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Look See Proof – Do You Think It’s Right

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I have to admit that before hearing this track I was not previously aware of the band Look See Proof, before long however I can tell that this band will be filling dance floors up and down the country with their brilliantly energetic music. It is uplifting and greatly upbeat indie music which is great fun to listen to and never do the band disappoint with this tremendous single. ‘Do You Think It’s Right’ is a bright and cheery offering from the band, one I can’t help but dance along to as I listen. It’s got an infectious beat about it, and with B-sides ‘Don’t Say A Word’ and ‘Casualty (Os Darkroom Remix)’ the band also impress and show themselves to be extremely talented. Look out for Look See Proof, it shouldn’t be long before these boys are massive, already they are sounding like they have the quality required to sell millions of records and personally I’d love to see them do so.

Label: Weekender Records
Release Date: 24th March 2008

Rating:
Review StarReview StarReview StarReview Star

Kate Nash – Merry Happy

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Kate Nash has achieved an awful lot in her relatively short career thus far. Her début album ‘Made of Bricks’ has gone Platinum, and I just feel that at only 20 years old she has already accomplished more than most will achieve in a lifetime. Despite this, I have absolutely no appreciation for her music whatsoever and I do in fact find that she has one of the most annoying voices in the world. ‘Merry Happy’ does nothing to change my mind about the young artist and is in fact one of the tracks I hated the most from her album. Containing lyrics such as ‘Dancing at discos, eating cheese on toast’, this is hardly the signs of a genius lyricist at work. Kate Nash takes mundane topics and sings about them in a mundane way, she’s dull and offers nothing of worth as a singer-songwriter I feel. All I can say is that it’s lucky that this one won’t be as prolific a performer as her previous releases. Only 1000 copies of each format are being released; two x 7” and one CD. Hopefully ‘Merry Happy’ wont be getting much radio airplay and we’ll soon be able to say goodbye to Kate Nash once and for all. She surely wont be releasing a second studio album and my opinion on the matter is that the sooner she’s gone the better.

Label: Fiction Records
Release Date: 24th March

Rating:
Review Star

Stone Gods – Burn the Witch

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When Justin Hawkins announced his departure from The Darkness, did the others accept defeat and call it a day? Did they heck. As soon as The Darkness met their end Dan Hawkins and Richie Edwards got together and decided that they would form a new band, a band far greater than their previous one ever had been. They got to work, keeping on board The Darkness drummer Ed Graham and recruiting Toby MacFarlaine on bass guitar, the bass guitarist for former Blur member Graham Coxon. It was envisaged that this time round they would do things the way they wanted to do them, their would be no pop music here but instead straight up rock music. They’ve stuck to their guns and come up with an EP here that is complete with four fantastic rock anthems.

First up here is ‘Burn The Witch’, by far my favourite of all the tracks present on this EP. It is the ‘Burn The Witch’ EP after all though so I guess that it’s only right that this should be so. If you’re a fan of the likes of Thin Lizzy, AC/DC, Mötley Crüe etc. then the sound that this band produce will be right up your street. It is hard rock at it’s finest, the guitar riffs are hugely powerful and the vocals come belting through with great vigour. Stone Gods mean business here and ‘Burn The Witch’ is the finest example of hard rock music that they have to offer on this EP, don’t let this have you believe that the rest of the EP isn’t worth listening to however as this certainly isn’t true at all.

As second track ‘You Brought A Knife To A Gunfight’ starts up once more the band impress greatly. The band carry on steam rolling through here with some more hard hitting rock music, a fine display of how rock music should always sound. It’s not watered down in the slightest, Stone Gods are not gearing themselves towards the pop market here whatsoever; they are in fact steering well away from it with the sound that they are coming out with. The chorus is epic here and everything about the track comes across perfectly, I fail to find fault with this track and do in fact greatly appreciate the hard rock sound that the band have to offer here. The lyrics are perfectly put across, spat out with great venom and truly believable as they come spitting from the mouth of Richie Edwards.

‘Break Down’ is the penultimate track on this EP, an epic rock riff is set at its beginning and as the track unfolds never does it disappoint. It’s not the most powerful of tracks on this EP, but still it is greatly impressive and it certainly doesn’t disappoint. Never on this release do the Stone Gods ever fail to impress, always there is plenty going on in the music with a number of factors helping to keep you entertained at all times. The vocals are never short of sensational, the drum beat always come pounding, and not once do the guitar riffs fail to make an impact. The instrumental work of this band is phenomenal, and the vocal display of excellence compliments this perfectly as Stone Gods fire their way through this EP with a great spirit and epic quality of utmost excellence.

‘Heartburn’ closes the release and offers up one final moment of glory before the band take their bow from this EP. The vocals are put across well, and the instrumental work is of great strength throughout the entirety of the track. It winds things down nicely for the end of EP, offering great closure as things are brought to an end by the band. Throughout all of this release all elements of the music come together perfectly and this closing track is no exception, it is an absolutely brilliant display of electrifying rock ‘n’ roll. You can tell that the end is in the air here, Stone Gods prove themselves to be great masters of picking the perfect closing track.

People expecting a carbon copy of The Darkness may well be sorely disappointed with what they hear here from the Stone Gods, those out there that love a bit of hard hitting rock music however should be in for a right royal treat. Stone Gods are a hugely impressive hard rock band and prove this to the world here with this EP that melds elements of heavy metal, straight up rock, and full on ballads in order to produce one of the finest four tracks I have heard in a long while. The bad news about this EP is that it sold out in physical form on the day of its release meaning that your only option to buy the ‘Burn The Witch’ EP now in CD form would be to go scouring the listings of Ebay. The goods news however is that it’s available for download and can therefore be found at all the finest download stores across the land, so should you feel so inclined as to buy this EP then get yourself over to iTunes pronto! Personally I would definitely recommend giving this EP a listen, I found it to be a hugely impressive offering of hard rock and these four tracks will therefore no doubt be played by myself for many years to come.

Label: Self Released
Release Date: 25th February 2008

Rating:
Review StarReview StarReview StarReview Star

Pennywise – Reason to Believe

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‘Reason to Believe’ is the ninth studio album from the American punk rock band that is Pennywise. In late 2006 the bands guitarist Fletcher Dragge predicted that the album would be released in the summer of 2007, but summer came and went with no new Pennywise album having emerged. In September 2007 the band then announced that they had around 60 new songs to choose from and that they would therefore be spending the next few months choosing the best of the lot for inclusion on the album. Fifteen tracks are contained on the ‘Reason to Believe’ album, and if these are the best of the 60 that they had available then I really hate to think what the worst were like. This is not a bad album from Pennywise by any means, but really it has very few highlights to speak of and the band drift their way through this album without any real intent or direction. In the past their albums have at times been extremely hard hitting, Pennywise have recorded brilliant punk rock music by anyone’s standards. Sadly ‘Reason to Believe’ is not up there amongst their best and it would seem that having released nine studio albums now the band are running a little low on ideas.

There are moments of great promise contained within this album, and the guitar riffs are often excellent. The problem here is that a lot of the time the tracks just all sound the same and ‘Reason to Believe’ therefore makes for extremely unenthralling listening. Even the enjoyable tracks on this album soon become tiresome as they lack life and by the time the tracks are over you just find yourself really rather bored. Even though a lot of these tracks clock in at around the three minute mark, somehow this is too long and perhaps it would have favoured the band to have put forward two minute tracks rather than three.

‘Something to Live For’ is the first real moment of promise that Pennywise put forward from this album. It’s instantly catchy and as the band progress their way through the track they sound like an extremely tight unit as they smash out the guitar riffs and the vocals come firing. Although the track starts well however I soon myself getting bored with it and by the time it’s finished I find myself to have drifted off entirely. Listening to music should not be such a chore as this, if a band have enough about them to get you interested in a track in the first place then there is no reason why you should be able to lose that interest so easily. I think it’s laziness on behalf of the band that is to blame for this album being so average, they have evidenced with their sound in the past that they are talented musicians with plenty to offer and yet they just don’t show that here. They put forward a strong guitar riff, but repeat it so many times within the same track that by the final note you’re completely sick of it and never wish to hear it ever again.

‘It’s Not Enough to Believe’ is a fairly decent track from this album, the vocals contain quite a bite and there are some excellent gang vocals as the track unfolds. Great use is made of backing vocals here in order to make the track greatly powerful, all the while there is a driving guitar riff that makes the track greatly entertaining to listen to. It’s not up there amongst the best that the band have ever recorded, but it’s certainly a decent track from the band and is definitely a lot better than much of this release in which the band seemingly have very little to offer whatsoever. It is just the right length, an interesting and uplifting punk rock track from the band which is packed full of promise. ‘You Get the Life You Choose’ follows on from this track and is once more a fast and frantic offering in which the music is tremendous fun to listen to and always entertaining. Again, it’s not one of the best tracks that the band have ever recorded but is definitely amongst the best that they have to offer with their ‘Reason to Believe’ album.

‘Next in Line’ ends this album amicably and is in fact the best track that ‘Reason to Believe’ has to offer. It is an energetic and exciting punk rock number and the band fire through this one with a real fury. This is Pennywise at their best, why however they couldn’t have been consistently excellent throughout the whole of this release I really have no idea. They have shown in the past that they can write brilliant albums, and even if the majority of tracks here were only half as good as ‘Next in Line’ then this would at least be a start. Although ‘Next in Line’ is a fantastic punk rock offering complete with some truly inspirational double bass pedal work; it is too little, too late for Pennywise and through being entirely average throughout much of this album they have already let themselves down far too much for this one track to be able to redeem the album as a whole from the land of mediocrity.

One major plus point about this album is that in America a deal has been arranged through MySpace Records in order to provide the ‘Reason to Believe’ album as a free digital download , a release date has been scheduled for this digital freebie of March 25th 2008. Sadly however no such deal has been arranged in the UK and you’d therefore have to part with your hard earned cash if you were wishing to own this album in physical or digital form. Personally I wouldn’t advise this, not unless you really are a massive fan of Pennywise and wouldn’t feel quite right if you didn’t own every single album in their back catalogue. ‘Reason to Believe’ is an average and frankly uninspiring album from Pennywise, occasionally the band sound interesting but most of the time they merely sound bored.

Label: Epitaph/Myspace Records
Release Date: 24th March 2008

Rating:
Review StarReview StarReview Half Star

Four Year Strong – Rise Or Die Trying

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Four Year Strong are an American Pop Punk band that take a strong influence from the hardcore scene. Whilst their sound is by no means hardcore, it definitely takes on a heavier and edgier approach at times than most Pop Punk music out there. The band come from Massachusetts and in February it was announced that they had signed to Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy’s personal record label Decaydance Records.

On this album the band start off bright eyed and bushy tailed, and for the first few tracks I found this album to be greatly enjoyable. After a while however you start to realise that in this album it sounds like the band are playing the same track over and over. Never do they seem to deviate at all from their formula, it is a hard edged Pop Punk sound and always it seems to take the same form. There will be the occasional breakdown of heaviness in each of their tracks, and the rest will be seemingly the same upbeat pop heavy sound. Vocally this band sound like a lot of other bands out there, they sound like Fall Out Boy at times, Brand New at others, quite like New Found Glory on the odd occasion, but never do they sound like themselves. Always it sounds like Four Year Strong are trying to replicate the formula of already successful artists, scared of trying their hand at their own approach to music. Their sound is pretty decent, but there is no depth to it whatsoever and it therefore quickly becomes tiresome.

Listening to a whole album of music that entirely lacks distinction and differentiation is a greatly difficult matter, the few moments of hardcore spirit that each track possesses is not nearly enough to add energy and excitement to the sound. The most annoying thing about this band is that when they start the album with the track ‘The Take Over’, I actually thought that I was going to be in for a great treat with Four Year Strong. It is fast, fun and frantic and as the band progress their way through this one they always sound full of life and as though they will have plenty to offer with this album. They are just too happy and upbeat throughout the entirety of ‘Rise or Die Trying’ and you can therefore only listen to so much before seriously wanting to hurt them. Fall Out Boy are a similar sort of band to Four Year Strong, granted their music doesn’t contain the hardcore bursts that this does but it is really much the same. The main difference between Four Year Strong and Fall Out Boy and the reason why the latter will always be a far more successful band is that in each Fall Out Boy album is contained a great deal of variation; a number of different sounds comes across on the album and they therefore stand out strongly as a band. Fall Out Boy also have greatly catchy chorus that help separate them from the pack, with the music of Four Year Strong it is all so upbeat and of the same tempo that you really don’t know where the verse ends and the chorus begins. The music is all on the same level and it is this that means that their music quickly becomes really very irritating.

Eleven tracks are included on the ‘Rise or Die Trying’ album and if you’ve heard one then really you’ve heard them all. They may as well not name their tracks here, if you were to hand me this album and ask me to name the tracks out of their listed order purely from listening to them then I would not be able to at all. The only difference between ‘Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Hell’, ‘Beatdown In The Key Of Happy’ or ‘Heroes Get Remembered, Legends Never Die’ is their titles, and the same can be said of all eleven of these tracks. Bands often stick to a basic formula in their music but it is quite rare to hear an album in which each and every track is a near on carbon copy of both the next and last.

For the first few minutes of its play ‘Rise Or Die Trying’ is an absolutely excellent album, it is only when the album begins to get into full swing however that you realise that every track is exactly the same and that Four Year Strong only seem to have one idea. Since 2001 this band have been going, it would seem however that they’ve not managed too much in their years and although the one track they have written is a good one, hearing it eleven times on one album is not a greatly rewarding listening experience. Whether or not the band realise their lack of musical depth is debatable, I’m sure I’ll not be the only person in the world that notices it however. This is exactly the kind of music I usually love, what I don’t love however is albums in which the tracks are all too similar and samey and ‘Rise Or Die Trying’ as an album is the worst culprit of this that I have perhaps ever heard. As a listener and great fan of Pop Punk I refuse to be treated like an idiot, and when a band push out a whole album of tracks that all sound the same I find this simply unacceptable. With the band having recently signed to Decaydance Records, this album will no doubt be heard by a lot of people and I hate to think how many will buy this insipid album of sound alike songs. Download one song from this album, any song; it simply doesn’t matter, whichever one you choose it will pretty much be the same song anyway. If you want to get the same effect as you’d get from listening to this album then simply listen to it eleven times straight and prepare to become angered by the relentlessly upbeat nature of Four Year Strong, otherwise listen to the track once and once only and you’ll probably actually be really quite impressed.

Label: Hassle Records
Release Date: 28th April 2008

Rating:
Review StarReview Star

The Secret Handshake – Gamegirl

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When I read the name I assumed that The Secret Handshake would be some NME endorsed Indie band. Apparently I was wrong, and instead when I started playing this CD what my ears were graced with was a strange electro-pop sound. There are elements of Indie in the music, but this is certainly not what I was expecting that’s for sure. In a way I was pleased that the music of The Secret Handshake was a bit different to what I had been expecting, and ‘Gamegirl’ is definitely an interesting track. The problem is that I can’t quite work out whether I like this or not. Vocally, The Secret handshake are quite impressive, but the knob twiddling electro edged music is at times really quite irritating. The Secret Handshake is all one man; Luis Dubuc, and yet it sounds like so much more than this. There is just too much going on at once within the sound and the airwaves can become a little congested. I feel like covering my ears at times, but at others am glad to have them open. I remain undecided about this single, there are times when I like it and others when I hate it; I think the easiest solution is for you to listen to it and make up your own mind about The Secret Handshake. I’m not sure whether I’d recommend listening to the music or not.

Label: sixsevenine
Release Date: 17th March 2008

Rating:
Review StarReview StarReview Half Star

Disturbia Review

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Very rarely does a film emerge that truly scares me. ‘Disturbia’ is one such example of a film that does however and is one that I would wholeheartedly recommend to everybody out there with even the slightest interest in the horror genre. The film has a greatly powerful beginning, an opening sequence that grabs you straight away and never during the 104 minute run time of this film does it ever let you go. It’s a punchy thrill ride of a film and always it impresses as the plot thickens with Shia LaBeouf cast in the leading role.

The thing about this film is that it’s not instantly scary and this may well be something that could put a lot of people off. What the director does do here however is that throughout the duration of this film great suspense is built, something that leads to an intense and truly frightening finish. I would say that it’s a lot like ‘When A Stranger Calls’ in its approach in that we are presented with most of the action towards the back end of the film and for much of ‘Disturbia’ we are set inside the same house and generally in the exact same room also. It is slow to progress, but you definitely get the feeling that it is all leading up to a major finish and with such an intensely powerful opening you know that this film is just waiting to explode at any given moment.

The reason that much of the film is set in the same house is that early on in the film the troubled teenager Kale (Shia LaBeouf) lashes out at his Spanish teacher with a punch to the face and as a consequence of his actions must face house arrest. He is tagged and bound with his only option to remain within the four walls of his home. As a result of his bad behaviour, Kale’s mother decides that he can not treat this as a holiday and blocks his iTunes access and shuts off his Xbox Live. Without iTunes and Xbox what better way to spend your time than to resort to good old fashioned voyeurism. Armed with his binoculars to spy on the neighbourhood activity, Kale starts taking notes of all his neighbours behaviour and one in particular has caught his attention. There appear to be some strange goings on in the house of Robert Turner from across the road and so the film unfolds as Kale gets his friends Ashley and Ronnie on-board in his attempts to get to the bottom of exactly what it is that Robert Turner is up to.

I first came across the actor that is Shia LaBeouf when I witnessed him in the American comedy programme ‘Even Stevens’. His character was extremely witty, a larger than life character who was cocky and at times confrontational, but always he was greatly likeable. He plays a similar role here and this was something that was brilliant to see. I was a great fan of his character in ‘Even Stevens’ and seeing him play such a similar role here made me warm to him immediately and as soon as the film started to get going his presence had me hooked. There’s something about his cheeky manner that makes him excellent in this role, and performing alongside him were a few faces that most certainly did not let the side down in the slightest. Aaron Yoo plays the role of best friend Ronnie, whilst Sarah Roemer was cast as love interest Ashley. Both of them are brilliant in this film meaning that none of our three key protagonists are at all disappointing and that ‘Disturbia’ therefore is onto a winning formula at least as far the acting is concerned. It is always of an incredibly high calibre and no one fails to impress here.

What I like about ‘Disturbia’ is that it takes conventions from genres such as the teenage romantic comedy, horror, crime and also thriller, and what it does is takes them all and melds them together in order to produce one of the best films that I have seen in a long while. ‘Disturbia’ progresses well and it is the tension that is created during the films 104 minute run time that makes this such a brilliant one to watch. It is well acted and all elements come together in order to make for an absolutely captivating and entirely entertaining film which is always fun to watch and never does it disappoint. It’s quite predictable and some may say that films of this sort have been done to death before, but it is done so incredibly well that none of this really matters. There are a lot of films of this type that are done badly and just don’t work, this isn’t true of ‘Disturbia’ at all and whilst its not the most original of films I found myself utterly engrossed as I watched on. Towards the end of the film I found it hard to keep my eyes on the screen, I could literally feel the tension running through me as my skin tightened and I could tell that the frown lines were developing. My brain was telling me to stop watching and yet still I continued to keep my eyes on the screen and I’m greatly glad that I did. I wouldn’t have wanted to miss a single second of this film, it really is that good.

‘Disturbia’ is the only film that I have seen from the director D.J. Caruso and now I want to see more. He had me hooked with this one and always I was fully engaged throughout the 104 minutes that this film ran. Never one to pass up the opportunity to see a good horror film, I’m glad I decided to ignore the negative reports I read and give ‘Disturbia’ a go; it’s an excellent film and one that I would wholeheartedly recommend to all. Strictly speaking I would say that ‘Disturbia’ is more a thriller than anything else, there is an early release of intensity and then throughout the film this is once more built up. The film is all psychological, there is no gore and also what is apparent is that there is no bad language; it is an entirely clean film that would perhaps be safe for all ages were it not for the great suspense which is created that would surely shock and disturb a younger audience. ‘Disturbia’ is a film that I shall happily be watching again in the not too distant future, it progresses well and I found the viewing experience to be entirely enjoyable and thoroughly entertaining.

Rating:

Bowling For Soup – The Great Burrito Extortion Case

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Since 1994 now Bowling For Soup have been dazzling us with their Pop Punk glory. The key to success in this genre seems too be that you should never take yourselves too seriously, and Bowling For Soup never even come close to seriousness on this album. Throughout the whole of this album the band are just as nerdy as we’ve ever known them before and this is just the way that I’d love them to stay. Their music is not particularly technical, nor do the band attempt to inject intellect into their lyrics, but what they do is produce fantastically fun Pop Punk music which always entertains and never fails to impress. Bowling For Soup have a formula, one they stick to rigidly and for the most part they succeed with. Many of their tracks have strong similarities and yet never is their music ever even close to sounding at all dull or uninspired.

The music of Bowling For Soup is always amusing to listen to and it is this that makes their sound so appealing to me. I’m a great fan of light-hearted music, and Bowling For Soup are by all accounts a band that never take themselves too seriously. With track titles such as ‘I’m Gay’ and an album called ‘The Great Burrito Extortion Case’ in fact, I think it’s clear for all to see just how serious this band take things and this is really quite a fresh thing to see in music today. Too many bands take themselves far too seriously and perhaps a few more bands should take a leaf out of Bowling For Soup’s book and lighten up a little.

When listening to this album something gives me the impression that during their school days Bowling For Soup were never the coolest kids in their class. Tracks such as ‘High School Never Ends’ and ‘Luckiest Loser’ are what tell me this. This is one band that seem to reject the whole concept of being cool and would much rather be seen as the nerdy losers in life. I don’t think you can ever be considered cool making Pop Punk music such as this, but what Bowling For Soup are I feel is the kings of uncool. Through their anti-cool values, this somehow makes them cool and has made the band the icons of many over the years.

This music is fast and fun, the band possess a great energy as they blast their way through this album and never do their bouncy numbers fail to impress me. ‘A Friendly Goodbye’ has to be one of my favourite tracks from this album, it contains an upbeat and bouncy chorus and coming around the albums centre is a definite highlight from this album. The lyrics are as great fun as ever here and just as always the band impress with great ease in this track. Bowling For Soup don’t come across as a band who try too hard and yet their music is greatly effective and comes across perfectly throughout this ‘The Great Burrito Extortion Case’ album.

‘Much More Beautiful Person’ is another favourite track of mine from this album. The guitar riff that drives through the heart of this track is excellent and with every move the band make in this track they impress. The music bridges upon perfection, Bowling For Soup are excellent here and there is no denying how catchy a track this truly is. As far as I’m concerned Pop Punk music is meant to be catchy and fun, and terrifically catchy is exactly what this is and it is therefore an excellent track to listen to and one from which I derive much musical enjoyment.

Personally I find listening to this album to be greatly entertaining. It’s not the most intelligent music in the world; granted, but what can be said of it is that it is absolutely excellent Pop Punk. The music is fun and uplifting, always the band impress as they embark upon their mission through this album. This music is not at all serious and it is this that makes it so irresistible and exciting to listen to. Listening to ‘The Great Burrito Extortion Case’ is never anything but enjoyable and always the band impress me with this album. I have long been a fan of Bowling For Soup and this album does nothing to knock my confidence and belief in their ability. I have great faith that Bowling For Soup will continue to produce brilliant music of this sort for many years to come and thoroughly look forward to hearing new material from them in the not too distant future. Never yet have they disappointed me with their albums and I’m sure that it will be a long time coming before they do so if ever. Pop Punk is one of my favourite musical genres and if it is one of yours also then make sure you give ‘The Great Burrito Extortion Case’ a good listening to, it’s more than worthy of your time and attention and is in fact a fantastic album from a band that are seemingly never short of an idea or two.

Label: A&G
Release Date: 5th February 2007

Rating:
Review StarReview StarReview StarReview Star

Siouxsie – About To Happen

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Clap your hands, say Siouxsie. Siouxsie Sioux is back with the third track to be released from her ‘MantaRay’ album. This time the lucky track in question is none other than ‘About to Happen’. I loved every track from her ‘MantaRay’ album so it should come as no surprise then that this track is one that I happen to be a great admirer of. ‘About to Happen’ comes complete with some token claps, brilliant vocals and a superb guitar riff that catapults you through much of the track. The track drives you right to the end, and I personally thoroughly enjoy the ride. Fifty years old and still bashing out some great music, Siouxsie has now lost her Banshees but is still an excellent musician. ‘About to Happen’ is a fine track, a brilliant one in fact plucked straight from an album of utmost perfection.

Label: W14 Music
Release Date: 17th March 2008

Rating:
Review StarReview StarReview StarReview Star

Bryan Adams – 11

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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

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