When I was just discovering Ryan Adams several years ago, a friend bought me this album, claiming it was his best. Not only is it Adams' best, it's one of the most consistent, timeless, ageless albums in the past 25 years.
There's truly not a weak track on it and the pacing is perfect. It never gets too twangy, yet has the down-to-earth, dusty lyrics that define the country genre (ie. "Be My Winding Wheel" and "Oh My Sweet Carolina", where Adams knows exactly where to use Emmilou Harris' haunting voice). "Bartering Lines" channels a young Neil Young and "Come Pick Me Up"'s drunken, almost-too-simple lyrics are made perfectly bittersweet with the catchiest harmonica melody imaginable. "Damn Sam" is a track that longing, scorned boyfriends will listen to on repeat. Rare, relaxed, pop/country/bluegrass sublimity.

I guess i'm one of those Ryan Adams' fans that true Ryan Adams' / Whiskeytown fans spit upon, because I was largely unimpressed by this record. I think the alt-country thing is great and all, but after starting strong, this album gets a little tired towards the end and the songs all sorta run together. "AMY" and "To Be Young..." are the highlights in my opinion and are reason enough to buy Heartbreaker used, but if you're like me and loved Rock & Roll / Love Is Hell, then prepare to be disappointed. No smack against Adams, but this one just didn't turn my crank.

A diatribe in Spin Magazine sent me to buy my first RA CD which was the oft-maligned "Rock n' Roll". Figured any artist that generated so much controversy - everything from "Ryan Adams is Master of the Universe" to "Ryan Adams is a self-indulgent, derivative, over-prolific jerk that has squandered his talent" was someone I should check out. R&R had that 'certain something' catchy and intriguing enough for me to buy "Love is Hell" (which is utterly stunning) and thus began a Ryan Adams binge that is still in full force. "Heartbreaker" is definitive, yet only one of the thousand moods and musical styles he is capable of. If you are new to Mr. Adams, start here: get in your car and take a long drive with this CD turned up as loud as you can stand it. Listen all the way through once, then listen to it again. Lyrics, phrasing, composition, heart, soul, authenticity. Adams is at least Master of the Universe. Heartbreaker isn't my favorite of his expansive catalog, but "Amy" & "Call Me on Your Way Back Home" make my knees buckle.

As if Jeff Tweedy and EMO music weren't bad enough for the music industry. I'd rather have my toes plucked off with bolt cutters than have to listen to this album again.

....... and he writes amazing songs because of it.

Ryan is definitely a tortured soul. Thankfully, he is also an amazing talent.

Every emotion you have ever felt after a breakup is piercingly depicted here ..... you know how he feels, because you know how it feels.

Buy it.

As Ryan's first solo album this is a great breakaway from Whiskytown. His lyrics are inventive but his sound is still a little exploratory and he doesn't seemed to have quite found himself yet. It's definately worth a buy but his subsequent albums, especiallly Gold and Demolitions keep getting better.

Ryan Adams is a deep artist who addresses many issues in his music. This cd however, is a little lighter than several of his other works. This album has the perfect title. For one, Ryan Adams strikes me as a heartbreaker. I mean he is gorgeous, and what woman on planet Earth wouldn't be attracted to a folk singer? Secondly, many of the songs deal with heartbreak. This cd is classic Ryan Adams. Songs like "To Be Young" and "Come Pick Me Up" will remind you of why you love him in the 1st place. Spectacular cd overall that won't let you down. It was one of the 1st Ryan Adams cds that I bought. It gives a good taste of what his style is like. If you love this cd, you will probably like Ryan Adams Gold, and Coldroses. Ryan Adams is a phenomenal artist. If you don't buy the cd for anything else, buy it because Ryan looks super sexy on the cover smoking a ciggarette. Seriously though, I would reccomend his music to anyone not only as a die-hard fan, but as a person who appreciates great music.

This is a mood album. Listen to it when the weather's cold and you get to thinking about loves past. It's not a happy album but it's cathartic. It will take you from resigned to angry to melancholy. Highly recommended.

I got Heartbreaker shortly after it came out a number of years ago and I still think it's one of Ryan Adams' two best albums (Gold being the other). My favorite RA songs are all on this disc, though I think Gold is a stronger overall album. The best songs on this album speak for themselves, but don't ignore "Why Do They Leave" or "In My Time of Need." As with all Ryan Adams' albums, Heartbreaker has a few songs that I could take or leave, but this is a must-have for pretty much anyone who likes alt-county.

I am a huge Ryan Adams fan and Heartbreaker is one of his best pieces of work. Heartbreaker is very raw and stripped down which shows Adams in his comfort zone: him and his guitar, and not much else. Some of my favorite Adam's songs are on here like "My Winding Wheel" and "To Be Young". Despite 3 or 4 weak songs, this album is one for the ages. His best work is found on this album, but he falls short on a few tracks. To me the sour apples are, "Bartering Lines", "Damn Sam", "Don't Ask for the Water". A more polished Adams can be found on Love is Hell, which is my favorite Ryan Adams album. By buying all his cd's Ive learned one thing: you can't go wrong with anything Ryan Adams puts out. I highly reccommend him if your a fan of music.

Whatever Ryan Adams chooses to do in the future, whether it be making an album of half assed shlock rock (Check Rock N Roll), or attempting to release a four disc album of b-sides and extras (He tried, the remnants are on demolition), nothing can touch the pristine beauty of this record. Ethan Johns production is sparse, and nurtures the intimate feel of these songs. This is a record you will grow old with, every time I listen to it the majesty of these songs is undiminished.

BY THE WAY, another band I've been listening to recently from the Los Angeles area (Oh great another LA band), named Princeton. These guys are amazing and are just starting out. The music is more overtly melodic than something like Ryan Adams, but I'm just so excited about this band I had to tell someone. So I thought I would tell you all at Amazon.com. I heard about them through some college radio station on my way to work, and Im pretty sure theyre unsigned, I assume not for long. So check them out here:

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Seems most like to refer to "Heartbreaker" as his masterpiece, and while I tend to like "Love Is Hell" and "Cold Roses" a hair more, this is in my top three. Being his first solo album after he ended Whiskeytown, this naturally sounds like that band more than his later albums do. It's all alt-country here. After the intro track, this starts out rocking with "To Be Young (is to be sad, is to be high), then quickly mellows for most of the rest. Many of these are what I consider to be quality sad songs, if not lyrically, then musically. The first half of "Heartbreaker" I find the strongest, and a few songs are really slow, but the whole thing holds up well. There's no doubt this guy can write a good song. Again, this might not be the first Ryan Adams album I reach for, but It'll always remain in my vinyl collection.

Factions of the New York press have been less than kind to Ryan Adams ever since he went solo, and this album might be the primary reason for their griping. Somehow, Adams was lauded as the `next big thing' around these parts, but there is precious little evidence here to understand why, or how, that happened. It's not that the album is bad, it's just that it isn't particularly good. After some ridiculously unnecessary banter about a Morrissey track - something that might have seemed like a good idea at the time but is ultimately annoying as all hell, especially after repeated listenings - the album kicks off rather promisingly. "To Be Young (Is to Be Sad, Is to Be High)" strangles some new life out of Blonde On Blonde-era Dylan, and the next few tracks hold up well also. "Amy" toys with orchestration rather nicely, and Emmylou Harris' assist on "Oh My Sweet Carolina" salvages the song, and perhaps even makes it sound special. From that point on, things drift downhill.

I say `drift' because the album hardly shows enough life to do so under its own momentum. Heartbreaker suffers from an excess of dirge-like material. From track 6 through track 11, the pace slows to a crawl, and there is hardly a memorable song in the batch. The album starts losing its pulse as it progresses, until by midpoint it sounds in need of life support. "Shakedown on 9th Street" (track 12) attempts resuscitation, but it's too little, too late. By the time the album dawdles its way to the finish, I start thinking that maybe Euthanasia wouldn't be such a bad thing. Add in poetic insights like "I'm as calm as a fruit stand in New York, and maybe as strange" and you might understand the perspective of N.Y. critics. In a nutshell, Heartbreaker is an album that promises much more than it delivers. B Tom Ryan

I thought "Love is Hell, Pt. 1" was Ryan Adams' best musical accomplishment. I was wrong. That production, as phenomenal as it was, doesn't come close to the level he reached in "Heartbreaker", his first album after he left Whiskeytown. Perhaps I have a weakness for nu-folk and alt-country these days, but I admit I have been possessed by Heartbreaker. "AMY" is a great example of why. It brings Elliott Smith right back to mind, and other momemnts in the album remind me of Dylan and Cash as well. Overstatement? Say what you want, but Ryan Adams' solo debut is one of the most solid albums in the past five years.

all of ryan's albums are masterpieces in my book but of course you gotta start with his first, heartbreaker. great album, great guests, stills plays alot of these songs live. he's my favorite singer/songwriter and i love how he mixes it up

Yeah so how can an album start off so good with "To Be Young" then go into "My winding Wheel" and "AMY" great songs than just slowly turn into crappy, boring Ben Harper sounding gospel rock?The album turns around shortly before the end with "SHakedown on 9th Street" but than continues with boring bad songs. I'm willing to give Mr. Adams another try just as long as he picks up the slack.

Ryan Adams first solo album after the breaking up of Whiskeytown is also his best IMO. The songs are very Whiskeytown orientated in there sound and the lyrics are as beautiful as ever. Near the end of the album there are some harder songs but this record is very mellow. Emmylou Harris also does background guest vocals on a classic song from this album. Favorites include To Be Young (Is to Be Sad, Is to Be High), My Winding Wheel, Oh My Sweet Carolina with Emmylou Harris, Call Me on Your Way Back Home, Damn, Sam (I Love a Woman That Rains), To Be the One, Shakedown on 9th Street, In My Time of Need, and Sweet Lil Gal (23rd/1st). Highly Highly Recommended.

Ryan Adams is not God. He's not even a genius. He's prolific. He writes millions of songs, and does not leave anything left over for waste. This is reason why his albums are so long, this one included. That being said, this is the best of his long winded solo work. I could complain, but the music is too good to.

His first solo album is the place to start. Only a few misfires. A terrific album overall.

Ryan Adams poses himself as a folk artist with rock infused blood flowing out his chest. Blues, country, folk, rock? Does it matter? His capture is only focused on the rain of broken relationships and is torn and tangled all over his instrunments with a voice that will take you with him and send ripples down your spine. Guitar, harmonica and piano power this beast. Can you say modern day Bob Dylan? Adams has said it with one word: Heartberaker. If you even consider yourself somewhat of a music lover, there is no excuse for not owning this LP. If you want an album to cheer you up, this isn't the one. Melancholy is it's only energy for mastermind and it succeeds with every whisper. Be quiet and listen to hear a heart that beats broken. Dancing in it's rain is great therapy. "Come pick me up" is the bravest sh_t I ever heard on record in relation to telling an X how one really feels. "Steal all my records, screw all my friends" tells her straightface "why stop there?" and to just finish her ugly deeds with absoluteness. Because we stand straight-laced on absolutes when love crumbles. Adam's knows this and somehow marinates his music in his feelings. How? I don't know but if we all figured it, we would all be geniuses like Ryan Adams. Every song on this record is great and this is certainly one of Adams' peak records. I strongly reccomend his entire collection; in order of importance: "Love is Hell Pt 1", "Demolition", "Gold", "Rock n Roll", "Love is Hell Pt 2". Also check out his latest album "Cold Roses". I apologize, I meant to give this 5 stars and accidentally only clicked on one. I tried changing the rating to more but amazon doesn't give you that option when you edit posted reviews.

Heartbreaker is one of those albums, no matter what music you like, no matter if you think anything that has the word "country" in the genre must be junk (it's alt-country, whatever that means), you will find yourself unable to turn off.
This is the album to listen to when happy or sad, heartbroken or in love. It's a cautionary tale wrapped in pure beauty.
Ryan Adams has never written a song greater than "Come Pick Me Up": biting anger sung through defeated words with the accompanionment of the haunting harmonica. Beautiful.
This is the album to own if you've been interested in Adams or the genre but not certain. This will make you a believer.
In my opinion, this album comes 2nd only to Radiohead's OK Computer (what both albums have in common is flawless songwriting).

The music might break your heart, but the sound will enrich your soul on this post Whiskeytown solo debut by Ryan Adams on Ultradisc UHR™ SACD with GAIN 2™ mastering from MFSL. The melding of influences ranging from Paul Westerberg, Merle Haggard, Robyn Hitchcock, Steve Earle and especially Gram Parsons yields an exceptional, stunning debut from one of today's most aristically pertinent & popular recording artists. At times raucous, wistful, & raspy, and at other times simply sweet, Adams fully employs a top notch acoustic based band inclusive of Gillian Welch and David Rawlings. A guest spot featuring none other than Emmylou Harris lends a particularly tender yearning to "Oh My Sweet Caroline." Another unearthed classic recording brought to full sonic fruition via MFSL's acclaimed Discovery Series.

i traded in my copy of _gold_ for a used copy of this, and never has a music fan acted more justly. this record's collection of spare, emotional, clever songs is ryan adam's greatest accomplishment so far in his career, and may well continue to be throughout the rest of it.

This album, along with Pneumonia, are Ryan Adams' two best accomplishments. Heartbreaker is one of the reasons alternative country is so popular today. The album does run a little long, and his best work is on the first half of the album. However, this barely takes away from its quality. My favorite songs on the album (if you're interested) are "Winding Wheel" and "Come Pick Me Up."

It's unfortunate that Ryan Adams' new albums are such rubbish. I guess some artists who "have it" can just "lose it."

I totally dig this album and me thinks it sound fantastic. I heard its coming out on SACD by the ORIGINAL MASTER RECORDING label and I pumped to hear that too :)

Ryan Adams, for his first time alone, has turned out a classic. "Heartbreaker" comes across like an old time live rockabilly record mixed with just the right amount of ballads (or is it vice versa?). Songs like "Winding Wheel" and "Come Pick Me Up" have that wonderful high and lonesome sound that is missing from what the industry calls "Country" now. Adams isn't the best lyricist in the world, and a lot of his songs sound like he was filling in the blanks of a MadLibs (remember those?) for songwriters sheet then sang it. The melodies he writes more than make up for some of the lackluster lyrical quality though. There are some great potential hits here, but the lyrics need to be a little more polished.

This is the best Ryan album.

Being a general fan of good music, no matter what the genre, and knowing nothing of his previous efforts with Whiskeytown, I am amazed. A friend turned me on to Adams. This is one of my favorite CD's of all time. His songwriting is pure and unmolested. His songs pluck chords in the heart. If you are not listening to Adams, you are seriously missing out. Being an incredibly critical listener of music, I would place this among my top 5 favorite albums of all time.

This was Ryan Adams' first album since departing Whiskeytown. The album is fantastic. HEARTBREAKER is the perfect title since the songs are quite depressing about the loss of love or broken relaitonships. It's useless to pick out favorites, because there's so much good music here. I really like "Call Me On Your Way Back Home", its haunting and sad. "Come Pick Me Up" is a classic with a great vocal and lyric, and great harmony from Kim Richey. Emmylou Harris accompanies him on vocals on the bittersweet "Oh My Sweet Carolina", which is another favorite. Other great songs include "My Winding Wheel", "To Be Young (is to be sad, is to be high)", "Sweet Lil Gal", "Damn Sam (I love a woman that rains)", and more. Other guest artists include David Rawlings and Gillian Welch. Overall, it's a solid album that is one of my favorites. Great lyrics, great vocals, great music. Doesn't disapoint at all.

When first learning of Ryan's departure from Whiskeytown, I was extremely disappointed. I thought the enjoyment I got from Jacksonville Skyline and Carol Lynn, just to name a few of Whiskeytown's hits, would be over. Ryan's obvious lyrical talent is shown on this cd. His guitar play varies in many songs, but for the most part it is kept upbeat, with a few slow songs. This album was such a nice start to Ryan's solo career, although I sure wouldn't mind a Whiskeytown reunion. (Hey, I could dream) I think Ryan mixes in a little country style into his rock-like tunes. Overall, this is a must buy for fans of any type of rock.

madly in love with this album.

I'll start honestly by saying that I never listened to Ryan Adams until last week, when I caught the making-the-video segment during one of my rare MTV2 viewings. I was so impressed with "So Alive" because it was just way more genuine than anything I've heard in a while. Sure, it's a mix between U2 and the Strokes, but see the Strokes lack the vision to push their music one more step to being a genuinely good band. Part of the reason I loved it was because of Ryan's voice. I'm so sick of either the neo-punk crap or the nu-metal junk that has been filling radio. It's like a big costume contest now, with music being secondary. I heard Ryan's voice and it reminded me of Bono, and even (yes) Thom York in the early Radiohead days.

The album is somewhat hit or miss, but overall very stron, and 1 of 2 CDs I agreed to buy this year (The Fire Theft being the other). Other than those, the last new CD I bought in the previous 2 years was "Precious" by Ours. I'm very picky.

Bottom line: Half this album is decent rock (very Oasis sometimes) and the other half is just very well written. It's not the best CD of the day, but it's way above the rest.

Honestly, this album is a masterpiece. While it may seem a bit premature, I heartily argue that it stands as one of the great hundred records of rock and roll. This kind of gift for songwriting comes so rarely...this record should be celebrated alongside Blood on the Tracks.

After hearing "To Be Young" in the movie Old School, I went out to purchase this album. The problem is none of the other songs have the same tempo or arrangement. There are obvious Dylan influences in the songs, but the songs don't have the muscial quality that Dylan has. Most songs start with voice and sparse guitar only at a slow tempo. At around the two-minute mark the songs seem to actually take some shape. 1 or 2 slow songs like this would be OK, but when there is a stretch of 10 songs in a row all with the same formula, it gets boring and repetitive. I would recommend Dylan's newer albums or even Tom Waits' albums

a true classic this is one of the best albums ive heard in awhile.oh my sweet carolina and in my time of need are incredible ryan adams is in a class all his own.