Cold Roses

In the closing months of 2003 one of music’s most prominent young songwriters released two drastically different, highly accredited albums before falling off stage and breaking his wrist while playing a show. At the height of his fame, the continually prolific (and self-proclaimed “firecracker”) Ryan Adams withdrew from the public eye for much of 2004 in order to get healthy, both physically and mentally.  

At the end of a much needed year or so of peace, Adams began touring with his new band, The Cardinals, playing moody, jam-oriented shows to sold-out crowds hungry for new songs. Word began spreading in early 2005 that during his absence Adams had completed three new studio albums that would see release before the end of the year on Lost Highway records, the first of which was to be a criminally under-promoted double album entitled Cold Roses.

Before becoming a bona fide rock star in 2003, Adams split his time playing county songs in old bars, busting bandmates’ heads and writing candidly emotional songs with the proficiency of a 60s Bob Dylan. Although he did focus on diversifying his sound as his career progressed, Adams continued to be a childish ball of fire up until his (nearly) career-ending injury. With Cold Roses, Adams reemerges as a thoughtful, mature songwriter and, for the first time in his career, a critical underdog.

Rather than writing a batch of songs and arranging them in the studio as per his usual methods, Adams and his touring band spent exhausting amounts of time perfecting their 18 new compositions while on the road. The result is a timeless album saturated with subtle themes ranging from the vast American landscape to death, loss and, of course, old-time values and beliefs. Taking a less personal, more universal approach with his writing than usual, Adams and his band pay musical tribute to the distinct sounds of the Grateful Dead, Neil Young and The Band while still maintaining their own brand of sun-drenched folk rock.

Spanning nearly 80 minutes over two discs, nearly all of Cold Roses is indispensable. From the dark epic of the highly visual “Magnolia Mountain,” to the catchy (yet uncommonly eloquent) Carolina-country swagger of “Let It Ride,” Adams has found more modes than ever to utilize his natural propensity for old-time rock music. “Easy Plateau,” “If I Am A Stranger,” “Dance All Night” and at least half a dozen more are all high points in Adams’ ever-swelling catalog, thus making Roses conceivably his most accomplished compilation of songs to date.

With each new album he releases, you can always expect to also see a new manifestation of Adams, the ever-morphing rock n’ roll eccentric. For allegiant fans who have long put up with him, despite years of humiliating stunts and scandals, Roses is the ultimate payoff. Seemingly matured and (finally) responsible for his tremendous talent, Adams has at long last released a complete masterpiece.

An album with peaks as high as Cold Roses only hits a few times in any given decade. Adams is right where he needs to be artistically - commercially underrated, yet without doubt a top-notch songwriter at the top of his game. While Roses might lose a chunk of the younger audience his last few albums have established, it should do its part in winning back original fans and finally convincing a good number of his older, skeptical critics that he’s the real deal. Give Cold Roses a few unbiased listens - it might help you remember why you love music so much. I recommend this album over anything I’ve come across since Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot album.   10/10

Written by G. William Locke