Ryan Adams: You Will Always Be The Same
[purchase]
The last time I posted a Ryan Adams song here at Star Maker Machine, I said just about all I have to say about his softer, more acoustic side:
Though it's somewhat blasphemous to say so, I'm a much bigger fan of Ryan Adams the sensitive folkpop artist than Ryan Adams the alt-country rocker. It's not that I don't understand the appeal, really -- the man can write a hook in any form, and his heavier side makes for some danm good listening. I just think there's few other artists recording today who can hit the emotional nail on the head with such heartfelt quietude. And the tangled web of confused loss and longing which frames Cry On Demand makes it one of the best pensive, brooding acoustic ballads in his catalog.
Adams himself has said that the quieter songs on Demolition, a 2002 album cobbled together heartbreakingly from an unreleased three-album run in 2001, "belonged to better records". Which leaves little to say about this song. Except to note that it's utterly heartbreaking, and proves my thesis perfectly.
