It dawned on me listening to this again that in spite of all that's been written about how this album connected to NYC right after 9/11, maybe the two best songs on the whole thing have LA icons in the title. Go figure. I can't pretend that I didn't buy this record in 2001 and listen to it alot, but as I suspected it doesn't hold up and certainly pales in comparison to Springsteen's take on roots rock. In fact, my favorite track on the whole thing is "Enemy Fire," which feels nothing like Springsteen at all. But it also sort of shows just how prolific Ryan Adams has been at trying on too many sounds without maybe ever really landing on one that's all his own. Actually, now that I've made it to "Wild Flowers," I'm enjoying this one. There's no need for the three songs between this and "Goodnight, Hollywood Blvd." And no reason whatsoever for this album to be 16 tracks long, but that's Ryan Adams for you. Quantity > Quality.