#59
Reviewed by Thom Bowers
Bryan Adams
Bryan Adams
Allen’s Rating: 2 out of 5
Thom’s Rating 2 out of 5
Tom’s Highlights:
Hiding From Love
Give Me Your Love
Remember (cause I'm a sucker for synth solos)
Tom’s Highlights:
Hiding From Love
Give Me Your Love
Remember (cause I'm a sucker for synth solos)
By Thom Bowers
What does Bryan Adams bring to the party?
The question was constantly running through my mind since my first listen to this, his debut record. I had neever seriously considered it before.
What does Bryan Adams bring to the party?
The question was constantly running through my mind since my first listen to this, his debut record. I had neever seriously considered it before.
Since my initiation into pop music is largely inseparable from early Mtv, I do not clearly remember a pre-Adams era. He was always just...there, alongside other solid but unremarkable white guy solo acts with solid but umremarkable songs. But those songs did click with people and light up the charts, and he has enjoyed an impressively enduring career as an A-lister, despite not standing out much as a personality or performer.
So I suppose what he brings to the party are the songs, and I was pleasantly surprised to learn that those songs, by and large, came from him. My assumption, even before he scored with that Frankenstein's monster of a monster ballad from the Robin Hood movie, is that he was a blank slate propped up by larger forces. But delving into his backstory, he seems instead to be more of a journeyman songwriter who, at the time of this recording, still hadn't quite landed on whether he and his frequent collaorator Jim Vallance were writing for others or himself. It's worth noting that while this record didn't make any noise on the US charts, quite a few of the tunes were covered by (or intended to be covered by) artists such as Scandal and BTO, as well as lesser-known groups at the time.
The songs themselves also seem to bear that out, mostly coming across as grayscale demo sketches with spaces left for artists with a little more flair to color in: "Give Me Your Love" is a decent template of 70s era Hall & Oates, and "Don't You Say It" could have easily fit in on a Pablo Cruise record. Instances of stylistic stretching like these tend to be the album's more interesting moments, while the rest is...well, solid but unremarkable bare bones pop-rock being produced by a solid but unremarkable performer. But to be fair, one who both got in and pushed forward based on the strength of his own craft, and that ain't nothing.
Also, the chorus of Hiding From Love is still stuck in my head a week later, and that ain't nothing either.
So I suppose what he brings to the party are the songs, and I was pleasantly surprised to learn that those songs, by and large, came from him. My assumption, even before he scored with that Frankenstein's monster of a monster ballad from the Robin Hood movie, is that he was a blank slate propped up by larger forces. But delving into his backstory, he seems instead to be more of a journeyman songwriter who, at the time of this recording, still hadn't quite landed on whether he and his frequent collaorator Jim Vallance were writing for others or himself. It's worth noting that while this record didn't make any noise on the US charts, quite a few of the tunes were covered by (or intended to be covered by) artists such as Scandal and BTO, as well as lesser-known groups at the time.
The songs themselves also seem to bear that out, mostly coming across as grayscale demo sketches with spaces left for artists with a little more flair to color in: "Give Me Your Love" is a decent template of 70s era Hall & Oates, and "Don't You Say It" could have easily fit in on a Pablo Cruise record. Instances of stylistic stretching like these tend to be the album's more interesting moments, while the rest is...well, solid but unremarkable bare bones pop-rock being produced by a solid but unremarkable performer. But to be fair, one who both got in and pushed forward based on the strength of his own craft, and that ain't nothing.
Also, the chorus of Hiding From Love is still stuck in my head a week later, and that ain't nothing either.
https://open.spotify.com/album/6IKA8Pe9HZoJWqxeKIb27C?si=cJ9b8C-HTs-Yjj4aG9F8wQ
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