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 Its hard to believe that Jacksonville, NC born Ryan Adams would become a staple video for the healing of the September 11th tragedies. Some would even look at the patriotic album cover and title track, "New York, New York" and believe that the album is simply meant to aid the healing process. Actually, Adams sings of a love he spent some time with in the famous Big Apple city, and despite the music industry's desire to make his ballad a tribute to the injured city, Adams simply is an example of coincidence at just the right time. The album is filled with Adam's most familiar works. His sweet sing-song alt-country voice blankets the album with musical genius. The wonderfully written tunes, from beginning to end, are laden with guitar, sax, and only a sound the frontman from Whiskeytown could acheive. The album is calm and soothing, but certainly has its pick-me-up tracks as well. As for the appearance of patriotic support, its mere coincidence, but comes at a time when the people of New York are welcoming to a healing hand.
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"Gold" is a masterpiece. Usually when I buy cd's it is for two or three songs that I've heard on the radio that I enjoyed. Sometimes there are a couple more surprises that I discover later, but for the most part the rest of the songs seem like filler. "Gold" is like a "best of" compilation that I would have created for myself of all my favorite Ryan Adams songs. Every song on the disk is great. "New York, New York" of course is a mainstream hit. "Answering Bell" has a great country-rock sound. My favorites though are the ballads "Goodnight Hollywood Boullevard", "Wild Flowers", and "The Bar is a Beautiful Place" (bonus track on 2nd disk). They are among the best songs I've ever heard. "When the Stars Go Blue" is also really popular right now with the Corrs and Bono having recently done a cover of it. This is a must have for anyone who likes music with an emphasis on accoustic guitar and deep lyrics. I went out and purchased "Heartbreaker", "Demolition", and the Whiskeytown album "Faithless Street", all of which are very good too. "Gold" is the way to go for anyone trying Ryan Adams for the first time. You will not be disappointed.
