Customer Reviews

Strangers Almanac

5 star:		(41)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I was young and in love in the early twenties with a woman I thought I was going to marry. She left and I was suddenly lost. One of my roomates loved this album. She said it was one of the best albums she had ever heard. I listened to it and it made no impression what so ever. Then, I listened to it after I had experienced some real emotional pain...

I drank a lot for three months, a lot of bourbon actually, and this was the album I listened to at 2, 3, or 4 o'clock in the morning. Songs like Inn Town, Excuse Me While I Break My Own Heart Tonight, 16 Days, and Everything I Do dredged the pain up nightly and made me deal with it.

Maybe the album is only for certain people at certain times in their lives. But more than once I have been in the used CD section of a record store and saw someone looking at Stranger's Almanac by Whiskeytown. I always walk up to that person and say, "You know, I don't know who you are, or what you listen to, but the CD you have in your hand is one of the best CDs I've ever owned. If you buy that CD, it will be one of the best bargins you've ever had."

This is not an Uncle Tupelo,Gram Parsons,etc rip off band like everyone seems to think. Just listen to it without trying to compare them to everyone else. There's a lot of different styles on this CD. Straight up rock tunes like Yesterday's News which has some great lines like"...cause nothing's what you did,and I can't stand to be under your wing..." Everything I Do reminds me of a soul ballad. Not Home Anymore has a cool drone intro. Houses on the Hill is one of my favorites about a kid or guy exploring an old attic discovering past, secret lives. Some of my favorite lyrics"...I found it in the Northwest corner of the attic in a box labeled tinsel and lights. Didn't know what I was looking for,maybe just a blanket or artifacts...." Avenues,Inn Town,Dancing with the women at the bar. There's not a bad track on here if you listen a few times. Your favorite tracks will just keep changing with each listen. Ryan is a great writer and has a great voice for this stuff. I'm glad he switched from punk rock.

For all the comparisons to country-rock legend Gram Parsons, Ryan Adams does quite well exceeding him as far as artistic merit is concerned. A talent like Adams graces the world of music once every other generation. If it isn't his ability to write sincere, directly spiritual and personal songs that incorporate every era of American popular music it's his incredibly rich and varied vocals that work miracles on the hearts and minds of poets everywhere.
The first six tracks on this record stand up to anything in the entire history of the genre of country-rock, including "Sweetheart of the Rodeo" and "March 16-20".
Although filler starts to take hold towards the end of the album, it's enough of a showing to embellish Ryan Adams' hypnotic force as a song and dance man in the minds of rock fans for an eternity.

Ryan Adams has one of those whiskey soaked voices that drives slow sad songs deeper and drives rockers with a frenzy that approaches John Lennon's raspy shouting on 'Twist and Shout.' On this album Adams' songwriting and a dedicated band that drifts easily from deep country with bluegrass tinges to Stones (or John Mellencamp or Paul Westerberg)inspired rock and roll, combine on record ranks easily as one of the top five for the entire decade.

I have heard bands or singers called "World Weary", and no band is a better example than Whiskeytown. Lumping them in the "Alt-Country" or "No Depression" (whatever that means) groups is unfair. Whiskeytown is equal parts rock and roll and country and with Benmont Tench manning the keyboards behind them, this band turns out some of the best [North] American music this side of Tench's full time job, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers or the Band [mostly Canadians]. How many "Alt-Country" could turn out a ballad as souful [including horns] as 'Everything I Do?'

The songs themselves swing from the simple and plaintive opener 'Inn Town' and 'Losering' to the raving 'Yesterday's News' and 'Waiting to Derail' to the bare bones acoustic guitar and fiddle on 'Houses on the Hill' and 'Avenues' and the afforementioned 'Everything I Do.' Every song on here stands pretty much on its own and the changing styles keeps everything moving. Going from 'Houses' to the late era Replacements-ish 'Turn Around' to the dark and brooding 'Dancing with the Women at the Bar' is a good example.

Do yourself a favor and just buy it.

This is definately a favorite album of mine. The emotion is just so real and so raw, unpretentious and unapologetic. It really helped me through some hard times, just to listen to it and absolve the meaning. Favorites include "Inn Town", "Losering", "Everything I Do", "Not Home Anymore", "Houses On The Hill", "Yesterday's News" and "16 Days". The group went through a lot of changes through this period, with lots of people quitting, being kicked out, and so forth. You can't deny a good piece of music, quite frankly it changed my life. There's enough dripping sad alt-country here, and angry hard rockers to keep everyone on their feet and listening. Just as good as their other albums, and well worth adding to any music collection.

Boy, are the situations described in this classic LP familiar or what? Excuse Me While I Break My Own Heart doesn't need much explanation and it sets the tone for the whole album with typically insightful song-writing. Personal favourites are Turn Around, Losering and the killer closer, but there's a veritable gold mine of heart-rending beauty to be plundered here. Ryan Adams has an amazing voice and its hard to listen to him without misting up, he's that effective. Even when sober! The brother has been there, in the darkest hours of the soul, and lived to tell the tale. The band bring these amazing songs to life and every note is struck with honesty and precision. It's an alt-country classic all the way and anyone who digs Tupelo (particularly Anodyne); Wilco (Being There), Freakwater (End Time; Feels Like..) and the rest should definitely own it. Buy and cry.

I was so glad I bought this album. This band has broken up now, and knocking them for sounding derivative or watered down (I don't agree) is kind of a moot point. Whiskeytown was a young band that liked to experiment, and they were searching for sounds. The result was a variety of songs that were different sounding. But it's quality stuff.
This album could be the soundtrack for anyone in their late 20's who is struggling with loneliness and the reality of their dreams slipping away. I got it 2 summers ago when I was 27 and unemployed. Listen to "Dancing With the Women at the Bar", "Waiting to Derail", "Avenues", and "Losering", and you'll see what I mean. "Houses On the Hill" is a classic. The flawless "16 Days" is sad, but still never fails to kick-start me. The same could be said for "Excuse Me...". Alejandro Escovedo's lyrics add a great element to this song and make it even better.
From what I've heard, Ryan Adams' solo work is good, too, but he's still "all over the place" musically. I'd say he is definitely a talent to keep an eye on, though. I highly recommend "Strangers Almanac".

Don't know if you feel the same way I do, but I feel a little weird about giving Ryan Adams money. I mean, I've been curious about his music for a while now, but the guy seems to wear a perpetual smug, self-satisfied smirk that says he's more talented and important than you are. Call me crazy but I prefer my rock stars to be either cartoonish megalomaniacs (e.g. W. Axl Rose; Billy Corgan) or serious and humble (e.g. Eddie Vedder, Chris Cornell). That cooler-than-thou act that some upstarts adopt before the ink is even dry on their press clippings is a big turnoff. And yet somehow I found myself ordering a Whiskeytown album on Amazon[.com] earlier this year. I reasoned that at least in his early days, Ryan Adams actually deigned to be part of a band that didn't bear his name - that has to be a good sign right?

So, when Strangers Almanac arrived on my doorstep, I tore open the packaging and put that deal right in my CD player and hit play. Damn, if I wasn't transfixed for the next 52 minutes. It pretty quickly occurred to me that Whiskeytown were a talented outfit with a great deal of potential. I'll admit it - Ryan Adams has an excellent voice and is a talented songwriter. But, it sure helps that he has Caitlin Cary around to harmonize with him on Strangers Almanac. And just because he is obviously talented doesn't mean he hasn't borrowed heavily from the sound of others on this album. I mean, "Turn Around" sounds like Johnny Rzeznik singing over the music from The Cure's "Love Song". Van Morrison is going to want royalties for stealing his entire sound in "Everything I Do". And could "Yesterday's News" sound any more like Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers?

On the other hand, every one of those aforementioned songs is listenable enough. That's a whole lot better than writing ... songs that sound like no one else. Plus, a bunch of the other songs qualify as dead-on alt-country classics with or without obvious musical influences. The vocal harmonies on "16 Days" will melt your heart and send you scurrying for your car keys. By mid-song, you'll want to take your pickup out onto the closest country road and never look back. "Houses on the Hill" is so beautiful musically and lyrically that you won't mind that it sounds like Jimmy Buffett and the Eagles joined Whiskeytown in the study to write and record it. "Dancing with the Women at the Bar" is spare and lovely and "Losering" is the best REM song I've heard in years.

So, yes, based on my experience with Strangers Almanac, much of the hype surrounding Ryan Adams is deserved and you are making a big mistake if you like alt-country and don't have this album in your collection. I'll probably check out some of the other Whiskeytown releases before I give in and purchase his recent solo work though. Something about the hubris it takes to name a band after yourself rubs me the wrong way, especially when it comes from someone who exudes such smugness. It's not like Adams has produced something on the level of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot yet has he? Please tell me he hasn't or else he really might deserve to be that smug.

If anyone out there still doubts Ryan Adams' genius status then they should listen, REALLY listen to Whiskeytown's 'Strangers Almanac'. Adams' star is shining brightly at the moment; critical as well as commercial success are deservedly his, but remembering that Adams was in his early 20's when he wrote these songs it's clear why he was heralded as being 'the next big thing'.
Strangers Almanac is a record that connects with people on so many levels: through sheer power of song, through insightful lyrics that cut to the bone and through a palpable self-belief to transcend any limitations or boundaries.
There are echoes of the Replacements, Springsteen and the best work of Soul Asylum and the Goo Goo Dolls here, yet whiskeytown sound utterly original and of their time. Having played the stuffing out of this album, for me, the emotional core of Strangers Almanac is fittingly in the heart of the album with 'Houses on the Hill', 'Turn Around' and 'Dancing with the Women at the Bar. These three songs are painfully good - this is real raw, honest and heartbreaking music.
Here is a classic case of an album that takes over your senses - little by little, until you feel a powerful compulsion to play this at every opportunity - at home, at work , in the car or whilst walking the street. As with any other Ryan Adams and Caitlin Cary project this is truly indispensible and higly recommended.

I wasn't born and bred into an alt-country state of mind. In fact, my blood runneth deep with English punk, ska, and SoCo power pop. However, life led me to the south and, for reasons unbeknownst to me, I begin to notice the local musical culture slowly seeping into my system. I fought it as first...until I heard "Turn Around" on the local college station. The gravely "I just woke up and need coffee" vocals and cloudy day musical arrangement struck a chord in me that has yet to leave even though I have moved on and out of the southland. From the down home twang of "Excuse me while I break..." to the simple, sweet words of a lover's longing in "Avenues", this cd has the capacity of scaling one's daily emotional gamut with honesty, humor and depth.