills version; it's more stylized and radio-friendly. "Tears of Gold" and "Everybody Knows" aren't that bad either. Both tracks have remnants of Adams's old Whiskeytown and/or Cardinals' collaboration days. But they aren't "Come Pick Me Up" or "Dear Chicago" good.
