8/10
We can only guess what possessed Ryan Adams to cover the entire of Taylor Swift's latest album '1989', but regardless of his intentions, it has arrived and is far more interesting to hear than we could have imagined.
When hearing the sound of Ryan Adams and Taylor Swift next to each other, there is very little room for crossover, which is probably why this new release is almost unrecognisable by comparison. Completely removing the glossy pop overtones and replacing them with his gritty and rustic approach to rock music, Adams seems to sweep his way through this record with an incredible ease and while we must credit Swift for the lyrics, it is way that Adams sings them that really makes these versions his own.
While it is no doubt a massive challenge for an accomplished songwriting to rework an entire album into his own style, Ryan Adams was certainly more than up to the job and '1989' seemed like the perfect collection to reinvent in his own image. The difference in the two albums is simply astounding and would probably turn the most hard-nosed of music fans into Swifties overnight.