Ryan Adams book by Michael Heatley

	£		60
	$		80

This book is now OUT OF PRINT, which would explain the sorts of prices it's going for on Amazon (GBP138.11), and Half.com,AbeBooks, etc, (US$299.89).

I bought my copy about 2 years ago from Amazon. It's only been read once and is in AS NEW condition, with no marks or creases.

At that time all I knew about Ryan Adams was what I'd read in Q magazine and from hearing Gold. So, for me, this book was a revelation, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Having said that though, this book would be best enjoyed by a major Ryan Adams fan.

The focus here is mainly on his work and music. Any information about his relationships, etc. is pretty much skimmed over. But I found it very interesting reading about his early years growing up in Jacksonville, North Carolina.

This was the first book about Ryan Adams, and as far as I'm aware, it's still the only one. So, if you are a major Ryan fan, then you really HAVE to get this!!

There's also quite a good selection of really good photos - (I've included a couple of pages of them.)

Includes a comprehensive discography from pre-Whiskeytown (1991) - Blank Label, Patty Duke Syndrome up till 2003 when this was published.

Here's a some excerpts:

"Suitably for a man who's been creating musical fireworks out of the box, David Ryan Adams took his first breath on Bonfire Night, November 5, 1974, in Jacksonville, North Carolina. Ironically, his near-namesake Bryan was also born that day in Kingston, Ontario, albeit more than 15 years earlier - but equally coincidentally, and certainly of more musical relevance, it was one year to the day since a 27-year-old Gram Parsons breathed his last."

"In high school, he was excluded from class for wearing a T-shirt with a melting ice cube and the slogan 'Christianity is stupid. . .give up'."

"Interviewed by Magnet magazine years later, Brian Walsby recalled his first impression of Ryan Adams - and they were far from favourable. "He was a hyperactive, spazzy, smelly little kid who I thought was full of shit. Someone who just couldn't be as enthusiastic as he appeared."

"On the demise of Patty Duke, Ryan found work in a bakery, starting at four each morning. . .understandably, he very soon lost touch with everyone on the music scene, initially, at least, he revelled in it. . .but when the bakery, impressed by his work, started prodding him up the management ladder, he came to his senses about a job that was "monotonous as fu*k and as American as you could get." 

". . .Adams would explain that his forthcoming album, to be entitled Gold, was meant as an open letter for "this one person in the entire world, who shall go unnamed; the record's for her - not that she cares." He rather spoilt the secret by citing Winona in the liner notes. "Ryan loves just about everybody, including. . .Winona Ryder - damn girl." That said, he managed to name-check Alanis Morrisette five times among the other names! He later elaborated somewhat harshly on the Ryder situation: "I made an ignorant choice of girlfriend. I met this famous person and thought: 'I'll date her!' I'd been in a relationship since I was 17, so I'd never had a chance to be a guy, and I don't know how to be a bachelor and go out and have fun. But all we did was torture each other, it was really silly. I don't know what I was doing with her in the first place."

"The enigmatic title of La Cienega Just Smiled comes from a moment when he stood on the corner of Los Angeles' La Cienega Boulevard and Melrose Avenue reflecting on his recent past."

"When The Stars Go Blue, the album's outstanding ballad, came together in just a few songwriting minutes. Compared with Heartbreaker, in which he was "beating myself up over things or feelings", Gold found "some of the awkwardness gone, and some of the questions I had to ask are a little bit gone". A Morrissey-esque vocal completed the portrait of despair which evoked Roy Orbison's Sixties tales of harrowing emotion. The 'stars' reference has a deeper meaning, according to the writer. "Think of the 'star' as someone hiding away in her Beverly Hills mansion and not saying an awful lot," he says. "Listen to the song again with that in mind and see what you think."

"Even Ryan Adams himself had to admit he'd exceeded his own expectations. "I was afraid (Gold) wouldn't be as good as Heartbreaker, (which) is f**king rad. It's horribly sad. I listened to it the other night and I almost couldn't believe I'd made it." With Gold, he'd "dropped the sadness factor. . . .I used lethargy, really, more than sadness. I wanted to make somebody feel sentimental just by the melody. . .maybe like how The Smiths' records feel."  

Thanks for looking!