Ryan Adams – Easy Tiger (2007)

Ryan Adams has made so many albums, especially in his early career that it's difficult to remember the strengths of all of them. At the time when Easy Tiger was released, Ryan Adams released most of his albums with the band The Cardinals. Easy Tiger is also played with The Cardinals, but they are not credited in the album cover. Perhaps this was the record label's wish. This was a time in Ryan Adams' career when he was moving slightly away from his country and folk sound towards a more straightforward rock style. Nevertheless, most of the songs still have that Americana country feel to them. This was also the time when I didn't get that excited about new Ryan Adams albums anymore. It's not that there was anything particularly wrong with the songs, it was more just that he released so many albums in a row that it was difficult to keep up the full interest.



Despite of this, I did buy the album quite quickly after its release. It's one of those new versions of CD jewel case with round corners. I guess they were a bit stronger and didn't break as easily, but I still wish more artists would've released their albums in cardboard cases. There are various different versions of the album, but the only difference is the colour of the text Ryan Adams. My CD has it in yellowish orange instead of the blue in this blog post or green on Spotify version.

The album starts with the song Goodnight Rose. This song is still very much a mix of country and Southern rock. I'm reminded of some Grateful Dead songs actually. Two is a very typical Ryan Adams of this era. It's essentially a country song with lots of beautiful slide guitars. The melody is well written and catchy. Everybody Knows has more of a feel of early Adams albums. Perhaps it's because the song is mainly acoustic. Halloweenhead is the first proper rock song on this album. These kinds of songs didn't appear on Ryan Adams albums until he had released his album Rock n' Roll which was very different from the rest of this repertoire. Oh My God, Whatever, Etc. is my favourite song on this album. It's a classic Ryan Adams song with lots of acoustic guitar and gentle vocals that tremble beautifully. The chorus has some amazing banjo and piano sequences. Tears of Gold is a proper country song with lots of quite cheesy slide guitars. This kind of style took some getting used to when I started listening to Ryan Adams, but now I'm used to it and actually quite enjoy it. The Sun Also Sets us the longest song on the album with just over four minutes. Even this slightly longer time allows the song to live a lot more than many other songs on the album. I really like the divide between the verses and choruses. Off Broadway has some excellent metallic sounding acoustic guitars and high-pitched vocals. There are some similarities to Fleet Foxes in my opinion. Pearls on a String has some excellent banjo picking. I can almost feel the camp fire somewhere in the south of the US in a desert where people on the move play this song. Rip Off is cranking up the production. The song sounds quite polished in Tennessee style. Two Hearts is another rock song with excellent airy electric guitar riffs and smooth vocals. I love the simplicity of the melody especially in the chorus. These Girls takes a more acoustic approach and to great results. I really like these kinds of gentle and light songs from Ryan Adams the most. The album ends with I Taught Myself How to Grow Old, which is a proper country song with excellent harmonicas and some of the best vocals by Ryan Adams on this album.

Ryan Adams usually has quite straightforward music videos. The video for Everybody Knows is not an exception. It's just a live performance of the show in what looks like a training space or a small bar. It's fun to see the band in action and see just how appropriately country they look for this kind of music. Ryan Adams looks really stylish in his glasses and a hat.

I have way more Ryan Adams albums than I have time to listen. Even this album has an extension of two whole albums III/IV that I don't own, but I have listened to on a few occasion. I think Ryan Adams himself said that he realised at some point that he could be making a lot better albums if he just chose the best songs rather than publish everything he writes. This has meant that the later albums have been better wholes with a more concise theme. Then again, I do like listening to anything Ryan Adams has ever released and even if this album isn't among his best, it's still hell of a lot better than many other albums in this genre.

Listen to the album on Spotify.