during my recent travels throughout the interweb i came across a very cool, new collection of live swervedriver b sides and other oddities. in case you didnt know the swervedriver site also features live versions of each of their 4 records - which i still cannot recommend enough. here’s a brief sampling of some of their stuff. dont like to be spoonfed? then click here. btw, adam is releasing a new record, bolts of melody, on 8.26 in north america and 6.29 in australia. more information can be found right here.
kill the superheroes 3.19.98
zedhead 9.3.90 peel session
cars converge on paris 10.31.98
directors cut of your life 4.6.98
wrong treats off 99th dream
sci flyer off raise
havent really listened to easy tiger as of yet. for those who have what do you think? i listened to the first track and then got sidetracked but judging from that listen it sounds very promising.
part 2 of bedhead vol. 5 is below
17. pa
18. sweet illusions
19. to be young
20. wonderwall
21. dance all night
22. easy plateau
23. peaceful valley
25. this is it
26. come pick me up
27. madeline
28. meadow lake st.
29. nightbirds
31. like a whore
32. let it ride
33. september
I heard the new Ryan Adams. I don’t get it. It’s dull. I think he’s really lost it. He has no edge, no passion, no depth, no originality anymore. And I was the biggest fan you’d ever know back when gold came out.
Also: He’s thinking of officially releasing Bedhead, so you might want to be careful. Ryan’s been known to let his record company criminally prosecute bloggers.
Hi. Swervedriver is one of those bands I have heard (next to) nothing about/from, but I am interested in because of the continual praise from Jack Rabid of The Big Takeover mag. I will be very interested to sample these live tracks and see if they float my boat.
Bruce K.
ekko, thats kinda upsetting. well i guess more disappointing than anything. i guess hes gotten to the robert pollard stage in his career where he is just throwing shit out there to see what sticks - if anything. there’s no need for 4 ryan adams records over the course of a year. regarding the bedhead series, i have heard that he would be releasing it but from everything i understand there are a couple different versions of the series and god i hope he would include better versions of the tracks provided here and just about everywhere else on the interweb. thanks for the heads up though. i know you got a letter from the web police not to long ago - how freaky was that?
bruce, yeah definitely check em out man. i dont know how much justice the live tracks will do to them but they are definitely one of the most under appreciated bands of recent memory.
Easy Tiger definitely lacks some focus, much like Demolition it sounds like a collection of outtakes. But I guess you could also say it represents the ADD like nature RA is notorius for pretty well. Not sure what to think of the re-working of Hey There Mrs Lovely into These Girls. If I had heard this version first I don’t think I’d consider the calssic that it is(was) Highlights are OMG Whatever Etc,Pearls On A String and Everybody Knows. Halloweenhead which sounds silly on it’s own oddly enough somehow seems to work in context of the rest of the album.
All that said, I still think it will end up being one of his best sellers, though not really a classic for the long haul.
I don’t know if it’s because of the possible release of bedhead that they don’t, but none of the links work for the 2nd part of Vol. 5. Just a heads up.
all better now! thanks for the heads up andy.
i love the hell out of easy tiger. i think it’s fantastic. a few missteps but overall it’s great. goodnight rose is up there w/ my fave ryan tracks. people need to quit comparing everything ryan (and other artists in general) to their best stuff. sure you can criticize but not everyone’s going to top their best stuff w/ each new release. i never understood that. i know this isn’t as good as whiskeytown/heartbreaker or gold but it’s really good. hell, i think i like cold roses just as much or better than almost everything else he’s done.
Swervedriver were THE great underrrated band from the Creation Records heyday and well worth the praise Jack Rabid and anyone else gives them. For the few of us out there who hold them near and dear to our hearts there’s also The Setting Suns - a new collaboration between lead Swervie Adam Franklin and the drummer from Interpol, Sam Fogarino. EP due in the fall, the tracks on myspace sound BRILLIANT:
http://www.myspace.com/thesettingsuns
http://www.thesettingsuns.com/
How can people say that ryan adams lacks depth, originality, and passion?
Ryan Adams is one of the most hard working musicians in alternative music right now.
Just because he has alot of recordings doesn’t mean he’s just “throwing it out there.”
He’s expanding himself as a musician and reaching new audiences, without may i remind you, selling out to a faster paycheck.