Ryan Adams - Romeo & Juliet (2022) [Hi-Res]

Yesterday Ryan Adams put his new album up for sale on Pax Am, three weeks before it hits streaming services. Romeo And Juliet is 19 tracks that hark back to Ashes And Fire, plus two bonus tracks, one “Something Missing” which is also on Romeo And Juliet and “Desperate Times”

It is a terrific album of course, and while we note some Chris backlash that accompanied it, Chris is more focussed and deeper sounding, while Romeo And Juliet is more purely business like, they are songs that are part of a post-Mandy world, post cancel, as his pleading for forgiveness has gone ignore. Finally, he appears to be moving forward. He has dubbed it a slightly mysterious complement to Easy Tiger.

At his most shruggable on blues Americana workouts like “I Can’t Remember”, it still keeps its skill set and for an album written over months, if not years, it feels of a piece, though unless by summer he means warm sunny days in doors or ashes as summer wildfires burn L.A. down, I don’t feel sparkles of sunlight here. The songs have a subdued energy on jams like “In The Meadow”, it is gorgeous and broken in two. But it needs more focus, something the Chris trilogy certainly has.