Ryan Adams and the Cardinals
Cardinals III/IV

Just when we all thought Ryan Adams, one of the last decade’s most prolific artists, had finally run out of things to say, he drops a new album - a double! - from a band he left two years ago.

And if that wasn’t enough, he says it was knocked off in a few days back in 2006 while recording his solo record Easy Tiger.

While that record also featured the Cardinals, and was said to mark the start of Adams’ new sensible, teetotal direction, recording III/IV was apparently the first time Adams stepped foot in a studio whilst sober since his mid-teens.

And I hate to say it, as a big fan of the alt-country troubadour, but it shows. Much like most of Adams’ output from Easy Tiger onwards, III/IV is a decent but uninspiring set of songs that for the most part sound just imitate his earlier material, without quite making the leap to greatness.

But some Ryan Adams is better than no Ryan Adams, particularly when his B-grade songs are as good as most people’s A.

‘Stop Playing With My Heart’ is a decent Tom Petty pastiche, nicking not only the old rocker’s sound but some of his words. ‘Breakdown Into the Resolve’ would have easily found a spot on 2003’s spotty Rock N Roll album, though I guess that’s not really saying much.

The second record is better than the first. I’m not sure the songwriting’s any better, but it’s definitely more fun. Adams lets his inner indie-metalhead out, throwing punk chords and screwing with the tempo on ‘Numbers’, and going grunge on ‘Icebreaker’.

Rolling Joy Division toms meets jaunty shuffle-rock and ‘60s-inspired falsetto backing vocals on ‘Star Wars’, in which Adams calls for "Someone I love and who loves me / Yeah that, and maybe the world / Someone that loves me the way I love Star Wars". Not too much to ask, is it?

Despite its length, and Adams’ reputation for Grateful Dead-style noodling, III/IV is a fairly concise double set. There’s only one song longer than four minutes, the album closer ‘Kill The Lights’, and the whole album is just over an hour - shorter than some Metallica single discs.

Unfortunately, it’s just a little bland, which means it feels far longer. I wouldn’t wish on him a return to the drugs and alcohol that probably fuelled much of his early, great work, but perhaps it’s time Adams spent a bit longer in the studio and fleshed out some of his better ideas, rather than giving us no more than a glimpse of everything.

If you dug Rock N Roll, this’ll probably be up your alley, but if you’re more of a Love Is Hell or Heartbreaker fan, prepare to be a little disappointed.

Try it if you like: Tom Petty, the Replacements, the Hold Steady
Buy Cardinals III/IV from iTunes