Love Is Hell Pts. 1 & 2
by Ryan Adams

One of Ryan Adams' best albums. It was originally two separate records but here is the collective edition. Some fine songs here including, this house is not for sale, avalanche, I see monsters, and, anybody wanna take me home. For an Adams album it's extremely consistent, not something he's renound for. Love is hell, is my third favourite of his records after, heartbreaker, and, ashes and fire. Good album. Still don't know why some people refer to this as 'country' music though.

From paladisiac TOP 100 COMMENTER 05/31/2012 14:46 | #43348 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

Love can be hell, but so can be expectations for an artist who delivered such a masterpiece as "heartbreaker" and followed it up with his very good elton_john-esque "gold". It really shows on "Love is Hell", a pleasant acoustic rock album that shows good songwriting but nothing mind-blowing. The problem for Ryan, and he's stated such in recent interviews, is that we all know he can deliver a great album. Even his b-sides (see "Demolition") flirt with greatness (see "Nuclear"). Same with his aping of other rock artists (see "Rock'n'Roll", especially track "so alive"). But "love is hell" feels languid, melancholy and directionless and sinks under the weight of expectations set by his prior catalog. Some songs, like "world war 24" or "avalanche" could be great, but they never "take off", never receive a burst of energy or emotion that could propel their words into your craw. (Luckily, he'd soon receive a creative shot-in-the-arm teaming up with the Cardinals.)

From buzzdainer TOP 100 COMMENTER 09/21/2016 21:45 | #175539 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

Originally released as two EPs (both of which I purchased when they came out, only to discover later that I could have waited and acquired the whole album at a lesser cost), Love Is Hell is one of Ryan Adams's moodiest and most enigmatic albums. This album, I believe, could have benefitted from some trimming, starting with the obnoxious "Fuck the Universe." But the best material here, particularly the paranoid, piano-led "Political Scientist," stands up to anything in Adams's catalog.

From kingofwine 03/11/2011 23:19 | #19135 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

This album is by far his greatest work. I hate country music and am so glad he chose to make this album so different. If every album he made was like this, he would probally be my favourite artist of all time. What a waste of talent he spends on making cow-poke albums.
Sorry if I offended anybody, but you all know country music is for simpletons!

Can't agree with the "cow-poke" comment (try listening to someone lie Steve Earle. 1 of the most politically relevant artists of the last 25 years) but this is a truely great album. Yes, I'd agree thta it;s his best solo album but listen to Whiskytown (his original band) for his best ever album, Strangers Almanac. Truely breathtaking.