Ryan Adams-Gold (Lost Highway,2001)
Gold is Ryan Adam's second solo album, after 2000's Heartbreaker. It was meant to be a double album but isn't, condensed onto a single disc (and a limited 5 track bonus side/CD) in order to allow the record label to pay him less money. It still lasts over 70 minutes; at 16 tracks the initial impression when I listened to it was 'it's overlong', and it is. There are undoubtedly a lot of good songs here but about halfway through my mind began to wander. It appears you really can have too much of a good thing.
When Adams is good, he's very good- see for example the much-covered 'When The Stars Are Blue', 'Answering Bell', 'Somehow, Someday'. My tolerance for alt. country rock wavered at the nearly 10-minute-long 'Nobody Girl' however....by the time 'Goodnight, Hollywood Blvd' rolled around I was pressing fastforward willing the Adams overdose to end. Which is a shame, really, because this is a genuinely great album, in small doses.
