Would you believe it, Bryan Adams has only gone and recorded his eleventh studio album! What to call it though, he’s already had such top titles as ‘Waking Up The Neighbours’ and ‘Cuts Like A Knife’. Seen as it’s the eleventh of his career and all, how about simply titling it ’11’? Ingenious. ’11’ fittingly contains eleven tracks, plus one as a bonus. According to the information I have to hand it was recorded largely in hotel rooms and backstage dressing rooms all around the world. To mark the occasion of this release Mr Bryan Adams shall be playing (wait for it) eleven shows around the world in a total of eleven different countries over the course of eleven days. The tour is aptly titled the ’11 Dates, 11 Cities’ tour, starting in Lisbon and ending in Copenhagen throughout the month of March 2008.
I can’t say that Bryan Adams has ever been one of my favourite artists, but I certainly have a strong love of his ‘Summer of 69’, many a time I have cranked up the volume and blasted out his raucous rock ballad. Sadly there is no ‘Summer of 69′ here, but what we are treated to is 47 minutes of Bryan Adams as he charms his way through the twelve tracks of the ’11’ album. His mid-tempo rock music is perfect for long journeys on the road, it’s always good to pump up the volume for Bryan Adams and unlock that air guitar of yours.
Sadly this is not the strongest of albums from Bryan Adams, but a decent one nonetheless and one that is complete with a number of impressive tracks. ‘Broken Wings’ for example is greatly uplifting, right from its opening guitar riff you know that this is going to be so and with this one Bryan Adams progresses softly but effectively through the track. The vocals come across well and the lyrics are sweetly spoken, it’s a typically moving Bryan Adams track and is one that could easily be picked to be a single.
In the track ‘Somethin’ To Believe In’, Bryan Adams shows great signs of personal weakness within his lyrical content. His statement of ‘I got nothin’ – goin’ nowhere, tired of under achieving’ does not sound like words that should be spoken by a man who has sold over 50 million records worldwide over the course of his career. If he believes this to be under achieving then goodness knows what he’d consider to be over achieving. The track has a chorus that you can easily imagine filling Wembley. It is understated rock gold, a track would not look at all out of place alongside the likes of his hit singles ‘(Everything I Do) I Do It For You’, ‘Heaven’, and of course ‘Summer of 69′.
There is no denying that Bryan Adams is an excellent songwriter, the Canadian has for many a year been churning out top quality records, and with ’11’ he has produced another that is absolutely jam packed with successful sounds. ‘I Thought I’d Seen Everything’ is another from this release that is definitely up there amongst the best that the man has ever written. Bryan Adams has so much to offer on this track and never does he disappoint as he sings and soars his way through this one. It has an absolutely fantastic chorus and the guitars are never anything short of sensational, after thirty years of doing what he does it is no surprise that Bryan Adams is a master of his art.
Ending with ‘The Way of The World’ as the albums bonus track, Bryan Adams goes out on a high here with an immensely powerful and pressing track. The way in which the track progresses reminds me more of an Oasis release than a typical Bryan Adams number. It provides the perfect closure for the album, and whilst I listen to the track I can just imagine a sold out arena audience singing along at the tops of their voices to this one as it is played as an encore. It’s a real crowd pleaser, Bryan Adams belts out the vocals for one final blast of musical excellence. He certainly saved the best till last here, much of the track sounds very Oasis and yet there is also the odd element of Chris Cornell thrown in also. Ultimately it’s a Bryan Adams song, and yet all the best elements of various artists and bands seem to be chucked in to the mix as well. Bryan Adams may not be one of my favourite artists in the world, but if every track he ever recorded was as good as this one then he certainly would be.
This may be Bryan Adams eleventh studio album but he certainly doesn’t seem short of an idea or two. He’s not yet exhausted his song writing potential and still he has plenty to offer with his heartfelt rock ballads. The man is now 48 and absolute expert at what he does, he’s been writing music for over three decades now and is certainly no stranger to the world of music. Bryan Adams seems to know exactly what to do in order to produce the best sound possible and throughout the entirety of this release he continues to impress and enthral with his fantastic sound. He has a very distinctive voice, right from the very first moment the vocals kick in you can tell a Bryan Adams record from a mile off and in my opinion this is in no way a bad thing whatsoever. Twelve tracks here show that Bryan Adams has still got plenty of ideas and is forever progressing forward with his music, effortlessly he marches his way through this album and struts his stuff in an album that never fails to impress.
Label: Polydor Records
Release Date: 17th March 2008
Rating:
UK based film graduate with a huge passion for music, sports and video games.
