Product Description

Budget one-disc release of the "real" new Ryan Adams album,originally rejected by his record company for being too morose then released as two mini-albums. Darker in tone, but hailed by fans as better, than the 80s influenced, uptempo 'Rock 'n' Roll', this omits the bonus tracks from the mini-albums (which hardcore fans will already have bought) and crams 16 tracks onto one disc to appeal to the more casual fans turned onto Adams by 'Rock 'n' Roll'.

Track Listing

1. Political Scientist
2. Afraid Not Scared
3. This House Is Not For Sale
4. Anybody Wanna Take Me Home
5. Love Is Hell
6. Wonderwall
7. The Shadowlands
8. World War 24
9. Avalanche
10. My Blue Manhattan
11. Please Do Not Let Me Go
12. City Rain, City Streets
13. I See Monsters
14. English Girls Approximately
15. Thank You Louise
16. Hotel Chelsea Nights

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #707 in Music
• Released on: 2004-05-03
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 68 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Welcome back to Ryan Adams the poet--previously missing presumed dead, or at least seriously wounded by the hand of his own gutless record label. Love Is Hell combines both previous EPs of the same name, originally released as such by Lost Highway, wary of the lack of mainstream pop Adams had delivered them (causing the slighted musician to knock up the throwaway yet still utterly indispensable Rock 'n' Roll). Here we find four songs chopped (none missed) and one added--the world-weary yet utterly romantic "Does Anybody Want To Take Me Home" from Rock 'n' Roll (potential single material, cut from the same cloth as "This House Is Not for Sale").

Love Is Hell is a desolate, artistically ambitious, yet strangely moving piece of work that visits someplace on the edge of town ("Political Scientist") and his own harsh self examination ("God, what have I been drinking?" he asks in the title track). This emotional fug sometimes clears to reveal a still beating, if bruised heart ("This House Is Not for Sale") although occasionally it can become too much (the pedestrian "My Blue Manhattan", and the aimless "Avalanche").

Aside from "Afraid Not Scared" (which smacks of Radiohead's "Subterranean Homesick Alien") the whole thing sounds like a silent motif for the quiet desperation of life, like a single maudlin violinist playing on a tube platform at midnight. That and a smoky, sublime cover of "Wonderwall" makes for a near-perfect Ryan Adams record. --Ben Johncock

Customer Reviews

my fave adams album
So many people cite the cover of 'wonderwall' as the highlight of this album - but personally i find it pretty boring....

Adams seems to go from style to style on each album and some critics say this is his take on the lovelorn efforts of messers Morrisey and J Buckley.

possibly this could be so - its full of jangly guitars, soaring vocals, and emotional choruses.

there are enough stand out tracks on this to make it a worthwhile purchase.

"Anybody wanna take me home", "Avalanche", "World war 24" and the title track - are where adams pulls together gentle tunes emotional vocals and the typical lovelost troubador lyrics to their best effect.

love really must be hell if you beleive what he has to say - but it never soudned so good.

Let the man alone
What the hell is the amazon reviewer listening to - Avalanche aimless? Absolute tosh and nonsense. Great song. The Oasis cover? Redundant. Always skip past it. The rest? absolute bloody genius. Record companies? God bless the internet.

really, really good
buy it, if only for the last 60 seconds of "English Girls Approximately", which is utterly lovely.

The man has a rare talent, let's hope his label don't stifle it again