Ryan Adams - Love Is Hell, Parts 1 & 2

I really don't understand what everyone's beef with Ryan Adams is. When Gold came out, everyone really praised it and loved it. Then, both Rock & Roll and the Love Is Hell EPs were released, and it's become the norm to slag on Ryan (from Pitchfork to almost everyone I know). It's hard for me to believe my review of this will be as high and favorable as Rolling Stone (yikes!). I like Ryan Adams. There, I said it. From his country stuff on Heartbreaker, to the slick alt-country mainstream Gold, to the uninspired yet fun Rock & Roll (read my review of it if you don't believe me). But, I might go as far out on a limb to say I probably enjoy these EPs more than anything he's done. The songs that comprise these two releases are by far some of my favorite Ryan Adams compositions, because they are what he does best: whiny, sad, lonely, reflective, slow acoustic stuff. Maybe it speaks to me more. Maybe it feels like it's more genuine. Maybe it's because I think he is a genius when it comes to writing melodies on the slower stuff. Maybe it is just really great. For me personally, Part I is the better of the two. It has the haunting "Afraid Not Scared", the absolutely beautiful "This House Is Not For Sale", and a cover of Oasis' "Wonderwall" (which is surprisingly great). The second disc has the absolute stellar songs "I See Monsters" and "Hotel Chelsea Nights". It's almost sad that these great songs will become afterthoughts, since the record label almost rejected these two EPs in favor of Rock & Roll, when these are some of Adams' best works. Thankfully the releases have now seen the light of day, or everyone would still think Ryan Adams had no talent after Rock & Roll. [www.ryan-adams.com]