Month: October 2015

Yes, it’s the new Ryan Adams single…sort of. *As you probably know, this is not an original by the songwriter’s songwriter, but a Taylor Swift cover. And it’s cool and fashionable to say that the Ryan Adams version is cool, that he finds a submerged streak of pathos in the song, and that you never really listened to the Taylor Swift version…but that’s not really true, now is it?
Fact of the matter is, this song is a fully-weaponized earworm no matter who sings it, and you have to give it up to Swift and co-writer/Swedish pop demigod Max Martin for distilling the essence of pop music into a really sturdy track. What Ryan Adams adds to the song is the killer interplay of all the guitars on his version; the chorus features strummed acoustics, chiming capoed arpeggios, and clean chorused electrics that he evidently swiped from a Sundays record.
Does this axe party trump the gleaming cyber-throb of Taylor’s original? What do you think? Let’s hear it in the comments…
 

How, how, how did I somehow miss this jam when it came out??? (almost 2 years ago, according to the Internets.)
Just in case you missed it too, press play on this video and turn it up, a lot. The video itself is nothing special, btw, so please feel free to turn away from your screen.

Right? How sweet was that? I hear this as sounding like Fela Kuti’s band grabbed Marvin Gaye’s string section on the way to a show, which kinda made sense when I learned that it was produced by Dave Sitek, from TV On The Radio. Great producer too – insane how many good records he’s been involved with.
What do you think? Cool song? Or have I just had too much coffee this morning? (Entirely possible!). Let’s hear it in the comments…
P.S. Do not be entirely surprised to hear a not-dissimilar bassline pop up on a Radio Nowhere track sometime in the not-too-distant-future…