The Official Bryan Adams Thread
 

I don't know how well this thread will do... it probably will get a dozen posts and then sent to it's grave, but I'm slightly optimistic.

I personally feel that Bryan Adams deserves alot more attension than he normally gets. He has the big ballads (Ex. Heaven) and the big Anthems (Summer of '69, Run To You...) and some really good music in his albums that you could hardly call "filler". One of his best albums, "Cuts Like A Knife" is definatly in my top 5 favorites of all time. And I don't know what kind of reaction I'll get from this, because I don't know how well he has done in the UK, and I've never heard anyone talk about him. Celine Dion and Nickelback aren't the only things to come out of Canada.




Anyways, Bryan Adams is doing an "Unplugged" tour right now... anyone going? I am in Febuary.

Mr Adams is very popular here in the UK too. And rightly so as he is a great singer and songwriter.

I went to see one of his unplugged shows last year and he was fantastic; most of the songs were just him and a guitar-occasionally he was joined by a piano player. He told stories about the songs which were interesting, he was funny, professional and even joined in with the banter shouted at him from the audience. You'll love the show.

I admire him... in phases. Can't listen to him all the time (but not even BJ, so...), and when I'm in the mood he can be the greatest pop-rock artist I know. I love his "MTV Unplugged", as for studio albums "Reckless" is a firworks of hits, while "18 til I die" is my favourite... his most mature album I would say. Another great one is "Live! Live! Live!", the atmosphere on the show is mindblowing. I never went to see him live though. Maybe I will one day if the opportunity is there.

He has other great songs here and there, but the level of songwriting went downhill since "On A Day Like Today". The lyrics, that never had been the deepest, became even more simple and cheesy, the songs shorter and also simpler.
I always felt he has a lot of fillers on some of his albums, like "Waking Up The Neighbours", there are some songs I just can't stand, and then some masterpieces as well. Weird mix really.

I truely love some of his songs which I rate very highly, such as:

One Night Love Affair
Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman?
Thought I'd Died And Gone To Heaven
East Side Story
It's Only Love
Everything I Do
All For Love
Let's Make A Night To Remember
Summer Of '69 (still!)
Room Service
...

Would really recommend goin to see him live, some of my favourite concerts have been BA shows. HIs voice holds up really well compared to studio recordings!

Aloha !

Bryan Adams is long gone glory. His live shows have been dull and predictable for a good 10 years now and he hasn't made a decent rock album since Into The Fire (1987?). For every 2 rock songs there's one of those pussy ballads and he's lost all his balls. If you see him live you'll think he's really down to earth and is putting up a special show just that night. See him again on the next tour and he's doing exactly the same. Telling exactly the same stories, making the same jokes, it's all an act, and he's become a phoney to me. When he lets loose on songs like Kids Wanna Rock and Run To You he still shows that he's still capable of rocking a crowd, but then again, those moments are getting more and more rare with every new tour.

Mature? I quote a few of his mature lyrics on that album:

1. Let's make a night to remember, from january to december.
2. I wanna be your lipstick when you lick it
3. We're gonna win don't wanna be a loser gonna win

Those are just 3 of the many examples why that album is so immature as hell. While he lost his balls on Waking Up (all the drums on it are coming from a drum computer!) he lost all the rest of his manhood on 18. Many Bryan Adams fans see this as one of his best, but there's only a few good songs on it, most of it is just easy listening, music they'd play in elevators and the likes. While he is capable of turning the few "rockers" on that album into good live songs most of it is very dull and sounds uninspired.

Also, let's not forget that he is responsable for giving rock ballads a bad name. Everything I Do, All For One, Have You Ever Loved A Woman, Let's Make A Night To Remember, Flying, I Think About You, all terrible. Heaven is his only proper rock ballad.

Cuts Like A Knife, Reckless, Into The Fire, Live! Live! Live! and MTV Unplugged are the only good Bryan Adams albums. All the others are either mediocre or terrible attempts at creating new songs. Every time he releases a new album it sounds like he's lost even more of his motivation or creativity. It sounds like he's lost his drive and is only recording new albums in order to be capable to give people a reason to go see him again. Followed by a show many fans have seen a thousand times now. I've stopped seeing him, have seen him 2 times now and it was more then enough. As soon as he starts dropping half of the ballads in his set I might spend some money on him again, but for now he's the one rock artist I can't be bothered with anymore. He makes rock songs for the women, and a man saying that one of his favourite Bryan Adams songs is "Let's Make A Night To Remember" ain't a real man to me!

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan

I think this sums up my opinion on Bryan Adams, and i'm talking about his whole career.

Well, I'm aware that we are talking about Bryan Adams here... he is known for cheesy lyrics. First, I don't consider your 3 examples that cheesy (in comparison), actually that whole "Underwear" song is quite a funny thing which I don't take too serious. In the context of the songs these lines totally work. Secondly, musically the record sounds like a band playing, it has many nice acoustic guitars and the song structures are beyond what was to come on the following years. And whatever you say, I don't feel guilty of having "Let's Have A Night To Remember" as a favourite track. I would never argue the lyrics are deep, but the sound, the melody, the music always pleased me. So, whatever you say, for a BA album "18" is quite mature. It's not just easy listening, because there is more creativity in these songs, something he never really found again afterwards, sadly. "Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman" is a great track, musically, and very moving lyrically.

We agree that he has some unlistanable stuff though.

he's got a few cracking songs but he's not done anything relevant for close to 20 years and his music will date really badly down the line compared to say other past glory acts like van morrison and bob dylan.

I like Bryan Adams, he may not be my favourite artist ever, as I generally prefer stuff with a bit more depth, and he is very hit and miss (as many have said, his peak was waaaaaay back); but he's still got some great songs, and is (sometimes) very good at what he does. And his live show does rock, a lot more than his albums do and a lot more than I expected it to.

I own 5 of his albums (although I only paid for two of them, shhhhh. Actually, technically I paid for Reckless too, as I bought it as a present for someone then borrowed and copied it :p), and the order I'd rank them in is:

1. Reckless (a really good album from start to finish. Pop rock perfection really)
2. Spirit: Stallion Of The Cimarron soundtrack (being a soundtrack it does tend to have too many reprises of songs, but in general it's a really atmospheric piece of work)
3. 18 Til' I Die (Very hit and miss, about half of it is decent, and half is filler.)
4. 11 (Completely by the numbers, but most of it is pretty good)
5. Room Service (About half pretty good, a quarter filler, and a quarter just rubbish)

And I'd say my top 10 songs, in no order, would be:

Summer Of '69
One Night Love Affair
Somebody
Everything I Do
Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman
It's Only Love
Ain't Gonna Cry
Sound The Bugle
18 Til I Die
Brothers Under The Sun

Something like that

seen bryan adams in the odyssey, belfast 2 or 3 years ago. he was brilliant. always been my favourite solo artist behind mj, although i think his recent stuff is pisch since 1998-9. bought the anthology in 2005.

personal favourite songs are

cuts like a knife
everybody needs somebody.
back to you
cant stop this thing we've started &
run to you

Aloha !

There's none of that cheesyness on albums like Reckless, Into The Fire or even On A Day Like Today. I just don't understand how anyone could call 18 Til I Die a mature album when all he does is pretending to be 18 and actually write songs that 18 year old relate to, instead of making the proper rock music he used to make in the eighties.

It doesn't sound like a fun song to me. Hey Elvis, that's a fun song, and should've been on the original album. If Ya Wanna Be Bad... is also a fun song, and should've been on the original album. Underwear just sounds like a weak attempt at creating a fun song, but failing miserably. The live versions of it were just appaling.

Occasionally it sounds like a band playing. Most of the time it sounds like Bryan Adams singing along to a backing track where every now and then Keith Scott is allowed to do a few fills. Again, Hey Elvis sounds like a band playing, but Mutt, the producer, killed the sound of the drums. When it even remotely starts to sound a bit heavy he mutes everything out of the ordinary in order to make it appeal to as many radio stations as possible. Just compare the live versions of 18 and The Only Thing from that era to what it sounds like on the album. Live it sounds like a band playing, on the album it sounds like a backing track.

I actually can sum up a conversation between me and my ex girlfriend about this:

Love, let's make a night to remember...
- yeah...
from January to December...

See how this just doesn't work? We both burst out laughing because it just sounds so ridiculous. The verses are alright, but everything that's right about the verses is wrong about the chorus.

I agree that Bryan Adams is capable of delivering cheesy lyrics in a good way just like Bon Jovi is, but on 18 he just fails half of the time. You're Still Beautiful To Me, I'll Always Be Right There, Have You Ever, in a way they work. The others just simply don't.

Yes, it might be more creative, but half of the album sounds like b-side or outtakes from previous writing sessions. The way they're produced, the lyrics, the guitars, everything. While the guitarwork on Waking Up The Neighbours was still pretty decent for a Bryan Adams album, there's never a moment on 18 that makes it sound like a guitar album, a rock album. Black Pearl is the closest to a rock song you get, but once again the production on it is so terrible that it loses most of it's edge. It all sounds like a compilation of songs for soundtracks or other albums. It never sounds like a proper album.

Would it have been something like this...

1. Hey Elvis!
2. The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me Is You
3. Do To You
4. 18 Til I Die
5. You're Still Beautiful To Me
6. If Ya Wanna Be Bad - Ya Gotta Be Good
7. I'll Always Be Right There
8. Low Life
9. Black Pearl
10. Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman?

...I wouldn't slag it off as much as I do now. Low Life is a good song and I fail to understand why it's not on the album. The same for Hey Elvis and If Ya Wanna Be Bad. They all should've been on it, and everything I haven't listed should either have been a b-side or should've been put on a soundtrack or whatever. But it all doesn't belong on the 18 record.

The only really good thing about the 18 era was the artwork. The 18 era was really the beginning of the end when it comes to Bryan Adams making rock albums. While Waking Up The Neighbours still had a little edge, 18 just has zero.

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan

See, what you criticise about "18" I would all say about "On A Day Like Today". A few decent tracks: On A Day Like Today, When You're Gone, How Do You Feel Tonight, Fearless, Cloud Number Nine. And even they don't really hit the nail on the head. The rest just sounds like demos, B-sides, session leftovers to me, with a huge lack of inspiration and the lack of attempt to make something more with the ideas than just the ordinary, standard 3 minute formula - like giving each song a personal note, a unique flavour, as to some point it was done on "18".
The spanish guitars on "Have You Ever", the harp groove on "Do To You", the epic dreamy atmoshphere of your beloved "Let's Make A Night", the pro-tooled "Star", the energetic rock of "We're Gonna Win", the dark groove of "Black Pearl". The range of styles is more deverse, the lyrics also have more consistence than the follow-up. And it DOES sound like an album to me, not a collection of single songs. Don't undertand why you dislike the drums and the guitars, to me they sound just fine. Not that it couldn't have been done with more edge, but it doesn't bother me too. "We're Gonna Win" always had a whole lot of edge to me, turn it up, you'll see. ;-) Also "Black Pearl", I think this laid back groove is quite fitting in the means of creating a 'swampy' atmosphere.

Maybe the lyrics on OADLT are not that cheesy, but not brilliant either. Lines like

"we're gonna make it home tonight, c'mon c'mon c'mon - everything's gonna be alright"

or

"getaway - ya know it's now or never
getaway - nobody lives forever"

or

"if I was blind you could make me see
if I was down you could comfort me"

are just lame reprises of chliches (and far far worse than anything on "18"). And you don't find anything much deeper on the album. And then I can't ignore the poorness of those lines, together with the music. OADLT almost all sounds like backing tracks, elevator music, just not exciting, moving. No dynamics, all so laid back, no good guitar work. On "18" on the other hand it's all quite decent. And Keith does play some nice licks and riffs.

Thinking about it, it's more the music than the lyrics that make me say "18" is a mature album. Ok, in some way I can't compare it to "Reckless", which is a killer. I don't know the "Into The Fire" album, and I don't know (yet) the bonus tracks you were talking of: Hey Elvis, Low Life. I know "If You Wanna Be Bad" only from Unplugged.
But still, for BA most of the lyrics I don't consider bad, though of course there are some cheesy lines and low points. Most of the time I find it quite convincing though, like "I'll Always Be Right There", with its awful "forever we will be - together a family" rhyme.
In fact, "Have You Ever", "Black Pearl", "We're Gonna Win", "Let's Make A Night" - they all work, though it might not be poetry.
Musically, the album as it is sounds really like a whole with different flavours, while OADLT just drowns in indifference. And I just give OADLT as an example because that fits your critics on "18", in my opinion.

In the end, I just like the album. I can't stand "Waking Up The Neigbours" nor "OADLT" as whole albums, only single songs, while "18" simply does the trick to me. "Room Service" was a bit better than "OADLT", though it's still far from being great, but a few really decent tracks.

Haven't listened to Bryan Adam for years - consider him to be completely irrelevant now. maybe he just did too many fluffy movie soundtracks or something but he lost his edge a long, long time agao.

The last albuum I bought was On A Day Like Today and other than the title track, I thought it was mostly mediocre, and before that so was 18 as well.

I agree with what Seb says though - 18 actually appealed to me when I was about 18 - but it has no maturity to last any longer than that, and no tracks that really stand the test of time.

Last decent thing BA did was his unplugged album, and obviously even that doesn't rock by its very nature.

Simon, say for example we compare BA (definitely pop rock) to our discussion about Crush on the other thread. Put the two together and Crush (a definite pop rock record), for all its faults, completely blows BA's recent efforts out of the water.

Of course, I would never argue with that. "Crush" is one of my favourite albums of all time actually, if you have read my posts in the other thread. BA comes nowhere near that. I'm not the biggest BA fan, really, but when I'm a phase he does the trick for me. And then I just love "18". I never said it was as good as BJ. I argued more within the BA context itself.

Another reason why I might like "18", is because it fits a phase of really good, mature music, which was released in 1995/96. Most people here would count TD as BJs most mature album, and it totally fitted its time. Compare it to albums that other artists released in those two years. Like the Scorpions and their "Pure Instinct". It doesn't fit the rest of their catalogue, it has many ballads, acoustic guitars and different songwriting etc., an overall melancholy feel, in a similar way that TD did for BJ. Or take Joan Osborne's "Relish". Albums with a somehow similar spirit, at least in the context of the artists catalogues. Bryan Adams' "18" is somehow in that manner too.

Just started listening to BA again after some time and I've got to say that I do like the 18 record a lot, too. It might not be the big rock from the 80s but it has it's very own atmosphere.
Though it's not as riff-based as Reckless it's still a very good Pop-rock record to me.
Starting to collect his b-sides now.

I also think that his MTV Unplugged may be the best from this series.
Great arrangements, great band and Bryan's voice in awesome shape.

On the other hand I read that he can't stand video's of his shows on youtube, which is why he banned all the fanmade ones from there.
He did the same with every single bootleg of his shows on the internet.
Not really fan-friendly. :-(

Still great music to me.

I like the guy. My favourite record is "Waking Up The Neighbours". Unplugged is up there too. I can't get into the newer stuff that well...

Yeah, I've got my problems with the albums since 18 til I die, too.
Though the production is great IMO there are too many fillers on each of them.

Plus I'm missing Jim Vallance as a songwriting partner. He was a genious.
Sadly he retired from the business after writing with Bryan one last time for his latest album 11.

He's writing a new record btw, has been in the studio since May.

I know it's nothing to get excited about but figured I'd let ya'll know.

Although at least it means a new tour :D

And gotta agree with Unplugged being awesome. I LOVE IT. Someone on here recommended me to get the DVD as well but I can't find it anywhere - I've only seen 5 copies of it and they were all in Edinburgh at the same store. I didn't buy it, and I forgot why :(

Shame cos I've wanted that for a damn long time.

Did anyone in the UK go to his acoustic tour this year?

I was so damn close to going but Bruce and Alice Cooper snapped up my money.

I have no regrets but I'm still regretting it. If that makes sense. Which it does not.

Easily 1 of the best singer/song writers to come out of the 80s!! Great voice and thought his Live show last October was awersome.

Here's my faves:

Cuts Like A Knife,Reckless,In To The Fire,LIVE LIVE LIVE,Waking Up The Neighboors and Un-Plugged.

I went to his acoustic tour in febuary. I think he is better during an acoustic tour than his electric tour... Dunno.... I love the acoustic version of summer of 69...

I'm seeing him in October. He's one of my favourite artists, so I can't wait!

I'll Always Be Right There will probably be my wedding song, if I have anything to say about it at least.

Edit: I saw him live with Def Leppard.

I should say, 11 really disappointed me. Maybe 2 songs on there i REALLY like.

18 Till I Die and Waking Up The Neighbors. Have a few songs I like


Lets Make A Night To Remember(I like it, but like mentioned, chorus isn't good)
18 Till I Die(Catchy Song)
I Think About You(I am a sucker for love songs, plus I have felt like this)
I'll Always Be Right There(see the above)
Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman(I like it)


Is Your Momma Gonna Miss Ya(Really like this one)
Can't Stop This Thing We Started(like this one)
Thought I'd Died And Gone To Heaven(Like this one)
House Arrest(Fun song)
Do I Have To Say The Words(See the above about love songs)
There Will Never Be Another Tonight(Another good one)
Depend On Me(I really really loved this one, I had a time in HS where I really loved this song)
Everything I Do(This song is up there with my favs. Loved the Robin Hood flick and I remember it from my childhood)
Don't Drop That Bomb On Me(Great song)

As far as Top 10?

1. I'll Always Be Right There
2. Everything I Do
3. One Night Love Affair
4. Straight From The Heart
5. I Think About You
6. This Time
7. She's Got A Way
8. Run To You
9. Summer of 69
10. Don't Drop That Bomb One Me


the last like 5 arent very set in stone.

Oh I love I'll Always Be Right There, especially the MTV unplugged version. Gonna have to go give it a listen now lol

Never seen Bryan Adams live. He's been to town quite a bit and I keep meaning to get tickets, but something always comes up.

Is there a youtube of the MTV version or a cd its on? Didnt he release an unplugged cd? I might have to pick that up.

He had an MTV unplugged cd in 1997 or 1998.

thanks! ill ebay it.

well..in my country,he's so famous that i can never like him just for that.. every freako knows the lyrics to summer of 69...
imo,bryan adams has made two types of songs all his life..-1. summer of 69 clones ..where he's tryin to rock it.but fails 9.5 times out of 10..
2.and more often than not a "heaven" clone.... the guy has to be a hardcore romantic to have written so many love songs....



shame some of u compare him to bon jovi,i mean where the hell's he gonne find a richie sambora?stop the "bon jovi" has written cheesy lines thing already.every glam rock band has done that....def lepp even had a boyband song called "long way to go"...

Keith Scott is actually a decent guitarist, he just doesn't that much chance to shine on Bryan's material, which is a shame

He does at the live shows though, he wowed me when I saw Bryan Adams :D

But what I came here to say boys and girls is, here's a new Bryan Adams song!


Nice acoustic song. Nothing mindblowing but pretty cool, I hope his new album will follow along these lines.

Aloha !

Keith Scott can be good, he's mostly average. As soon as he starts to improvise he's rubbish and makes many mistakes.

Nothing special indeed and the chorus is shit. "You've been a friend to me, a godsend to me, I ain't too proud to say, you've been a friend to me". That's pretty awful, even for Bryan Adams. Once again, it could've been better and it's the production that's lacking.

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan

I've lowered my expectations of Bryan Adams though, so this song looks good compared to 90% of his last album :p

But I don't get the line "I'm not to proud to say, you've been a friend to me" :confused:

I got the BA singles I ordered from Ebay today:

Have you ever loved a woman
Everything I do
Please forgive me
All for love
When you're gone
Here I Am

Mostly ballads, I know. But i got them for the B-Sides anyway.
Some really cool live and studio songs on there :-)

I'm also looking for some B-Sides, especially 1996. Might check ebay... :-) I have the "Star" single, and the three live tracks (Wembley 1996) are amazing: All For Love, Everything I Do, Let's Make A Night To Remember.

The best about that new song is the video. It's not bad, but nothing outstanding. I bought every album until "On A Day Like Today", and that was full of so much nonsense and cheap lyrics, that I resisted to buy the following. Well, I got them another way, but sadly "11" is the same mediocore crap. I enjoyed it once for dishwashing, but never listened to it since. I'm not saying it's bad... it's just not good. His lyrics are laughable sometimes, like kindergarden rhymes.

I think the man could do so much better. And he has. "Reckless" is one hell of an album, and lately I've listened to "Live! Live! Live!" again... now THAT'S a live album how it should be. Loud, energetic, full of audience involvment. A while back I defended my love for "18 Til I Die" (the album) here. He has some pretty decent stuff, and I'd still go and see him live.

So BA fans, something I was pondering today ... which, in your opinion, is the better album out of Reckless and 7800 Fahrenheit? Both released in 1985, both great pop rock albums ... but which is better?

Only one way to find out...

FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT!!!

No question. Reckless! It's an awesome album and really rocks out. There isn't a weak track on it and there's some good rock songs and some good ballads. Good all round stadium rock album for me. As for Farenheit then there are a few good songs on it, but also some shitters as well. It's pretty average compared to what came later. I think a better comparison would have been Reckless and Slippery. Reckless was also released in 1984 by the way.

Embarrassing song!

While I like 7800, it does NOT come close to Reckless.