Pneumonia
by Whiskeytown

From buzzdainer 09/29/2016 18:45 | #176032

The quality of Pneumonia sometimes gets overshadowed by its troubled recording history, in which Whiskeytown originally intended to release a double album called Happy Go Bye Bye, a project that was shelved in the midst of the merger between Polygram and Universal Music Group. By that time the band had recorded over 100 songs, most of which are circulating somewhere as bootlegs but mostly lost and forgotten. Eventually Ryan Adams and producer Ethan Johns salvaged 14 tracks from those lost recordings, remixed them to give them a kind of classic Rolling Stones feel to them, and released it as Pneumonia, which turns out to be a pretty great album in light of how it came to be. My favorite track here is Adams's deceptively simple "Don't Wanna Know Why," a song that explores the mysterious underpinnings of love, complemented by Caitlin Cary's usual fine work on violin.

From drivebytornado 02/25/2013 23:30 | #66126

My #3 album in 2001, is the swan song for Ryan Adams' first band, Whiskeytown. The first three tracks on this are one classic track after another - "Ballad of Carol Lynn" to "Don't Wanna Know Why" to "Jacksonville Skyline."

Wonderful album.

This record is mostly underrated but it owns so many beutiful R.A.'s songs....If u like him....well u can't help to have it

"When you need someone to be there for you, I won't be one who will help you out" cries a heart-broken Ryan Adams on Pneumonia's twangy opener, "The ballad of Carol Lynne". Whiskeytown was an alt-country band and, sonically, this album is heavier on the "alt" than any of their previous efforts (Timmy Stinson of The Replacements and James Iha of Smashing Pumpkins make appearances), though the country influences still ring strong and define the mood of the album. The melancholic purr of the slide guitar and the cry of Caitlin Cary's violin (Cary also delivers superb backing vocals on many songs) do much to underscore Adams' lonesome, sorrowful rasp. Adams, only in his mid-twenties, sounds like an old man beaten down by an unsatisfying life of failed romances, cigarettes, and escapist alcoholism. "sometimes I wish I were deaf, then I wouldn't hear the words you say the words you say under your breath", he weeps on "Under your breath", a mid-album highlight. Engaging throughout, Pneumonia finishes with its best track, "bar lights", a barstool vignette sung to a catchy violin part over a harmony of guitar and bass. The song fizzles out into a genuine scene of playful studio chatting and laughing, which ends appropriately with Adams telling his band "alright, I'm going to the bar, fuck this". A few minutes of silence is followed the sound of the band warming up and bantering about steel drums, which leads into a stellar hidden track, shrouded in honesty, which begins with "to be evil is to be scared, withholding all the things to sacred to be shared", builds up to the climax, shouted by the full band "L-O-V-E is gonna be the death of me" and ends quietly with "I'm not evil; I'm just scared". The two songs combine into a single ten-minute track. The whole thing evokes a strong feeling of intimacy, which is perhaps the most appealing element of the album. For the entirety of the album, the listener is effectively transported into the abandoned church in which Pneumonia was (quite appropriately) recorded, and on the last track, Whiskeytown takes this a step further; for a few minutes the listener feels like a member of the band. Whiskeytown isn't just the music you listen to when you're sad, they're also some of your closest friends. You could discuss all of your most personal problems over a few drinks these people, because they have shared everything about themselves with you. All this makes Pneumonia feel like a pure country album, even if the sound is more rock oriented than Stranger's Almanac or Faithless Street. It's a triumphant finale for perhaps the finest band of the alt-country movement.

From paladisiac 12/11/2011 05:15 | #32661

Whiskeytown had a good thing going. The songs don't sound as "down" as on "faithless street", but i don't feel the same passion or earnestness, especially heard after "heartbreaker". But it's still a good listen, beginning with track #2 "don't wanna know why" which just varies choruses. "reasons to lie" (track #4) sounds like the first "personal" song with ryan's songwriting evident ("I wish it was some kinda explosive device / That only you could diffuse") which carries well into "don't be sad" ("I think we lost the keys to the kingdom, / Before we'd seen them / Don't be sad"). It wasn't until later that i more appreciated Caitlin Cary, and i now wish she had more vocals on this album instead of mostly backing harmonies (like on the fun "mirror mirror"). They invoke a blunt instrument of pain on the sullen "under your breath" ("two parts pain / one part's you"). Same effectiveness on "easy hearts" (ms. cary!). And "bar lights" sounds like it was a lot of fun to record (about "The bar lights and the liquor / The way all the bottles they shine", just drinkin' and enjoying the day). I'm glad this album was FINALLY released.