Ryan Adams and The Cardinals, 'DARKBREAKER' [imagined LP]

 

1. Saturday Night
2. Two
3. Everything Dies
4. When the Wild Wind Blows
5. Cemetery Hill
6. Dreams of the Working Class
7. Clementine
8. Star Maps
9. Who Were We?
10. Elizabeth
11. Lighthouses
12. Words
13. Destroy Yourself+
14. Don't Get Sentimental on Me

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2025 432 Hz. Master (from the best possible sources available with additional production and mastering where needed).

This compilation started with the eighteen songs that were believed to be recorded initially with Cameron Crowe's film soundtrack in mind---as well as the Cardinals' follow-up to Jacksonville City Nights. Some were unfinished sounding and Ryan probably would have done more to them like "Willows", "Clementine", and "Elizabethtown" (the song in particular which he reportedly hated). 

Some were late re-done with The Cardinals during the sessions for what became Easy Tiger (and III/IV)---like "Two", "Two Hearts", "Everybody Knows" and "The Sewers at the Bottom of the Wishing Well". "Lighthouses" was later re-worked into "Rip Off" (why people heard that song was part of this session---it sort of was). Ryan and Jamie C. first redid "Lighthouses" with more of a similar arrangement to "Two"---though it doesn't have the same vibe as the original. 

"Saturday Night" ,"Dreams of the Working Class" and "Clementine" are re-worked songs originally written during the 2000-01 era (albeit, with new lyrics).

Ryan also overdubbed more and re-did vocals for "Cemetery Hill", "Who Were We?", and "Maps"---as well as reworking "Lions of Broadway" into "Steve Miller & Weed" during the early 2006 sessions for his rejected 'War & Peace' double album---which in itself was joined by The Cardinals into making their next double album (III/IV)---which would be rejected and eventually become other (mostly rejected) projects. 

"Two", "Everybody Knows", "Who Were We?" and "Jessica" (now known as "Destroy Yourself"---yes, he changed the lyrics again for the 2008 demo of the same name on his blog) were part of the proposed track list for CANDY (Cardinals III) in 2006. Ryan mentioned in a 2006 article from around this time that the band had 16 songs ('half are good---half aren't good enough'---to paraphrase). He also mentioned Blackhole and War & Peace, as well. 

As we know, the former album would be revised and teased for a release in 2010----only to go through more revisions before being released in an inferior version (mix, mastering, songs, etc.) in late 2024. The latter project would yield the Sad DRAcula digital albums and Ryan's ORION side-project with producer Jamie Candiloro. Ryan also recorded with the Grateful Dead's Phil Lesh, as well, during the 2006 year. The Cardinals would lose guitarist J.P. Bowersock and bassist Catherine Popper---replacing them with the late singer-guitarist Neal Casal and Santigold's Chris Feinstein, respectively---before finishing Ryan's Easy Tiger album in early 2007. You know the rest...and it's all history, I guess.  

 

P.S. I added "Destroy Yourself" cos I felt it fit the vibe. The electric 12-string overdub (probably Graboff---like elsewhere on III/IV) leads me to believe it was done with (most of) the band and Jamie C after the Elizabethtown Sessions. "Lions of Broadway" and "Maps" sounded too raw for repeated listens with the existing mixes to work with. The 2006 mixes of "Who Were We" and "Cemetery Hill" don't have the same intensity as the original 2005 versions---however, he improved "Maps" (which was retitled "Take 'Em to the Stars and Back" ---then later "Star Maps" for the as-of-yet unheard version from the 2018 sessions at ELS). "Everyone Knows" is interesting---but you can tell it's not done. I'd love to hear the version they did for III/IV, but it's not circulating. I'd imagine it's probably like this version of "Two" in being better than its Easy Tiger counterpart.

--------------------------------RECORDING SESSIONS INFO:

Songs 1-10 reportedly recorded solo at Sunset Sound (same room as GOLD) with Tom Schick, fall 2005 / 2nd session at ELS with Jamie Candiloro and The Cardinals + string section / Additional recording in spring 2006 for War and Peace sessions./ Unreleased except "Words" (soundtrack album in 2006); "Destroy Yourself" (posted as part of the Sad DRAcula digital albums released in late 2006) and "Dreams of the Working Class" (2023 digital single).

1. Two  (version II; re-recorded with The Cardinals for Easy Tiger)
2. Everyone Knows*   (re-recorded with The Cardinals as "Everybody Knows")
3. When the Wild Wind Blows  (previously recorded with The Cardinals for JCN)
4. Clementine  (f.k.a. "Madeline")    (previously recorded for The Stockholm Sessions)
5. Dreams of the Working Class+     [2023 digital single]
6. Willows
7. Lions of Broadway*  (a.k.a  "Steve Miller and Weed")*   (re-recorded for Let It B-Minus)
8. Maps (n.k.a. "Take 'Em to the Stars and Back")    (remixed and overdubbed for W & P)
9. Cemetery Hill  (remixed and overdubbed for War and Peace and III/IV)
10. Who Were We?   (remixed and overdubbed for War and Peace)
11. Lighthouses*  (re-recorded for War and Peace; with diff lyrics as "Rip Off" for Easy Tiger)
12. Everything Dies+   [2025 IG post]
13. Don't Get Sentimental on Me
14. Saturday Night+   (different lyrics than Pinkhearts 2001 demo)    [2023 IG post]
15. Elizabeth, You Were Born to Play That Part*   (previously recorded for 29)
16. The Sewers at the Bottom of the Wishing Well*  (re-recorded for Fasterpiece; re-recorded with The Cardinals for III/IV)
17. Words+   [Elizabethtown, vol. 2: Songs For the Ride Home digital E.P.]
18. Elizabethtown*
19. Two Hearts (acoustic)*   (re-recorded with The Cardinals for Easy Tiger)