Former Whiskeytown frontman Ryan Adams claims to have written and recorded enough songs over the past several years to fill a four-CD collection--and that's in addition to his acclaimed 2001 breakthrough Gold. Wisely, Ryan Adams decided to skip the box set--hey, he's only 27--and issue a sort of best of compilation comprising 13 unreleased demos. Recorded at four different studio sessions in Nashville, Los Angeles, and Stockholm, with a cast of musicians that includes his road band the Pinkhearts, Gillian Welch, David Rawlings, Ethan Johns, Chris Stills, Bucky Baxter, and Greg Leisz, Demolition proves that Ryan Adams is still a work in progress: brilliant one moment, sloppy the next. When he's good, he's very good: the rousing country-rocker Hallelujah, the brooding acoustic ballads Dear Chicago and Tomorrow, and the jangly power-pop number Gimme a Sign are as fine as anything on Gold. But Adams sometimes lapses into mimicry, as he does on Nuclear and Starting to Hurt, both of which could be outtakes from a U2 album. Tennessee Sucks, a chronicle of a boredom-filled summer day in Nashville, sounds half-baked, while the closing track, Jesus (Don't Touch My Baby), which finds Ryan Adams (on synthesizer, guitars, bass, and drum machine) droning on like Leonard Cohen, falls in the failed experiment category. Despite its bright spots, Demolition ultimately comes off as a mixed bag.

Ryan Adams Demolition Track Listing

1. Nuclear 
2. Hallelujah 
3. You Will Always Be The Same 
4. Desire 
5. Cry On Demand 
6. Starting To Hurt 
7. She Wants To Play Hearts 
8. Tennessee Sucks 
9. Dear Chicago 
10. Gimme A Sign 
11. Tomorrow 
12. Chin Up, Cheer Up 
13. Jesus (Don't Touch My Baby)