Album of the Week: Ryan Adams 1989

This week is an obscenely good one for new music, and truthfully Ryan Adams' cover of Taylor Swift's 1989 isn't the best new album. Right now, I'd say it's a fistfight between Chvrches' killer-good sophomore effort and Drake and Future's joint mixtape, What A Time to Be Alive. But it might be the most interesting.

Despite all the excellent releases this week (see the recommended list at the end of this piece), Adams has received the most ink, and there have been some truly, truly wonderful things written about it. The debate surrounding Adam's covers revolve around how seriously many (particularly in critical circles) are taking Swift's work, now that a man is "legitimizing" it, and there are certainly valid points you can read on both sides of the topic.

For myself, the clearest answer comes from the artists themselves.

Swift has been vocal in her support since the project was first announced, and rightfully sees that Adams isn't trying to improve her work. He's high-fiving her on creating something he connected to on a deep and personal level.

And then there's Adams. In some wonderful and thoughtful interviews he's given about 1989, Adams highlights his affection for Swfit's work. He rightfully points out how bulletproof Swift's songwriting is – not just on her latest release, but everything since she hit the scene – and he's absolutely right. She puts hooks into her hooks, and writes with a startlingly relatable clarity. Just check out the myriad of demographics her fans come from – you're as likely to hear "Shake It Off" blaring from high school students' car as a police officer's.

To be clear, Adams' version of the album isn't better than Swift's in any way. The best songs on it ("Style," "I Wish You Would," and "Clear") only match the originals – none supersede.

The most interesting versions are the stripped-down ones – versions you might consider the most quintessentially "Ryan Adams." All of a sudden, "How You Get The Girl" is a torch song for the broken-hearted, and "Out Of The Woods" sounds like it was recorded at the Café Wha in New York.

Adams pulls in his influences in a myriad of ways. Take the Springsteen touches he gives to opener "Welcome To New York," or the way he turns "This Love" into a tears-in-your-beers piano ballad, a la Tom Waits.  

If you can listen to Adams' 1989, and understand that he's paying homage to a top-tier talent, then I think you're approaching the project the way both he and Swift wanted. He's not throwing rocks at the throne – he's kneeling before it.

1989 is out on Pax-Am.

Also recommended this week:

Angel Haze's ferocious return to form, Back to the Woods.

Big Grams – the collaborative project between Outkast's Big Boi and Phantogram.

Chvrches' stellar, glittering Every Open Eye.

Dead Weather's Dodge and Burn – yet another project from Jack White.

Disclosure's electro-soul sophomore album, Caracal.

Drake & Future's off the cuff, What A Time to Be Alive.

Fetty Wap's long-awaited, self-titled debut.

Patty Griffin's fiery folk album, Servant of Love.  

Silversun Pickups' reliably enjoyable Better Nature.
The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die's startlingly lovely, Harmlessness.