Cardinology (2008)

Rolling Stone (p.90)
- Ranked #14 in Rolling Stone's 50 Best Albums Of 2008 -- "Adams' best LP in years..."

Spin (p.106)
- 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "Like TIGER, CARDINOLOGY is long on midtempo country-rock shuffles that sound comfortable with their own familiarity..."

Entertainment Weekly (p.62)
- "He's allowed his songwriting to settle into a comfortable pattern as he's matured, but that hasn't made it any less vital." -- Grade: A-

Alternative Press (p.129)
- 4 stars out of 5 -- "'Go Easy' is soft and reassuring, getting your heart worked up with warm fuzzies before it transitions into the deep, sultry blues of 'Fix It.'"

Mojo (Publisher)
(p.110)
- 4 stars out of 5 -- "From the word go, CARDINOLOGY establishes a mood of quiet expectations....This is watercolour...with gentle shadows, dappled light, no large strokes, just restrained and organic....[A] moving album."

Blender (Magazine)
(p.76)
- 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "[T]his is a group effort, and affirmation of Cardinal principles. For the most part, that means less acoustic lilt and more bruising force."

Record Collector (magazine)
(p.84)
- 3 stars out of 5 -- "'Crossed Out Name,' 'Sink Ships,' and 'Evergreen' have the right mix of emotion and atmosphere..."

Hartford Courant 8 of 10
How will music listeners 20 or 30 years from now view the New York singer and songwriter? They'll have plenty of examples of his work: Adams, 33, is perhaps the most publicly prolific artist of his generation, having released 10 full-length solo albums since 2000, including "Cardinology" (Lost Highway), his latest with his band, the Cardinals...The songs are mostly built around acoustic and electric guitars, with flourishes from steel guitar and piano and even an Allman Bros.-style dual-guitar solo on "Like Yesterday." Adams adds a subtle vintage-soul touch via Memphis on a couple tunes, particularly with the hollow, coppery guitar lick on "Fix It" and the jangling chords and creeping Wurlitzer organ on the mournfully breezy "Let Us Down Easy"...There's a different kind of soul at work on the other songs. Adams has always excelled at wrenching relationship post-mortems, and he contributes some gems here. Bright, bristling electric guitar powers "Go Easy" as he muses on how often he still thinks about an ex, while terse acoustic guitar frames deeper heartache in his plaintive vocals on "Crossed Out Name"...With its poignant beauty and powerful songwriting, Adams' latest is, well, the latest in a string of ever-better sad-bastard records. In fact, with so much material to choose from, the most difficult task for future listeners considering his musical legacy may well be figuring out where to begin. "Cardinology" is as fine a place as any. - Eric R. Danton
 

It was, Ryan Adams says, this girl he's been spending time with; the title of this album is her fault. "She wanted to go out to dinner at eight; I wanted to go right away. She said, 'Easy, Tiger.' And that hit me. It stuck with me to the point where I called up Neal [that would be Neal Casal, guitarist of The Cardinals] and left a message on his answering machine with those two words. 'Don't forget this,' I said, 'cause I want to use it.'"

Adams laughs and adds, "I think he's still got that message."

And I understand that. Some things you just save, because they're worth playing over again.

I think there are really only two kinds of pop music CDs these days. There are the ones you listen to only once or twice, maybe downloading the single good song to your iPod or computer; then there are others that grow stronger, sweeter, and more necessary each time you play them. Gold was that way; Cold Roses was that way; so was Jacksonville City Nights. I won't say Adams is the best North American singer-songwriter since Neil Young...but I won't say he isn't, either. What I know is there has never been a Ryan Adams record quite as strong and together as Easy Tiger; it's got enough blue-eyed, blue-steel soul (with the faintest country tinge) to make me think of both Marvin Gaye and the Righteous Brothers. Probably ridiculous, but true. And the songs themselves are beautiful -- the lyrics tightly focused and brief, the feeling one of melancholy calm that will probably be a revelation to fans that remember the old, sometimes angry Ryan Adams.

He agrees that the tone of Easy Tiger is different -- not dark, just different -- and suggests in passing that it may have something to do with both sobering up and growing up (he's 32). Then he goes on to talk about the process, which is clearly something close to his heart. "I write on a manual typewriter," he says. "I get up, I have a cup of coffee, I sit down at the typewriter. I never spent a useless day behind a typewriter."