SMASH ADDAMS, 'Hard to Get Over' [2023 reissue]

The original 2004-05 session produced with the late Leo Goff, III as one of his first projects overseeing everything. We had previously worked together recording the E.P. at Ardent back in 2003 with my former band, MANICS. I chose to keep working with him on a solo project and he brought in some local cats including Annie Freres, Grayson Grant, Nigel Albertson, my friend Lita Williams, and I'm sure I'm forgetting a someone or two...but I learned alot working with him and I do regret I hadn't seen him since 2006...he was busy with his work with YO GOTTI a lot of the time. I've read he went on do to just what he did best. I think of him for the brief time I knew him. Funny, chill guy and a great producer / intuitive guy. That's just what I learned from that sliver of time in my life...twenty years later, give or take a lost weekend or two since I started living again, hehe. Also, a shout out to Eric Seaburg for providing the original artwork (2004). The album was made on a shoe-string budget of time and little to no money over a few months at Nu-Star mostly (thanks to Robert Picone for letting us in during those spare moments to work). We tracked some piano at Young Avenue and Ardent...later post-production done by me at home, late 2011. This was supposed to be my very first album but it ended up being my tenth, LOL. 

"Time has its way with everyone in its path..."

Please enjoy my first and most memorable in times recording in Memphis in real studios with some great musicians who gave us the pleasure of contributing their talents to something that wasn't in the world before we found it. Rest in power, LG3. 

CHeers!

CLICK HERE to listen on Spotify

The 2018 *updated* alternate mix with drum ODs and the b-side, "Never Apart." Released by VandettaMusic1 in early 2021.

WHISKEYTOWN: Alternate Discography (1995-2001)

1. Midway Park
2. Drank Like A River
3. Too Drunk To Dream
4. Tennessee Square (Re-Issue Version)
5. What May Seem Like Love
6. Faithless Street
7. Mining Town
8. If He Can't Have You
9. Black Arrow, Bleeding Heart
10. Matrimony
11. Excuse Me While I Break My Own Heart Tonight (Country Version)
12. Desperate Ain't Lonely
13. Hard Luck Story
14. Top Dollar
15. Lo-Fi Tennessee Mountain Angel
16. Revenge

LISTEN HEAR AT THIS SITE (**Not mine**)

1. My Heart Is Broken

2. Kiss and Make Up

3. Further Down the Road

4. Ten Seconds Til the End of the World

5. Here's to the Rest of the World

6. Empty Baseball Park

7. San Antonio

8. Factory Girl

9. All You Can Feel

10. New York Angel

11. Only to Lose

1. INN TOWN
2. YESTERDAY'S NEWS
3. 16 DAYS
4. EVERYTHING I DO (Miss You)
5. HOUSES ON THE HILL
6. WITHER, I'M A FLOWER+
7. DANCING WITH THE WOMEN AT THE BAR
8. WAITING TO DERAIL
9. AVENUES
10. STREET OF SIRENS+
11. TURN AROUND
12. ME AND MY TICKET*
13. BREATHE*
14. SOMEBODY REMEMBERS THE ROSE
15. TICKET TIME+
16. LOSERING
17. NOT HOME ANYMORE

CHECK IT OUT HEAR AT: 

dbs-repercussion.blogspot.com

01 Anyone But Me 

02 Don’t Wanna Know Why

03 Easy Hearts

04 Sittin’ Around

05 Rays of Burning Light 

06 Ghost Without Memory

07 Runnin’ Out of Road

08 Can’t Take a Lover 

09 Think About Me 

10 Crazy Lonesome 

11 Caroline

HAPPY GO BYE-BYE  

(1999)

1. Don't Wanna Know Why
2. Jacksonville Skyline
3. Tilt-A-Whirl
4. Mirror, Mirror 
5. The Ballad of Carol Lynn
6. What the Devil Wanted

7. 

   Don't Be Sad
8. Crazy About You
9. My Hometown
10. Reason to Lie
11. Paper Moon
12. Under Your Breath
13. Bar Lights
14. Choked Up
15. Tell Me What Else I Can Do Wrong Tonight
16. Listen to the Radio
17. The Battle

 

1. Today
2. Clearly Destroyed
3. Breathe
4. Fool
5. All I Wanted
6. Out of Time
7. Sit and Listen to the Rain
8. Leave the Lights Off
9. Probably Bound to Happen
10. West NY Serenade
11. Lil' Girls (Hurts Sometimes)
12. Medicine
13. Silver Wings

RYAN ADAMS AND THE CARDINALS, "Color Bars" [imagined LP]

 

According to reddit: '[YouTube user] Future posted "Heartbreaker", "Anything But No" and "Juliette" but then removed it after Ryan's management requested that it and the (amazing) Rat Classics 2 tracks be removed.' These are leftovers from 'The Complete Easy Tiger Sessions (2006-07); a few appeared in some form on Easy Tiger; most belatedly included on the 2010 release of III/IV (the band had four different albums at one point). "The Rat Classics 2 tracks are, I think, from August 06 or later in the Easy Tiger sessions," quote from reddit user Disink. Thank you to the OP, Adamamericana (no relation, lol) and graciousfew for the info! 

Ryan Adams & The Cardinals

COLOR BARS  (2006)

Contains early mixes of songs
from Easy Tiger and III/IV.

1. Anything But No
2. Heartbreaker
3. Gracie+   [III / IV]
4. Roach Heaven
5. These Girls
6. Juliet (aka "Color Bars")
   
7. Typecast  (with Norah Jones)
8. The Crystal Skull 
9. Stop Playin’ with My Heart+    [III / IV]
10. Halloween Head+    (edited for Easy Tiger)    
11. Turns It Up to Ten (a.k.a. "Judy Garland")
12. Ultraviolet Lights    
13. Pussy Cat, Funny Face
14. The Sewers at the Bottom of the Wishing Well  
15. Oh My God, Whatever, Etc. (acoustic)  

Have you heard me?
In the fall of 2022, a since deleted YouTube account leaked several tracks from various unreleased sessions; including "HEAVEN", "A Wish", "Rollin' with the Punches", "Party Clown", "24/7", "Temples of God"  and "Oh My God Whatever, Etc. (alt. take)" from RATT CLASSICS, VOL. II.

A snippet of "Kim" from the HAYWIRE (rumored title to Glyn Johns's second record with DRA that was shelved in 2013) LP sessions also leaked; "Two Hearts" (acoustic demo for EASY TIGER)" and a Sad Dracula version of "Two"; plus CARDINOLOGY era demos, BLACKHOLE demos, etc. Most of them have been wiped but some of us grabbed it up, haha. There's an album worth of songs leftover (not including the ones re-recorded for III/IV with the Cardinals) from the sessions for 'WAR & PEACE' (Ryan's post-'Darkbreaker' sober 2xLP that was shelved by Lost Highway in 2006). Improved versions of "Maps" and "Who Were We?" are a highlight.

RYAN ADAMS, "Blackhole" [imagined LP]

RYAN ADAMS

Blackhole  (2006)

Rumored Original Track list (From a blog post)

01. Black Hole (aka Disco Queen)+    [Pax-Am Records 003]

02. White Light

03. Parts of Me  (aka Number 3)*   (previously recorded w/ diff lyrics as "S.O.S.")

04. Waiting for the Sun to Come  (aka For The Sun)

05. Don't Disappear  (aka Starfire)

06. Just You Wait

07. When You're There*

08. She Isn't Vanishing*  (aka The Vanishing)

09. Lost in Space*  (aka Thunderclouds)   (re-recorded for Dear Impossible 2008 demos)

10. When I Smile

11. Oblivion+    [Pax-Am Records 005]

12. Lights Flashing (aka Tomorrowland)+     [Pax-Am Records 003]

13. Sarah*   (later re-written with new lyrics as "The Door")     [Fasterpiece, Sad Dracula]

14. Call Me Back  (aka Truth or Dare)

                                                     The Blackhole Saga: A Brief History

The songs were recorded over three periods (Dec. 2005; Spring 2010; 2012-13). Tom Schick engineered the original sessions. Version one was part of a planned trilogy of albums in 2006 that was rejected one-by-one by Lost Highway (Ryan's label at the time). War and Peace (a 28- song solo double LP) and THE CARDINALS' Star Wars album (11-12 song LP including "Two", "Two Hearts" and title track). Before beginning work on 'Ashes and Fire'; RA wanted to get the album finished now that he had his own label, Pax-Am. Over four years of production had continued with producer Jamie Candiloro and the record was further recorded and overdubbed and finally mastered in early 2010. The album was going to be a pre-order with The Cardinals III/IV album recorded in 2006. But it was cancelled.

Mk I (2006)

Ryan with the 2010 version from the record plant.

Bonus LP (outtakes, demos, etc.)

1. ROCK DUST
2. TWO (Rock Version)*  
3. HEAVEN
4. ROLLIN' WITH THE PUNCHES
5. CALIFORNIA GASOLINE
6. S.O.S.  (Blackhole demo)
7. SARAH  (Blackhole demo)
8. LOST AND FOUND  (Blackhole outtake)
9. IT ENDS THE WAY IT STARTED  (Blackhole outtake)
10. CLOSURE
11. STARFIRE  (Blackhole demo)
12. WAITING FOR THE SUN  (Blackhole demo)
13. ON FIRE
14. THE SEWERS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE WISHING WELL  (ver. II)

PAX-AM Sessions Chronology***UPDATE 2023*** (ALIEN USA, PRISONER trilogy, etc.)

 Updates re: 2022 albums and chronology; personnel info, etc. 

ALIEN USA 

2xLP with The Shining at Pax Am...fall 2013 after scrapped 2nd album with Glyn Johns (HAYWIRE a. k. a. TOO BORED TO RUN: "Shining Through the Dark"; "Crooked Shake"; "Kim"- version 1; "In the Shadows"; "Haywire"; early versions of " Too Bored to Run", "I Do Not Feel Like Being Good", "How Much Light"; etc.)

Personnel: Ryan Adams, Charlie Stavish, Mike Viola, Marshall Vore; Jeremy Stacey; others... 

The DEVOLVER album except for "Free Yourself"  (new song*); released 2022. "I Am Alone" with Johnny T. (?) from Prisoner 2014-15 sessions. CHRIS album tracks: "Flicker in the Fade"; " Schizophrenic Babylon"; " Chris"; " Lookout (The Past)"; "Burn in the Night"; 'On My Life"; plus *"I Can See the Light" (streamed on IG, early 2023*)

S/T sessions at Pax-AM  (with Mike Viola; Jeremy Stacey; Tal Wilkenfeld; Marshall Vore; Johnny Depp; Mandy Moore)

1984/1985/1986/1987/1983 (Ryan solo)

The Shining II sessions 

"Do You Still Love Me?" from PRISONER (2017)

Personnel: Ryan Adams; Daniel Clarke; Charlie Stavish; Jason Boesell; Mike Viola

Other tracks possibly include "Love Me Don't"; "Fantasy File"; "Do You Feel"  from FM album released in 2022.

PRISONER pt. 1 and 2  recorded summer 2014-spring 2015 . "As  'Heartbreaker' as it gets" - DRA, 2016 interview discussing the two-part solo project he made prior to the recording of 1989. 

25 songs recorded for two part double album. 23 songs including "Dive"; "You Don't Love Me"; "Stay Alive"; "I'll Wait"; "Replaced"; "Take It Back"; "Still A Cage"; "Moving Target"; "Say What You Said"; "I Got Lost" ; "Spinning Wheel"; " Was I Wrong"; " Letting the Light In"; "Baby I Love You"; PRISONER 2017 album tracks except for "Do You Still Love Me" (taken from The Shining's scrapped 2nd album sessions following tour in 2014).

1989 

PRISONER part 3 (Pax-AM sessions 2015-16)  with Johnny T.

"So Helpless"; "I Am Alone"; "The Cold" and PRISONER B-SIDES 

L. A. RAIN MUSIC (Feb - Apr 2018 at Pax-AM)

Personnel: Ryan Adams; Tod W.; Aaron Ficca; Charlie Stavish

17 songs including tracks from BC, WEDNESDAYS; R & J ("L. A. Rain") and FM (except for "When She Smiles", "So Dumb", and The Shining tracks) See LA RAIN MUSIC entry. "Sword and Stone"; "Mercy"

Wednesdays / Big Colors / Chris*

Personnel: Ryan Adams; Johnny T. ; Beatriz Artola; Don Was; Benmont Tench; John Mayer; others. 

48 songs recorded at Electric Lady Studios in NY in July 2018. 43 songs for BC / Wednesdays / R & J* albums (except "In the Meadow" and new PaxAm tracks*). "Don't Follow"; "When She Smiles"; "So Dumb"; "I Was Here"; "Nightmare"; others. Overdubs were added to tracks from the Pax-Am sessions. See I WAS HERE entry. "Orange Rinds (Who is Gonna Save Me Now)" was later leaked on Ryan's own IG in 2023.

Capitol Studios with Don Was (Fall 2018)…most of the original WEDNESDAYS album (including "Nobody Wins" and "Pennsylvania Moon"---renamed to "Anything" and "My Heaven", respectively--for R&J album) except "When You Cross Over"; "Birmingham"; "Mamma" and 'Take Me Home". Personnel: Ryan Adams; Don Was; Beatriz Artola; Benmont Tench; Stephen Pratt; Brendan McCusker; Emmylou Harris; Jason Isbell*; others. 
Overdubs were added to tracks from PaxAm and ELS sessions. Jason Isbell is rumored to have participated in overdubs (most likely guitar) for "Birmingham". The song was recorded with Tod, Aaron, and Charlie at Pax-Am back in the Spring of 2018 (along with "When You Cross Over" and possibly "Like a Heatwave" and "Red and Orange Special"). John Mayer overdubbed a guitar solo on "Dreaming You Backwards" that only appears on the UK import LP version (instead of the solo Ryan did himself on the US LP editions). 

Ryan invited the then surviving members of The Cardinals to initially record at ELS prior to the July session but it didn't happen, as we know. 

Session with The Wolf Bros. at Pax-AM, April 2019.  
 "Pacific Line"; "Trouble on Wheels" (streamed on IG in 2019). The original 'CHRIS' album was rumored to be a double album more in the style of Cold Roses (his brother's "favourite"). It was supposedly scrapped because Ryan said "it was bullshit" or something to that effect. "Manhattan in the Rain" was streamed on his IG during the ELS sessions in July 2018. The actual CHRIS album released in 2022 is believed to actually be PRISONER 2/3 (teased for release along with Blackhole and the live albums Captiol Theatre with Stringdusters and Exile on Meryl Streep--the Rolling Stones' double album performed lived in NOLA); mentioned on his IG, spring 2018. 'L.A. Rain' had also been mentioned as "17 new songs just recorded." Ryan announced he had scrapped that album in April 2018. After that, we know he entered ELS in July 2018 and cut 48 songs during his time there; he recorded 19 songs in one day, reportedly. 

 'Sidewriting against Heartbreaker' (fall 2021)

"Too Old to Die Young"; "(I'm on a) Rollercoaster"; "Counting to Zero"; ?

Demo sessions at Pax-Am in 2021-22 including "Bye Bye Balloons"; "I Can't Remember"; "Romeo and Juliet"; "Desperate Times"; "What is Left"; "Something's Missing"; "At Home with the Animals"; 'Theo is Dreaming"; 'This is Your House"; "Brighter Than Heaven"; "Valentine"; ?