29 (album)
{{about|the rock album|the country album|29 (EP)}}
{{Infobox album
| name = 29
| type = studio
| artist = Ryan Adams
| cover = 29_ryan_adams.jpg
| alt =
| released = {{Start date|2005|12|19}}
| recorded = August 2004
| venue =
| studio = Three Crow (Los Angeles, California)
| genre = {{hlist|Alternative country|folk rock}}
| length = 48:54
| label = Lost Highway
| producer = Ethan Johns
| prev_title = Jacksonville City Nights
| prev_year = 2005
| next_title = Easy Tiger
| next_year = 2007
}}
{{Album ratings
| MC = (69/100)[https://www.metacritic.com/music/29/ryan-adams/critic-reviews Critic reviews at Metacritic]
| rev1 = Allmusic
| rev1Score = {{rating|2|5}}[{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r812576|pure_url=yes}} Allmusic review]
| rev2 = Entertainment.ie
| rev2Score = {{rating|4|5}}[http://entertainment.ie/album-review/Ryan-Adams-29/4255.htm Entertainment.ie review]
| rev3 = Entertainment Weekly
| rev3Score = B−[https://web.archive.org/web/20070526013525/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,1141322,00.html Entertainment Weekly review]
| rev4 = Los Angeles Times
| rev4Score = {{rating|3|4}}[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-dec-20-et-rack20-story.html Los Angeles Times review]
| rev5 = NME
| rev5Score = (8/10)[https://www.nme.com/reviews/ryan-adams/7833 NME review]
| rev6 = Pitchfork Media
| rev6Score = (6.8/10)[https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/44-29/ Pitchfork Media review]
| rev7 = PopMatters
| rev7Score = {{rating|5|10}}[https://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/adamsryan-29/ PopMatters review]
| rev8 = Robert Christgau
| rev8Score = C[http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=ryan+adams Robert Christgau Consumer Guide]
| rev9 = Rolling Stone
| rev9Score = {{rating|2.5|5}}[https://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/29-20060112 Rolling Stone review]
| rev10 = Stylus Magazine
}}
29 is the eighth studio album by American singer-songwriter Ryan Adams, released on December 19, 2005, by Lost Highway Records. Produced by Ethan Johns, and recorded prior to the formation of backing band The Cardinals, the album was the last of three released in 2005. Session guitarist JP Bowersock would later go on to join the Cardinals, subsequently recording Cold Roses and Jacksonville City Nights alongside Adams. The album's cover art was drawn by Adams.
The album has sold 81,000 copies in the United States and 153,000 worldwide.{{Cite web|url=http://ca.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=entertainmentNews&storyID=2007-06-03T210713Z_01_N03416171_RTRIDST_0_ENTERTAINMENT-ADAMS-COL.XML&archived=False |title=Busy and bored, Adams tames "Tiger" |first=Katie |last=Hasty |date=2007-06-03 |access-date=2007-06-04 |publisher=Reuters/Billboard |quote=The first of the trio, "Cold Roses," has sold 159,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. "Jacksonville City Nights" has moved 100,000, and "29" has shifted 81,000. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070106191721/http://ca.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=entertainmentNews |archive-date=2007-01-06 }} In November 2009, the album was number 54 on a list of "The 100 best pop albums of the Noughties" by The Times music critics.{{cite news| url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article6922991.ece?token=null&offset=84&page=8 | work=The Times | location=London | title=The 100 best pop albums of the Noughties | date=2009-11-21 | access-date=2010-04-23}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}
Recording notes
29 was recorded over two weeks during the first half of August 2004 at producer Ethan Johns' North Hollywood studio, Three Crows. According to Johns, only two songs were completely written before the sessions began – "Night Birds" and "Elizabeth, You Were Born To Play That Part". The remaining tracks were written in the studio. To give the music a sense of spontaneity and immediacy, several of the songs on the album were first takes.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2006/03/production-notes-ethan-johnsryan-adams.html|title=Production Notes: Ethan Johns / Ryan Adams|first=Bud|last= Scoppa|date=2006-03-24|access-date=2012-08-08|magazine=Paste}}
The album is a loose concept album, with each song representing a single year in Adams' twenties.
Reception
The album received a score of 69 out of 100 on Metacritic based on "generally favorable reviews". Uncut gave it all five stars and said it was "not easy listening, yet [Adams has] never made a more beautiful album." Yahoo! Music UK gave it nine stars out of ten and said, "At last Ryan Adams has made a record every bit as good as his heroes."{{cite web|url=http://uk.launch.yahoo.com/060103/33/1z71b.html |title=Yahoo! Music UK review |access-date=2013-05-01 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060110110911/http://uk.launch.yahoo.com/060103/33/1z71b.html |archive-date=2006-01-10 }} The A.V. Club gave it a B and said that Adams' music "takes some sifting, but the gold always glitters."[https://www.avclub.com/ryan-adams-29-1798201348 The A.V. Club review] The New York Times gave it a favorable review and called it "Cohesive in its fragility." E! Online gave it a B− and said that Adams "fails to come up with an album that keeps up the standard set here by a couple of standout tracks such as 'Strawberry Wine' and 'Nightbirds'."
Other reviews are average or mixed: The Guardian gave it a score of three stars out of five and said, "Committed Adams-heads will love it; others will wonder why he commands such loyalty."{{cite web |title=CD: Ryan Adams, 29 |date=2005-12-02 |website=The Guardian |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200917000203/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2005/dec/02/popandrock.shopping4 |archive-date=2020-09-17 |url-status=live |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2005/dec/02/popandrock.shopping4}} The Village Voice gave it an average review and said, "Adams mines American Beauty and Workingman's Dead respectably, but his attempts at early-'70s Neil Young piano ballads come off as tear-stained love letters to himself, and hardly distinguish him as the guy who dropped out of high school to become Paul Westerberg."[http://www.villagevoice.com/2006-01-10/music/three-times-a-crybaby/ The Village Voice review] Prefix Magazine gave it a mixed review and said that "Despite the three or four keepers, 29 suggests that Adams is still struggling to nail down his musical identity."[http://www.prefixmag.com/reviews/ryan-adams/29/14782/ Prefix Magazine review]
Track listing
{{track listing
| all_writing = Ryan Adams
| title1 = 29
| length1 = 5:48
| title2 = Strawberry Wine
| length2 = 7:58
| title3 = Nightbirds
| length3 = 3:51
| title4 = Blue Sky Blues
| length4 = 5:18
| title5 = Carolina Rain
| length5 = 5:25
| title6 = Starlite Diner
| length6 = 3:51
| title7 = The Sadness
| length7 = 6:43
| title8 = Elizabeth, You Were Born to Play That Part
| length8 = 5:07
| title9 = Voices
| length9 = 4:53
}}
Charts
Personnel
- Ryan Adams – vocals, acoustic guitar, piano, electric guitar
- Wayne Bergeron – trumpet
- JP Bowersock – electric guitar, mandolin, acoustic 12-string guitar, guitarone
- Jennifer Condos – bass{{clarify|date=August 2017|bass guitar, double bass, bass drum, bass clarinet?}}
- Bruce Dukov – violin
- Endre Granat – violin
- Ethan Johns – drums, bass, pedal steel guitar, chamberlin, synthesizer, acoustic guitar, ukulele, harpsichord, string arrangement, brass arrangement, conducting
- Alan Kaplan – trombone
- Dennis Karmayzn – cello
- Phil Levy – violin
- David Low – cello
- Rafael Rishik – violin
- Anatoly Rosinsky – violin
- Lisa Sutton – violin
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{Metacritic album|title=29}}
{{Ryan Adams}}
{{Authority control}}