Ryan Adams : 10 Songs Live At Carnegie Hall
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Ryan Adams : 10 Songs Live At Carnegie Hall

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10 Songs Live At Carnegie Hall finds Ryan Adams at a calm crossroads in his career. Arguably, his hit-chasing days are over, and if the relaxed performance documented in this live album is anything to go by, perhaps the pressures that came with them are gone too. The formerly acerbic Ryan Adams – who once hurled expletives at a fan that jokingly requested Bryan Adams’ Summer of ‘69 at a gig–seems miles apart from the Ryan Adams who covered the cheeseball-rock track in April, without a hint of irony.

 

It’s refreshing to hear Adams in a self-aware and comedic state of mind. The US songwriter is infamous for creating music to drown your sorrows in, and this live album shows he is not oblivious to that. He punctuates Sylvia Plath’smorbid lyrics of, “Swimming away/ She’d be winking at me,” with an audible, cartoonish wink. Later in the show, he sums up his songwriting style by strumming a minor chord and singing, “you’re fucked”. The hearty laughs from the audience indicate they’re all in on the joke too. Ultimately, this feel good quality makes the performance more endearing and makes Adams a more relatable figure than ever before.

 

10 Songs from Carnegie Hall encapsulates the point after heartbreak, when the sadness has faded and you can finally laugh about how messed up it was. Adams is living proof that after pathos, there is laughter. As Mark Twain said, “The secret source of humour is not joy itself, but sorrow.”

 

Often criticised for overproducing his works, fans of Adams’ organic debut Heartbreaker will be pleased by the album’s stripped back arrangements. Songs like Oh My Sweet Carolina and Come Pick Me Up come across just as world-weary as ever, while the likes of Nobody Girl, Gold and Gimme Something Good take on a whole new meaning under their restraint. Throughout, Adams’ vocal delivery is impeccable.

 

It has long been said that Ryan Adams would make his best work locked in a room with nothing but a four track recorder and a guitar. 10 Songs from Carnegie Hall lets you hear what his career might’ve sounded like if he did.

 

BY JAMES DI FABRIZIO