Ryan Adams: The Suicide Handbook....

start at the beginning of the Ryan Adams Spotlight....

The next catch-up installment of the Ryan Adams Spotlight (as i posted my Gold Edition much too soon and skipped the many unreleased pearls) comes in a mostly acoustic, double-disc set of stunning ballads. Recorded in January of 2001 in Nashville, The Suicide Handbook is sprinkled with songs that will make subsequent albums, but the genius of these versions comes in the subtle nuances he uses to differentiate them between the album cuts. Off Broadway makes an early appearance here (officially released later on Easy Tiger) in a stripped-down, gorgeous version with slightly altered phrasing in the chorus. In my opinion, the Suicide version is far superior. Much of Gold was first showcased on this session, as well as a few from Demolition. This version of Firecracker features a re-arranged first verse, and the cut of Answering Bell is gloriously groovy. The set is capped off with Dear Chicago - in which Ryan callously mentions that he's "been thinkin' some of suicide."

As the title might imply, this is Ryan at his sadbastardest (i like to make up words). The material toes the line between whiny and sheer beauty – most fall quite easily on the side of the latter. Another blatant demonstration of his prolificacy, The Suicide Handbook consists largely of songs that were ultimately scrapped. The songs that appear on this set only are lyrical and melodic wonders. Check out some of my favorites while you download the whole thing:

Disc 1
1 Wild Flowers
2 Perfect And True
3 Tell It To My Heart
4 She Wants To Play Hearts
5 Pretenders
6 Famous Eyes
7 Touch Feel And Lose
8 Firecracker
9 La Cienega Just Smiled
10 For No One

Disc 2
1 You Don't Know Me
2 Bow To The Sad Lady (Mara Lisa)
3 Off Broadway
4 Cracks In A Photograph
5 I'm Waiting
6 Cry On Demand
7 Miss Sunflower
8 Just Saying Hi (Answering Bell)
9 My California Love
10 Idiots Rule The World
11 Dear Chicago

zippity-do-da

Check out the rest of my Ryan Adams Spotlight:
1. Took Me Long Enough: Whiskeytown
2. Heartbreaker
3. Gold
4. Exile on Franklin Street
5. The Destroyer Sessions
6. Whiskeytown: The Missing Bridge
7. The Pinkheart sessions (1)
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