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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 after his 2007 stop in Vancouver. As much as I enjoy the majority of what he has created, his work with the Cardinals, now comprised of Neal Casal, Chris Feinstein, Jon Graboff, and Brad Pemberton, has often left me disappointed.

Cardinology, his third effort with the band (the cheesiness of the title alone is telling), tends to lack Adams’ trademark passion. Throughout, it feels as though many of his melody lines weren’t rehearsed, as though he doesn’t know what notes to sing. The improvisational nature of the record comes off as lazy and doesn’t quite flow. However, I have a feeling the album will rate with the Starbucks crowd.

They get off to a strong start with “Born into the Light” – standard Cardinals fare. Here we witness what we’ve come to expect from the Cardinals: verse/chorus/verse, slide guitar, awkward harmonies, and Ryan’s vocals in a lower-than-usual range. “Fix It” is one of the more pleasing tracks. It reminded me of Adams’ and Toots work on Music in High Places: Live in Jamaica. As well, it felt surprisingly similar to many of the tracks on Easy Tiger and made me long for the backing vocals of ex-Cardinal bassist Catherine Popper. The harmonies throughout Cardinology are incredibly distracting rather than complimentary. During “Let Us Down Easy”, it crossed my mind that I might be accidently listening to the Eagles. I wished they’d let me down easy.

Supposedly they recorded up to 70 songs for the album – however did “Go Easy” and “Sink Ships” make it into the top 12? Let’s hope Adams is holding out on us.

The “Rock ‘n’ Roll”-sounding “Magick” is marred with mediocre lyrics. Its pre-chorus “what goes around comes around” is catchy but what follows is cliché, not credible. “Cobwebs” comes off as a pretty love letter to New York City (a theme prominent in Adams’ catalogue), but with a too-lengthy intro and distracting cymbal work. The lyrics in “Like Yesterday” and “Crossed Out Name” (with lines like “I don’t pray / I shower and say goodnight to myself”) made me gag a little. It became increasingly clear after several listens that Adams’ lyrics here are an afterthought, lacking passion and coherence. (And at the best of times Adams’ lyrics have been somewhat throwaway). Add to that his awkward phrasings and attempt to fit in a few too many words, and you’ve got some rather middle-of-the-road tunes.

The one, shining beacon of hope on this record is the piano-driven “Stop”. Its sparse production is a break from the bland-tempoed handiwork of his backing band (as far as I’m concerned, they are not a cohesive whole). More honest than any other song on the album, it feels more like Ryan. I look forward to hearing more in the future from that guy.

MP3:
Ryan Adams & the Cardinals – Stop
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