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Ryan Adams

“29”

RATING 3 VOLUME LEVELS.

It’s hard to tell through this supremely dark group of songs whether you’re listening to a work of art or a cry for help. Adams delivers a group of tunes in which he wrestles with so many demons so relentlessly that you want to put him on a 72-hour suicide watch. The sparse music is correspondingly moody in often compelling tales. Adams is so prolific–this is his third 2005 disc–that there’s reason to see it as a snapshot of one desolate period. Next we may get his more upbeat views. Until then, somebody might want to keep the sharp objects locked away.