|
| 29 | 
 enlarge | Artist: Ryan Adams
Label: Lost Highway
Category: Music
List Price: $13.98
Buy New: $5.24
You Save: $8.74 (63%)
New (55) Used (25) Collectible (1) from $4.70
Avg. Customer Rating:  44 reviews
Sales Rank: 43276
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 000587202
UPC: 060249887848
EAN: 0060249887848
ASIN: B000BY9E2A
Release Date: December 20, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand new. Shipped from the UK by Airmail direct to 5 airports in the United States. Delivery takes approximately 5 working days from posting - we're frequently faster than a lot of US based sellers.
|
| Tracks:
| • | Twenty Nine | | • | Strawberry Wine | | • | Night Birds | | • | Blue Sky Blues | | • | Carolina Rain | | • | Starlite Diner | | • | The Sadness | | • | Elizabeth, You Were Born to Play That Part | | • | Voices |
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
On his third release of a most prolific year, Ryan Adams takes a break from his band, the Cardinals, to fashion an introspective song cycle with stripped-down arrangements focused on acoustic guitar or solo piano. After the propulsive, self-mythologizing title track opens the album in brazen fashion, forging an unlikely bond of comparison between John Lennon's Plastic Ono Band and the early '70s Grateful Dead, much of the rest of 29 finds Adams at his dreamiest (the reveries of "Strawberry Wine" and "Elizabeth, You Were Born to Play That Part") and most rapturously romantic (the aching falsetto on the lovesick "Starlite Diner"). He continues to take chances and not all of them pay off, with the underwatery echo of "Night Birds" and the over-the-top dramatics of "The Sadness" showing the downside of self-indulgence, though "Carolina Rain" suggests he can return to the alt-country prime of Whiskeytown whenever the mood strikes. With the intimacy of the closing "Voices," Adams sounds less like he is singing a song than sharing a secret. Refusing to rein himself in or pin himself down, he sings on the title track, "You can't hang on to something that won't stop moving." --Don McLeese Recommended Ryan Adams Discography 
Heartbreaker | 
Gold | 
Love Is Hell | 
Whiskeytown, Pneumonia | 
Whiskeytown, Stranger's Almanac | 
Whiskeytown, Faithless Street |
Album Description
Japanese pressing of 29, Ryan's third and final album for 2005. 29 is a solo album of all new and original material. 9 tracks. Universal. 2005.
Album Details
Japanese Edition of the Third Album in 2005 from the Prolific Singer/Songwriter.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 39 more reviews...
Darker, piano-heavy solo record; less country; wicked good December 21, 2005
49 out of 52 found this review helpful
29, the third(!) Ryan Adams album of 2005, is dark, moody, elegiac, and brooding. And quite good. It is the kind of record who's charms are less obvious, and which unfolds itself to you over repeated listenings, when you least expect it.
Cold Roses and Jacksonville City Nights were pretty clearly country records, both cut with his new (and, it turns out, evolving) band the Cardinals. Here we get an Adams solo record, absent the band vibe and the country touches that flavor the two previous releases, and more of a serious singer-songwriter turn. Many of the songs are intricate and finely drawn stories and character studies, heavy on the narrative. Indeed the songs are all like little movies, as opposed to hook-laden slices of pop. This record is like midnight at the Indie Cinema multiplex.
The opening track, "29," is a rewrite of the Grateful Dead's "Truckin'"-so much so that I thought it was a cover version until the vocals started. But he keeps it darker and more Westerberg than Weir, with acoustic guitars, electrics, and harmonica front and center in the mix; for all the obvious similarities to the Dead tune, it is more garage rock than hippie anthem.
"Strawberry Wine" is a slow plaintive story song in waltz time, sparse instrumentation, mainly Ryan's voice and acoustic guitars. "Night Birds" is a piano ballad, another minor key song, with a nice dramatic sonic effect that blends thunder and electric guitar on the refrain, "In the ocean..." By now it is clear that this is a "down" record, closer to Love is Hell than Gold, although it is always perilous to try and define a new Ryan Adams record in terms of an old one.
"Blue Sky Blues" is another downbeat piano song, Ryan's voice and piano augmented by a string section that enters midway through the song to amplify his mood and lend coloration. For a song with "blue sky" in the title, this one dwells an awful lot on rain.
"Carolina Rain" introduces some of the country lilt of the earlier records, especially through some tasteful pedal steel behind Adams's story singing. "Starlite Diner" is another piano lament, this time about a lost love. "The Sadness" brings the guitars to the fore with a sort of Flamenco flavor, and the Spanish flair is deployed to bring drama to the song throughout. It is a highlight of the album, driving and visceral, yet still "small," in the way an Indie film is small, the way the whole record is drawn to scale.
"Elizabeth You Were Born to Play That Part" moves back to piano balladry. It is probably the prettiest song on the album, and serves as its climax and centerpiece, piano and acoustic guitar sweeping the listener away in a gentle swirl of melancholy as the protagonist laments yet another lost love. "Voices" closes the record out, dark and foreboding, barely there, invoking vaguely religious imagery.
Resist the urge to compare 29 to Adams's previous work; with an artist this prolific, if you keep expecting the last record, you will be continually disappointed. My wife's one sentence review of 29: "I like it; it's a little sad but I like it." It takes me 400 words to say what she nails in a sentence. A small record in a good way, a sad record in a good way, a beautifully cinematic record that will reward repeated listening. Adams completes the hat trick and has got to be the unquestioned artist of the year.
 Mission Accomplished! December 20, 2005
32 out of 34 found this review helpful
One of the most amazing feats in the last several years of music has to be the depth and quality of work that Ryan Adams has released in 2005. With this, the final of three releases in less than a year, he has provided a deeper look into his life than any of his previous releases. The concept behind the album is almost as interested as Sufjan Stevens' plan to release an album for each state in the US - one song for each year in Ryan's 20's. The result is his most personal, and compelling album yet.
The album starts with "29" - a rocking retrospective of his 20's, and the mistakes and regrets he has made. The comparisons to Grateful Dead's "Truckin" are obvious - but pay attention to the introspective lyrics, and not the heavy-handed borrowing from his idols. The album continues to tell interesting, albeit heartbreaking, stories of both Ryan's life and the other characters that he introduces - as he has on previous releases. From a storytelling perspective, the album may not get any better than "Strawberry Wine" and "Carolina Rain". They really are standouts not just on this album - but in Ryan's incredible career. "Strawberry Wine" is all about not wasting your years, and making sure that you "get your seeds in the ground" before it is too late to have a family - or as Ryan puts it, "flowers". "Carolina Rain" weaves a fascinating tale of a woman who leaves a wake of death and destruction behind her with each verse.
For fans of Ryan's piano ballads, there are some great one's on this album - "Night Birds", "Blue Sky Blues", and "Starlight Diner". Each song has it's own charms. "Night Birds" may be slightly flawed from a production standpoint, in that the end of the song seems a little to cheesy with the reverb effect laid on thick to symbolize the characters crashing into the ocean. It is still a very strong song lyrically. "Blue Sky Blues" is an upbeat song about letting go of the worries and troubles that you're feeling, and just letting your problems out from time to time. "Starlight Diner" is the one that was probably my least favorite on the album upon the first listen - but has grown to become one that I continually go back to. The tells the story of Ryan waiting in a diner for a woman, who seems to have blown him off. Haunting, and beautiful.
The two strangest, and most fun songs, on the album are "The Sadness" and "Voices". "The Sadness" is Ryan playing flamenco guitar. No - I'm not kidding. Listening to it, always makes me feel like a Western Gunfight is about to break out in a Leone film. The story told throughout the song is great - Ryan vs his demons. Using the flamenco guitar was a brave, and brilliant, move. "Voices" is about.... well, I haven't quite deciphered what it is about yet. It's just Ryan and an acoustic guitar. Hauntingly sad. Seems to be about Ryan loosing his mind - or at least that's how I've taken it. The vocal delivery on "Don't listen to the voices in the past, they lie" is great.
I've saved the best song for last - "Elizabeth, You Were Born To Play The Part". In my opinion, this is the saddest song that Ryan has ever written. It is about a friend of his who had a miscarriage late into a pregnancy, when they already had a name picked out, and never having really recovered. As heartbreaking as some of his music has been in the past, this song just tears your heart out and destroys you. The line "I'd tear myself in two, just to hear you breathe" is brilliant in its brutal honesty. How someone can have not gone through this themselves, and write something this touching and deeply moving, is amazing. Best song on any of the three albums this year.
To be honest, I downloaded this album about a month ago when it was leaked to the net - yes, I've already gone out and BOUGHT it today. The concept was too interesting for me to pass up the opportunity for a listen. Upon first listen, I was honestly disappointed. I didn't feel like it was as strong as Cold Roses or Jacksonville City Nights. Upon further listens, the impeccable songwriting has won me over. To those who have said Ryan should have chopped up the three albums this year, and created one great one - I ask you, "How?" Each album has its own feel, and serves its own purpose. Songs from this album would not fit well on JCN or CR - and vice versa.
Brilliant album, to end a ridiculously productive year for the most underappreciated artist going today. Buy this album - support this artist!
 Ryan's last CD of 2005?? December 20, 2005
6 out of 16 found this review helpful
(3 & 1/2 stars) I'm looking at all three of Mr. Adams' CD releases for 2005, the two-disc Cold Roses, Jacksonville City Nights, and now 29. It occurs to me there could be a "2005 Ryan Adams box set" with all 4 discs, plus the combined Love Is Hell CD was out only about 18 months ago. So, really a phenomenal output, as so many others have noted. As with any boxed set, it would be packed with extra tracks, outtakes and rarities. In fact, what Adams has done is not hold anything back (as far as I know). He just put it all out on these three albums, four CDs and 41 songs. The thing is, it could have all been refined down to one outstanding single disc of about 14 songs, or maybe two of about 20 excellent songs. That would have avoided the occasional lapses and letdowns that occur throughout all three of these albums. I'm sure even the most devoted Ryan Adams fans found a few songs on the three albums they could have lived without. Instead we've gotten some great tunes, but also a lot of what could be called "filler." This is a topic that could (and will, I'm sure) be debated endlessly; this perspective is just my own opinion.
Third time is the charm December 20, 2005
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
Aside from the opening track 29 is a much more introspective and quiet album compared to recent releases Jacksonville City Nights and to a lesser extent Cold Roses, which actually contains a few tracks that would have nestled snuggly. Overall in fact, the album is probably a closer relation to Whiskeytown's Pneumonia than anything Adams has done as a solo artist.
This is especially evident in tracks such as Strawberry Wine, a drunken lament softly crooned and backed predominately by ukulele, Carolina Rain...a brilliantly written story song with it's tale of unrequited love, loss and murder and the lovelorn Starlight diner in which the protagonist sings of having been stood up by his lover until he notices that she has been there all along across the room.
29 itself threatens to open up on occasion but Adam's keeps it on a tight leash and continues to reign it in just as it starts to pick up in intensity. It starts up softly with a marching band drumming then a rockabilly guitar swoops in and out throughout raising the stakes at the end of verses to give the impression the song is about to take off to another level but then the breaks come on and it's back to an almost whispered story again. The tale itself seems semi-autobiographical and paints a less than complimentary version of Adam's view of his upbringing and life and times to this point..."nobody loved me and nobody even tried"
The remaining songs are more acoustic in nature though The Sadness has a taste of Mexican Mariachi and is jarring enough to appear out of place. This may well have been the case for 29 as well had it appeared in the middle of the album rather than as the opening track, perhaps The Sadness may have worked better as the closing track just for consistency sakes. This is not to say that Voices is not a solid closing track though as it fits well with the also strong Elisabeth, You were born to play that part.
It has been a prolific year for Adams and as I doubt he will rest on his laurels I'm sure the New Year will continue in the tour, write and release cycle of the past....provided he can stay healthy and sober enough of course. More power to him......
 * * * * * 5 STARS - this stupid thing doesn't work (Best SOLO ALBUM SINCE ' HEARTBREAKER') December 23, 2005
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
"29"
The newest release from Ryan Adams
Ryan Adams takes a step back from his backing band "The Cardinals" with his third studio release of 2005 in "29". One of the first things I noticed upon opening the CD was a special Thank You on the backing of the inner liner to David Letterman - "for all the laughs when I needed them most." It is only fitting that this appears here as Adams' recent rebirth from a depressive hiatus more aptly started with an appearance on the Letterman Show in March, setting in motion an extremely ambitious goal of releasing three completely realized and increasingly beautiful albums. First came "Cold Roses", a soulful alt-country rock album that introduced the world to his backing band, "The Cardinals" and such awesome tunes as `Let it Ride' and `Sweet Illusions' among countless others on this awesome double album. Second, was the release of "Jacksonville City Nights" an identical and equally instrumental addition to "Cold Roses" in the same vein of that old Nashville sound and tremendous lyrics. With the exception of Ryan Adams' first solo album - "Heartbreaker" - all albums he has released have felt like those favorite pair of jeans that just came out of the wash. They are fresh, and new feeling, and you know you're going to love them, but you have to break them in again, and let them grow on you for a while before they fit just right. "29" surpasses all of the previous albums in style, courtship, and timbre. Perhaps it is that this album feels like home and the words are written on all things and all aspects of love, life, and getting on with all of it - that I was able to slip right in...but this is the album I have been waiting for, for over four years.
From the opening song, `29', you are pulled in by the same formula that made "Heartbreaker" unbelievable, and get a sense of what Adams' more rock influences have been of recent memory - The Grateful Dead. He bypasses country and goes straight for the jugular as he sings - "I should've died a Hundred Thousand Times, teetering stoned off the side of buildings, Nobody loved me and nobody ever tried, you can't hang on to something that won't stop moving." A verse later he goes into the first of three musical tears where he completely rips the sound apart and swings away for the high tonal fences. He then moves straight into stripped down acoustic territory in `Strawberry Wine' and convinces you this is the only song that could have followed such an explosive beginning - it flows so well. It's musical and poetic. The things I noticed first, was the accessibility of the songs - the sweetness embodied in the heart of things as he sings "Can you still have any famous last words, if you're somebody nobody knows" singing a more naked and Americanized take on the themes of `Eleanor Rigby', the loneliness and solitude of a life in passing, going unnoticed. From this Adams' moves to the piano on `Nightbirds' playing nearly by himself, with a slight accompaniment of a snare and high hat, with minimal orchestrations toward the end. This tune revolves around variations of the chorus - "and night birds sing you an empty tune, in an empty house in an empty room, in an empty moment, we were supposed to rise above, but we sink." Clinging to such vulnerable self-affirmation that makes this album golden. Exploiting the bare emotion of solitude, while at the same time inspiring truth and beauty to prevail in ways only known to those who have felt this kind of hurt - which invariably turns out to be anyone who has loved with the passion of three lifetimes - everyone. Seamlessly moving into `Blue Sky Blues' Adam's stays on piano and carries with him some of the most beautiful orchestrations on strings and temperate horns, with a warm melancholy. Lyrically traversing all things in this life worth fighting for he sings "I can take care of you but only if you want, I'm strong enough to carry you" as he hauntingly echoes "across the icy lake, across the icy lake, but I can't fight your blues" as the lonely piano fades into bleakness only to rise back into an understated strength along with beautiful accompaniment "cause I know I'll lose what's left of my mind - I can't win, but for you I'll try, my baby blue." Allowing us into that hole of emotional instability and permitting us to find our strength in risking it all to fight for the things that keep us whole and human, Adams' ends the song with some of the most amazingly humble yet verbose orchestrations of recent memory, leaving the listener in the lingering icy lakes of his lyrics finding a warmth and stability there. `Carolina Rain' pulls us back into familiar Adams' territory as he moves into storyteller mode and sings in his staple alt-rock minimalism of various character's making there bones in the world they live and with all of the cards they are dealt revolving around a central theme of unrealized love as the heroin sings "I should have told him that you were the one for me, but I lied, but I lied, tied up to concrete at the bottom of the quarry with a tattoo on his heart that spelled out "Caroline, Caroline"'. A far to common tail. `Starlite Diner' is a soulful goodbye of sorts to those that simply cannot stay forever, in life, in death, and in circumstance, some people simply have to move on. "You said meet me at a quarter to twelve, and I'm standing on the corner wishing you were in my arms, fare thee well my old friends, fare thee well," gliding into more somber chords on a solo piano, the voice plays out as a slide between broken memories and a fractured dream of a distant goodbye, as he asks "Is it possible to love someone too much? You bet." Moving straight from the emotion of the previous songs, Ryan Adam's flashes some musical muscle in `The Sadness', with a ballad that quite accurately shouts out to all other musicians "it so sucks to be you right now." With a westernesque tango of fiery guitars, he gets loud with a subduing nature, and rises up again with three themes working in tandem, traversing a multi genre landscape as he tells on - "the fog in the mote, as he grabs me by the throat, it lifts me as she comes, she opens her cloak and the color of blood, it is the sign of what now must come..." Wow! To the ivories again, we are laid upon the tracks for a poetic train to ravish our core. `Elizabeth, You Were Born To Play That Part', like most songs on this album, works just as well as a love letter to a lost love as it does a treat for the ears and soul. A moving progression with no other instrumentation we "calculate the changes that in time turn to nothing and then multiply yourself by pain.... I'm waiting for someone who just won't show, and every night it feels like there is no tomorrow, not that you will ever know, Wherever you are, I hope you're happy now, I'm caught in a dream and I can't get out, I'm caught in a dream, I'm caught in an endless dream and I'm not strong enough to let you go, and I have tried everything but that," as the piano is now answered by a guitar fighting for relevance as they at first, seemingly clash mesmorizingly against one another, they momentarily grit and fade into unison as if always meant to be one, and the piano fades almost completely away, as if musically personifying the words we had just heard seconds earlier. A beautiful song on an excellent album. `Voices' the ninth and final ode, is a fine acoustic folk song steeped in biblical references, stating that the past is gone in "locate the coffin and procure the ring, I'll distract Gabriel, it's your destiny after all, just go, and don't never look back, kiss me again and don't you listen to the voices in the past." Discounting things for what they are - endeavors for a bi-gone era, the past as voices like smoke in the wind, all amidst and fading away.
By far the triumph I never expected it to be, "29" is masterful and sweet, insightful and lowdown. Compromising nothing on this latest romp, Adam's has reached a new plateau with a musical evolution, growth, and extreme maturation. As far removed from pop as can be right now, Adams' dismisses the premature musical ejaculation of anything you'll hear on a `clear channel' broadcast and expertly shows the world that true music is still alive, and the audience is ready to listen. Beautiful.
|
|
|
Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| |
