RYAN ADAMS : WEDNESDAYS

Review (Wikipedia) : Wednesdays is the seventeenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Ryan Adams. Originally slated for release in 2019, it was delayed following abuse allegations against Adams. It was eventually surprise-released digitally on December 11, 2020 through Adams's label PAX AM. Physical editions are scheduled for March 19, 2021. In January 2019, Adams announced his plans to release three albums that calendar year. The first, Big Colors, was due to be released April 19 and feature 15 tracks. The second, Wednesdays, was to feature 17 tracks and did not yet have a confirmed release date. Adams did not disclose the name of the third album. The release of all three albums was put on hold after The New York Times published an article in February 2019 in which several women, including Adams's ex-wife Mandy Moore, Phoebe Bridgers, and an underage fan, accused him of abuse and sexual misconduct. Adams has denied the allegations. After a five-month silence, he returned in July 2019, posting a soundboard recording of a song titled "I'm Sorry and I Love You". On December 11, 2020, Adams eventually surprise-released Wednesdays, which features "I'm Sorry and I Love You". Physical editions are scheduleded for March 19, 2021 and the vinyl version is set to include an additional 7-inch record titled It's Not That Kind of Night. The album cover features a cropped reproduction of Siebe Johannes ten Cate's painting La gare du Nord.

Review (Americana Highways) : If you're spending time on this website, music has an outsized importance in your life. We all have the artists who hit us the hardest, and for nearly two decades, Ryan Adams was one of those for me. His appearance on Letterman a few short weeks after 9-11 was maybe the first time it felt OK to feel OK again. I first saw him live with my wife. The second time was with the same person, by then my ex-wife - hey, we got along, and we both still loved his music. He was my first Red Rocks show after moving to Colorado. A couple of years later, his Red Rocks show was my last night out before starting cancer treatments. A few months after that, there was me, devouring his just-released Prisoner B-sides with a chemo IV dangling from my right arm. And there were two more Red Rocks shows after that, feeling better each time. In short, Adams' Gold and Jason Isbell's Southeastern are probably the two main reasons I'm here writing. But then, in February 2019, the New York Times piece happened. And my relationship with Ryan Adams' music got a lot more complicated. Before we can look at Ryan Adams' new late-night release, Wednesdays, a caveat: if you don't believe what the women said in the Times article, this is not the place for you. Likewise, in situations like this, the art can't be separated from the artist. Americana, by its very nature, is not a "shut up and sing" type of music, so "shut up and write" won't suffice, either. But let's give the new album an honest listen. The lead track, "I'm Sorry and I Love You," full of piano and falsetto, is ostensibly a love song, but it seems to be an overarching (but non-specific) apology - the first line, in fact, is "I remember you before you hated me." There are a number of acoustic cuts on the record, several sounding like they could be plopped into a "This Is Us" episode (which, of course, ain't gonna happen. Ever). There's an unevenness to the album, too. Many tracks seem to border on home demos, where others are full-band numbers - apparently, the album was culled largely from the three records that Adams was supposed to have released in 2019 before, well, you know. There are a couple of genuinely good songs on Wednesdays. "Birmingham" is a piano-driven rocker. "Poison & Pain" finds Adams acknowledging at least some of his issues - "My demons got so bored of dreamin'/My demons, alcohol and freedom." It's a pretty tune, with an almost innocent trip back to a time when booze was his biggest problem. And "When You Cross Over" approaches greatness. It's a goodbye to Ryan's brother, Chris, who died in 2017 after a long-term illness. Adams clearly still struggles with his brother's absence, wishing that "all your pain dissolves into light." His prayer that Chris finds family on the other side - "I hope they're waiting there for you" - is genuinely heartbreaking. Perhaps an album dropped a couple weeks before Christmas isn't the place to address what he's accused of - and what he DID - but it still feels odd to have no acknowledgement from someone who's written exhaustively of seemingly every emotion he's ever experienced. Even if music alone might sway you back to Ryan Adams fandom, I don't feel like this record is strong enough to do that. And if you need something more substantive than a few good tunes to start listening to Ryan Adams again, you won't find it on Wednesdays.

Review (Muziekkrant Oor) : Ryan Adams werd een paar jaar geleden beschuldigd van seksueel wangedrag door een grote groep vrouwen, waaronder zangeressen Phoebe Bridgers, Jenny Lewis, Natalie Prass en Emma Swift. Hij zou daarnaast ongepast chatcontact hebben gehad met een minderjarig meisje. De ernst van de situatie was dusdanig groot dat de FBI erin dook. Of er strafrechtelijke nog iets gaat gebeuren is onduidelijk, maar Adams lijkt bij een grote groep mensen in ieder geval 'gecanceld'. Bedrijven die zaken met hem deden, zegden hun contract op en Wednesdays, de nieuwe plaat die de Amerikaanse singer-songwriter vorige week stilletjes uitbracht, wordt tot nu toe door een groot deel van de muziekpers genegeerd. Kun je de wandaden van Adams voldoende scheiden van zijn muziek? Naar mijn mening is dat bij hem erg lastig. De man maakt al jaren singer-songwriterliedjes die door Emma Swift, een van zijn slachtoffers, niet geheel onterecht zijn bestempeld als 'sad fuckboy music'. Adams' teksten zijn doorgaans observaties over de liefde en hij maakt zijn muziek regelmatig persoonlijk. Wednesdays is zelfs Adams' meest persoonlijke plaat tot dusver en qua muziekstijl een middenweg tussen Ashes & Fire en 29. Veel bedachtzaam gitaargetokkel, spaarzaam gebruik van pedalsteel en gepassioneerd snerpende mondharmonica dus. De indringende openingsballad I'm Sorry And I Love You, het fraai gearrangeerde Who Is Going To Love Me Now, If Not You en het perfect gezongen kampvuurverhaal When You Cross Over behoren tot de instantklassiekers in het Ryan Adams-songbook. En dat zijn dan nog maar de eerste drie liedjes op een album dat verder eveneens prachtig zou klinken, ware het niet dat de omstandigheden buiten de muziek om de muziek voor menig mens zullen verpesten. I'm Sorry And I Love You is bijvoorbeeld wel heel erg makkelijk te interpreteren als een veel te laat, omslachtig excuus. En wanneer ik Adams elders op Wednesdays hoor sniffen over hartzeer en verlies, wil ik 'm zelf eigenlijk ook gewoon een schop geven. Voor een begaafd songschrijver beschikt ie over weinig inzicht en zelfreflectie. R. Kelly brengt toch ook geen plaat vol kinderliedjes uit?