Love Is Hell, Pt. 1

by Ryan Adams

Overview

Like any Ryan Adams album, Love Is Hell comes with a back-story. Love Is Hell was intended to be the official follow-up to 2001's Gold -- the album that was not a collection of demos (that was 2002's Demolition), or the recorded-but-shelved albums 48 Hours or The Suicide Handbook, or even his alleged song-by-song cover of the Strokes' Is This It. Longtime Smiths fan that he is, Adams teamed up with John Porter -- the man who produced The Smiths, Meat Is Murder, and part of The Queen Is Dead -- with the intention of creating his own mope-rock album, hence the title Love Is Hell. Americana label that it is, Lost Highway balked at releasing a stylized tribute to Mancunian rainy-day bedsit music and didn't release it, encouraging Adams to record a different album, presumably one more in line with the label's taste. Eventually, a compromise was arranged: Adams kicked out a new album, the self-descriptive Rock N Roll, while releasing the equally self-descriptive Love Is Hell as two EPs, the first hitting the streets the same day as the "official" album. In effect, both Rock N Roll and Love Is Hell are tribute albums, each a conscious aping of a style and sound, both designed to showcase how versatile and masterful Adams is. If Love Is Hell, Pt. 1 (an EP that is longer than the concurrently released Strokes album Room on Fire) has the edge over Rock N Roll, it's because it's more carefully considered in its production and writing, and he manages to hide his allusions better than he does on Rock, where every title and chord progression play like an homage. Here, he shoots for the Smiths and winds up in Jeff Buckley territory tempered with a dash of Radiohead circa The Bends. To claim that it's a dark affair is to criticize its milieu more than its substance, because the songs have the form and feel of brooding, atmospheric mope-rock, not the blood and guts of the music. The epic sprawl of "Political Scientist" captures him at his best Buckley; the title track is nearly anthemic with its ringing guitars; the understated "World War 24" and the gently propulsive "This House Is Not for Sale," would fit nicely between a Julian Cope and a Morrissey track on a college radio show from the late '80s. But it's telling that the best song here is a cover of Oasis' "Wonderwall." ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Product Details

Release Date:	11/04/2003
Label:	Lost Highway
UPC:	0602498127827

Tracks

1. Political Scientist
2. Afraid Not Scared
3. This House Is Not for Sale
4. Love Is Hell
5. Wonderwall
6. The Shadowlands
7. World War 24
8. Avalanche

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Ryan Adams   Primary Artist
Jon Cleary   Piano,Guitar,Wurlitzer
James "Hutch" Hutchinson   Bass
Ricky Fataar   Drums
Johnny McNab   Guitar
Ruth Gottlieb   Violin
Johnny Pisano   Bass
Ian McLagan   Wurlitzer,Organ (Hammond)
Greg Leisz   Guitar
Paul Garisto   Drums
Sara Wilson   Cello
Joe McGinty   Piano

Technical Credits

Sara Wilson   Group Member
John Porter   Mixing,Producer
Jon Cleary   Group Member
Noel Gallagher   Composer
James "Hutch" Hutchinson   Group Member
Ryan Adams   Composer,Producer,Cover Photo
Ricky Fataar   Group Member
New York Band   Group
New Orleans Band   Group
Andy West   Photography
Johnny McNab   Group Member
Rick Patrick   Creative Director
Ruth Gottlieb   Group Member
Jessica Jenkins   Photography
Johnny Pisano   Group Member
Ted Jensen   Mastering
Ian McLagan   Group Member
Greg Leisz   Group Member
Joe McGrath   Mixing,Engineer
Paul Garisto   Group Member
Joe McGinty   Group Member