Ryan Adams’ Taylor Swift cover album, his complete, track-by-track take on 1989, was released ahead of schedule just before midnight on Sunday night.
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Taylor Swift insisted that 1989 was strictly pop, but we’re sure many country-loving Swifties were slightly dispirited by the stray from the genre that gave the 25-year-old her ticket to fame.
According to Gothamist, Adams has been teasing everyone since August.
Bad news for 1989 deluxe version fans though; the very good “New Romantics” hasn’t been covered by Adams. “Countdown to #RyanAdams1989 @TheRyanAdams (sic)”.
1989 was a departure for Swift and not just in the widely publicized move from country music to a place of pure pop. 1989 was an album about moving to New York City, all wrapped up in that energy that comes when a young woman moves to the big city for the first time. “Style” nicks a groove from the Eagles’ “One of These Nights” and an “80s rock swagger, but instead of Swift’s “James Dean daydream”, Adams has his own fantasy: “a “‘Daydream Nation’ look” in a lover’s eye, among other fine qualities.
According to effect of Sound, the album’s physical release on vinyl and CD will be available in the future. He knows how the story ends, though, which adds a darkness and forlorn quality to the pop songs of Swift.
He is hugely popular among fans of alternative roots-based rock, and his peers celebrate him as one of the finest songwriters of his generation. Adams has been gearing up for a covers album his entire career.
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Swift said it was “surreal and dreamlike” that he had chosen to cover her record because he had been such a major influence on her own songwriting.
