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12. Cardinology (2008): It bears asking: Which would you rather see, Ryan Adams taking a few chances and coming up with severely mixed results, or Ryan Adams playing it safe and delivering something … safe? There's no correct answer to that question, but I feel like Adams's music serves as his own response: Since his insane 2005 (more on that later), Adams has slowed his pace (slightly) and produced music that (mostly) falls squarely into the framework established on his three most revered albums: Heartbreaker, Cold Roses, and Jacksonville City Nights. Cardinology is by no means a bad album, but I'd say it's the closest Ryan Adams has come to a "generic" album. Some of the songs are magical, of course ("Go Easy," "Stop"), others are forgettable ("Fix It"). If I were introducing someone to Ryan Adams's music, and I had to choose between, say, Rock N Roll or Cardinology, I'd give them Cardinology every time, because it more perfectly encapsulates what the man does, but if I'm reaching for one or the other, it's probably Rock N Roll, because that album has a flawed charm its very own, while Cardinology has been done better elsewhere.