Ryan Adams can be something of a horses ass to be sure - he shot off his mouth a couple too many times in 2004 - nevertheless he is still arguably the most gifted and prolific songwriter working today. Evidently he has three albums in the pipeline for 05 and the first of which Cold Roses is an absolute joy to behold. He's definitely stuck his neck out here - basically this record is a double disc of original Grateful Dead songs - but he's pulled it off with such graceful aplomb that I really don't know where to begin in my praise.

I haven't googled up the Cardinals, but my guess is that they must be some sort of Grateful Dead tribute band, because Cold Roses is the best studio album the Dead have released since Terrapin Station. Obviously I'm being facetious, but for fans of the Dead, this record is, in a weird sort of way, a reincarnated treat. Either I never noticed the resemblance before or Adams is purposely doing an impression but on the majority of these 18 tracks he sounds so much like Jerry Garcia that it's downright spooky.

I don't know that any other artist has attempted something like this ever before - if you don't count Oasis' take on the Beatles or Elliot Smith's take on George Harrison. But those are merely my attempts at humor - while Ryan's Cold Roses is an overt attempt to bring the Dead back to life. Though these are all original songs (and if I may say, terrific songs) all but a handful could easily be mistaken for tunes straight out of the Dead's considerable catalog. It's as though Jerry is singing and playing lead to these Adams penned songs and they all have that wonderful folk/country psychedelia and from-the-guts lyrical quality that was the hallmark of the Grateful Dead.

It is widely known that the Dead were much better in concert, than 90 percent of the music that they recorded in the studio - and the irony is that Ryans take on the Dead is so dead-on that it sounds better than most of Jerry and Bobby and Phil's recordings. In any case this album is a must for fans of the Dead (even though it's a bit of a strange trip to all the sudden hear them again at their best) and as for fans of Adams it certainly presents no problem if you're unfamiliar with the Dead - it'll just sound like another great Adams album with a bit of a different slant on the musicianship and arrangement. For my money it eclipses Bright Eyes' I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning for the best album of the year and you could make a case for it being Adams best record to date. You can't beat that man - it's definitely the most interesting thing to happen in popular music for some time.