Faithless Street

Though his lovestruck solo disc Heartbreaker has its sad-eyed legions, and Gold moved vastly more copies, Ryan Adams has rarely matched the flinty immediacy and weary grace of this, his old band's 1995 debut. An alt-country touchstone, Faithless Street boasts a couple of satisfyingly ornery rockers in "Drank like a River" and "Hard Luck Story," but it's broken-heart ballads like "Black Arrow, Bleeding Heart," the title track, as well as the atmospheric "Midway Park," that make the album especially worthwhile. As with most young band's first records, the quality is uneven; Things suffer when Adams cedes vocal duties to guitarist Phil Wandscher on "Top Dollar" and "What May Seem Like Love." (In fairness, violin player Caitlin Cary holds her own on "Matrimony.") The 1998 reissue adds four cuts from the Faithless Street sessions, including an early version of "Excuse Me While I Break My Own Heart Tonight," plus five more tracks produced by Chris Stamey. The moody "Empty Baseball Park" and plaintive "Factory Girl" are the best of these.