1989 (VINYL) |

Tributee: Taylor Swift.
Sometime in August 2015, Ryan Adams let everybody in on a secret: he'd decided to cover Taylor Swift's 1989 in total. This was not the first album-length cover of Adams' career (he never released his version of the Strokes' Is This It), nor was this his first attempt at 1989. He initially attempted a stark, four-track rendition of the record -- naturally dubbed his Nebraska -- but he wound up settling on "in the style of 'As played by the Smiths'," which was an elegant way of saying Adams' 1989 could easily slide onto a PostModern MTV playlist from 1989-1990 and not ruffle many feathers. Such shimmering sadness is Adams' default mope mode, neatly showcased on Love Is Hell (co-produced by John Porter, who helmed the first Smiths records), and this is certainly a cousin. Sharp guy that he is, Adams realizes the bulk of the record can't all be brokenhearted strums, so not all of 1989 glimmers in a flat black pool. "All You Had to Do Was Stay" surges to a Modern Rock pulse, but he cheekily inverts the exuberance of "Shake It Off," strips the T'Pau and Chvrches out of "Out of the Woods," and softens the steely "Blank Space," thereby turning the first three singles into laments. Nevertheless, there's no disguising how Ryan Adams flips Taylor Swift's 1989 upside-down, turning a moment of triumph into bedsit introspection, a concept that is undoubtedly theoretically interesting, but the record works because Adams doesn't play this as a stunt. He's as canny a producer as he is a conceptualist, coaxing forgotten college rock sounds out of his Pax-Am Studios and treating Swift's originals as text to be interpreted, a move that neither saves nor strengthens the originals but rather highlights the skill of Taylor the songwriter and Adams the musician. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Label:
Pax Americana Record Company – PAX-AM057, Blue Note – B002410001
Format:
2 x Vinyl, LP, Album
Country:
US
Released:
Dec 11, 2015
Genre:
Rock
Style:
Alternative Rock
A1        Welcome To New York
Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar – Tod Wisenbaker*
Bass Guitar – Charlie Stavish
Drums, Percussion – Nate Lotz
Piano, Synth, Pump Organ – Nathaniel Walcott*
Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar – Ryan Adams
3:18
A2        Blank Space
Double Bass – Stephen Patt
Piano, Pump Organ – Nathaniel Walcott*
Strings – The Section Quartet
Vocals, Acoustic Guitar – Ryan Adams
3:21
A3        Style
Bass Guitar – Charlie Stavish
Drums, Percussion – Nate Lotz
Electric Guitar – Tod Wisenbaker*
Vocals, Electric Guitar, Synth – Ryan Adams
2:44
B1        Out Of The Woods
Bass Guitar – Charlie Stavish
Drums, Percussion – Nate Lotz
Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar – Tod Wisenbaker*
Strings – The Section Quartet
Vocals, Electric Guitar, Pump Organ – Ryan Adams
6:07
B2        All You Had To Do Was Stay
Bass Guitar – Charlie Stavish
Drums, Percussion – Nate Lotz
Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar – Tod Wisenbaker*
Vocals, Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar – Ryan Adams
3:30
B3        Shake It Off
Bass Guitar – Charlie Stavish
Drums, Percussion – Nate Lotz
Pedal Steel Guitar – Stephen Patt
Pump Organ – Nathaniel Walcott*
Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Synth, Percussion [Trash Can] – Ryan Adams
4:06
C1        I Wish You Would
Bass Guitar – Charlie Stavish
Drums, Percussion – Nate Lotz
Electric Guitar – Tod Wisenbaker*
Pedal Steel Guitar – Stephen Patt
Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Pump Organ – Ryan Adams
3:44
C2        Bad Blood
Bass Guitar – Charlie Stavish
Drums, Percussion – Nate Lotz
Electric Guitar – Tod Wisenbaker*
Piano – Nathaniel Walcott*
Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar – Ryan Adams
3:55
C3        Wildest Dreams
Bass Guitar – Charlie Stavish
Drums, Percussion – Nate Lotz
Electric Guitar – Tod Wisenbaker*
Vocals, Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Pump Organ – Ryan Adams
5:21
D1        How You Get The Girl
Bass Guitar – Charlie Stavish
Drums, Percussion – Nate Lotz
Electric Guitar – Tod Wisenbaker*
Piano, Synth – Nathaniel Walcott*
Strings – The Section Quartet
Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar – Ryan Adams
3:50
D2        This Love
Electric Guitar – Tod Wisenbaker*
Organ, Synth – Nathaniel Walcott*
Vocals, Piano – Ryan Adams
4:45
D3        I Know Places
Bass Guitar, Synth, Percussion – Charlie Stavish
Drums – Nate Lotz
Electric Guitar – Tod Wisenbaker*
Vocals, Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar – Ryan Adams
5:14
D4        Clean
Bass Guitar – Charlie Stavish
Drums, Percussion – Nate Lotz
Electric Guitar – Tod Wisenbaker*
Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar – Ryan Adams
4:23
Pressed By – Record Technology Incorporated – 25242
Pressed By – Record Technology Incorporated – 25243
Lacquer Cut At – Bernie Grundman Mastering
Mastered At – Lurssen Mastering
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Paxamericana Recording Company
Copyright © – Paxamericana Recording Company
Licensed To – Blue Note Records
Manufactured By – Blue Note Records
Cello – Richard Dodd (2) (tracks: A2, B1, B3, D1)
Design – Andy West (3)
Lacquer Cut By – BG*
Mastered By – Gavin Lurssen
Photography By – Julia Brokaw
Producer – Ryan Adams
Producer, Engineer, Mixed By – Charlie Stavish
Viola – Leah Katz (tracks: A2, B1, B3, D1)
Violin – Daphne Chen (tracks: A2, B1, B3, D1), Eric Gorfain (tracks: A2, B1, B3, D1)
Barcode (Text): 6 02547 59746 5
Barcode (Scanned): 602547597465

• Format: Vinyl
• Genre: ALTERNATIVE
• Released: 2015-12-11