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Absolutely loved the show at Gem Theater in Detroit. "Strawberry Wine" was the highlight for me, as it is one of my favorites, and I actually like most of 29 which is a good thing because they played a lot from it.

 

The Gem Theater itself was one of the highlights as well. So beautiful, so intimate, nice sound, tables and chairs cabaret-style on the floor. We shared a table with two young Wilco/Tweedy fans from Grand Rapids who were also at the infamous (in that there is no recording of it!) Tweedy solo show at the Calvin Chapel. One of the best Tweedy solo shows ever. So good times, great and respectful audience.

 

Oh, and Neal Casal's cool is the perfect foil to Ryan's goofiness. Ryan (in shades) kept pulling the hair on his head forward and twisting it to a point. Perhaps he was missing holding a guitar? I dunno, but he was on good behavior and only once or twice out-loud told himself to "concentrate now" and something to the effect that he was a crazy person.

 

June 20, 2007 - Gem Theater - Detroit, MI

 

Please Do Not Let Me Go

Let It Ride

Elizabeth, You Were Born To Play That Part

The Sun Also Sets

Oh My God Whatever Etc..

Goodnight Hollywood Boulevard

Halloween Head

Blue Hotel

Strawberry Wine

Beautiful Sorta

Two

Dear John

Everybody Knows

My Winding Wheel

How Do You Keep Love Alive

Nightbirds

I See Monsters

 

Encore

Starlite Diner

Blue Sky Blues

 

I think I need to get tickets to see them again when they come to Louisville. Yeah.

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I gave a fleeting thought to not saying that, and then realized, hey, I don't care what other people think. I only care about what I like (and I did say "like"). It's not his best, because I absolutely LOVE Cold Roses and Jacksonville. And I wish I could have heard some other songs from Easy Tiger, especially Goodnight Rose, but I have heard that twice this year at Cardinals rock shows in Chicago and Indy. So I'm happy with the show.

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The near universal panning of 29 has made me put off listening to it for so long, I've only listened to it twice. Now I find myself brushing up on it in anticipation of his solo show.

 

 

where's the solo show?

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After reading the indie media roundup of Easy Tiger reviews today, I feel like RA got shafted. It seems like most of his fans consider this a strong release (at least 7 or 8/10 area), but the reviews tended to be around the 5 or 6 out of 10 area with not much to enthuse about. Seems like a review I would have written if I had only listened to the record about 2 or 3 times and then wrote about it instead of letting myself wrap my mind around it over repeated listens. I feel like a lot of the reviews got it all wrong, Easy Tiger ain't Ryan Adams-lite, it's just quality songwriting. I think many of his fans would agree this is really solid album, yes?

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you can get tickets to the Hiro ballroom show, if you go to ryanadamsarchive.com

 

i had tickets to this show in my basket!

then realized it was a 21+ show

i hate being 19 (que up some Cure song)

 

After reading the indie media roundup of Easy Tiger reviews today, I feel like RA got shafted. It seems like most of his fans consider this a strong release (at least 7 or 8/10 area), but the reviews tended to be around the 5 or 6 out of 10 area with not much to enthuse about. Seems like a review I would have written if I had only listened to the record about 2 or 3 times and then wrote about it instead of letting myself wrap my mind around it over repeated listens. I feel like a lot of the reviews got it all wrong, Easy Tiger ain't Ryan Adams-lite, it's just quality songwriting. I think many of his fans would agree this is really solid album, yes?

 

yes!

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After reading the indie media roundup of Easy Tiger reviews today, I feel like RA got shafted. It seems like most of his fans consider this a strong release (at least 7 or 8/10 area), but the reviews tended to be around the 5 or 6 out of 10 area with not much to enthuse about. Seems like a review I would have written if I had only listened to the record about 2 or 3 times and then wrote about it instead of letting myself wrap my mind around it over repeated listens. I feel like a lot of the reviews got it all wrong, Easy Tiger ain't Ryan Adams-lite, it's just quality songwriting. I think many of his fans would agree this is really solid album, yes?

 

completely agree with everything you've said.

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After reading the indie media roundup of Easy Tiger reviews today, I feel like RA got shafted. It seems like most of his fans consider this a strong release (at least 7 or 8/10 area), but the reviews tended to be around the 5 or 6 out of 10 area with not much to enthuse about. Seems like a review I would have written if I had only listened to the record about 2 or 3 times and then wrote about it instead of letting myself wrap my mind around it over repeated listens. I feel like a lot of the reviews got it all wrong, Easy Tiger ain't Ryan Adams-lite, it's just quality songwriting. I think many of his fans would agree this is really solid album, yes?

 

I totally disagree. I am a huge fan and find Easy Tiger to be close to the bottom of Ryan's output.

 

The critical praise reminds me of when the last Pearl Jam disc came out. The label pushed it big time and guess what, the critics hailed it as some big comeback. In reality, it wasn't any better or worse then their last 3 discs.

 

I think the lable is pushing this disc big time so the critics are paying attention. Plus it helps that is concise and easily digestable. How many times do you think most critics made it through Cold Roses (his best album)?

 

I am not finding repeat listenings helping it either. I just feel like he made a safe disc and the lyrics cover the same ground he has done much better in the past. And I knock it down a point for Halloweenhead!

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I totally disagree. I am a huge fan and find Easy Tiger to be close to the bottom of Ryan's output.

 

The critical praise reminds me of when the last Pearl Jam disc came out. The label pushed it big time and guess what, the critics hailed it as some big comeback. In reality, it wasn't any better or worse then their last 3 discs.

 

Yeah but Easy Tiger doesn't seem to be getting much critical praise. I could see how this record could grate on some fans, but I'm genetically predisposed to love his output.

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I'm a pretty huge Ryan fan, but after giving it a lot of spins, I'm inclined to rank it worse than everything except 29. The arrangements and playing are nice, but the way it's produced makes it sound way too glossy and adult-con. As for the songwriting, the melodies are really strong on the whole, but the lyrics are lazy and disjointed. I mean, Ryan wasn't actually "the next Dylan" before, but some of the words on this record are almost cringe-worthy, and they aren't backed by the upbeat poppy arrangements that RockNRoll had. Plus, while their might be less out and out bombs than some of his weaker releases, there isn't really anything that jumps right out at me as a Ryan classic... maybe "Pearls on a String."

 

If this had been written by anybody else i would've listened to it about 10-15 times less than I have just because it's the new Ryan record.

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If this had been written by anybody else i would've listened to it about 10-15 times less than I have just because it's the new Ryan record.

I agree. And Halloween Head is just bad, IMO. I'm still upset at the fact that Mrs. Lovely was butchered into These Girls. I agree also with the "disjointed" lyrics comment. I think (a couple pages back) someone said it was like Ryan was trying to fit too many syllables into one line.

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After reading the indie media roundup of Easy Tiger reviews today, I feel like RA got shafted. It seems like most of his fans consider this a strong release (at least 7 or 8/10 area), but the reviews tended to be around the 5 or 6 out of 10 area with not much to enthuse about. Seems like a review I would have written if I had only listened to the record about 2 or 3 times and then wrote about it instead of letting myself wrap my mind around it over repeated listens. I feel like a lot of the reviews got it all wrong, Easy Tiger ain't Ryan Adams-lite, it's just quality songwriting. I think many of his fans would agree this is really solid album, yes?

 

The album is doing fine critically according to Metacritic.

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I'm a pretty huge Ryan fan, but after giving it a lot of spins, I'm inclined to rank it worse than everything except 29.

 

After this review i can't wait until my copy arrives this week. I have yet to hear it in it's entirety because i have only been buying vinyl the past year. Although i have heard a few tracks on XM.

 

At any rate "29" is one of my favorite Adams releases, so if Easy Tiger is that bad then i'm hoping it's that good. I have not been disappointed in the tracks i have heard but i'll wait for my final judgment after i give it it's due spins.

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Well.......After hearing many of the tunes from Easy Tiger during lives shows that RA has been playing, I was very excited to hear the album.......

 

This is my 2 word review of Easy Tiger......OVER PRODUCED!

 

WTF! I still really like the songs, but what in the world was Ryan thinking recording and producing such a glossy album. If this album was produced the same way as Cold Roses and Jacksonville it would be 100 times better.

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the production actually isn't as "overproduced" as some of you are claiming...

 

and it's definitely not "glossy production", if you want glossy, i can give you plenty of examples of glossy (namely pretty much any emo band), there's a bit of a difference between bright & glossy production. i for one have no qualms whatsoever with the production. the production on Goodnight Rose isn't even that different from say the production on Let It Ride. Also, the vocals on here are some of Ryan's best, no matter what.

 

i'm about as anal as it gets in terms of production, having worked in a studio a bit in the past, but it's still pretty rare for me when bad production ruins an otherwise good album. sure it can enhance a great album to make it even better, but either the songs or there or they aren't, no amount (or lack thereof) production can mask that.

 

also, if any of you are still basing your production comments on the downloaded versions, the leaked version sounds like shit compared to the real thing.

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the production actually isn't as "overproduced" as some of you are claiming...

 

and it's definitely not "glossy production", if you want glossy, i can give you plenty of examples of glossy (namely pretty much any emo band), there's a bit of a difference between bright & glossy production. i for one have no qualms whatsoever with the production. the production on Goodnight Rose isn't even that different from say the production on Let It Ride. Also, the vocals on here are some of Ryan's best, no matter what.

 

i'm about as anal as it gets in terms of production, having worked in a studio a bit in the past, but it's still pretty rare for me when bad production ruins an otherwise good album. sure it can enhance a great album to make it even better, but either the songs or there or they aren't, no amount (or lack thereof) production can mask that.

 

also, if any of you are still basing your production comments on the downloaded versions, the leaked version sounds like shit compared to the real thing.

 

 

I hear ya. The songs are there. I just think the album would have been better if the songs were recorded live in the studio, with one or two takes and minimum overdubs like Roses or JCN. I'm really suprised how much I prefer listening to the tunes during the Kingston show compaired to how they sound on EZT1GR. That being said, I've only listened to EZT1GR once, compaired to the 50+ times I've listened to the Kingston show.....I'm sure the album will grow on me.

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