Since the whole focus of this blog is CD reviews, I’m approaching the “A to Z” challenge by posting a review from a different artist for each letter of the alphabet.
In the interests of full disclosure, many of these are reviews that were previously posted on my blog on My Space, and while they are new posts to this blog, and new to most of you, they are not new work on my part, except for going and retrieving them from My Space and gathering cover images and alphabetizing them. I guess that’s work.
But that enabled me to get a head start, and since April is a pretty busy month for me, the head start allowed me to participate. Think of this as a way to catch up on some of the music you missed over the past few years, as I suspect that many of these artists you will not have heard of, although some, of course, are household names.
If reading any of these ramblings inspires you to go check out the artist’s music, I hope you’ll come back with comments on what you think after listening for yourself.
A IS FOR BRYAN ADAMS “11”
Bryan Adams must have spent a lot of time coming up with the title for his eleventh studio album. After what was no doubt months of deep thought, late nights, and lots of caffeine, Adams settled on…(wait for it)…"11."
A new album from Adams is a big deal, and "11" is as good a title as any. Adams is to blame for some of the catchiest pop hits of the last three decades ["Summer Of 69," "Everything I Do (I Do It For You)"], and his past accomplishments create high expectations for his new work.
"11" delivers, packed with hooky choruses, tight musicianship, and some of what may be Adams' best vocal performances to date, whether it's the jangle-pop tune "Flower Grown Wild" or the chunking rocker "Tonight We Have The Stars." The light arrangements of acoustic guitar, strings, vocals, and slide guitar fit the album's mood perfectly.
It's a long time between albums these days for Adams, but the wait was well worth it. "11" will surprise a lot of longtime fans and win Adams a bunch of new ones as well.
Review originally posted on http://www.myspace.com/disc_connected
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Great review! I loved Bryan Adams in the 80's. :-)
ReplyDeleteI still love Bryan Adams song "Cuts Like A Knife"! I am looking forward to see who you pick as B-Z! :)
ReplyDeleteback in the 80's Bryan Adams rocked.
ReplyDeletegreat start to the a to z challenge
http://baygirl32.blogspot.com
I do love Bryan Adams.
ReplyDeleteGreat way of covering the A to Z Challenge.
Jennifer, Snakesmom, Baygirl and TS:
ReplyDeleteThis happens to me all the time. I had a nice personalized reply to each of you, and when I hit publish, the computer decided to hiccup.
And I didn't hit save and I forget most of what I said.
I was expecting any comments to read "is that guy still alive?"
I do appreciate everyone stopping by. With the crowd that's joined this event, I know blog visits come at a premium!
Larry
Ohhhh I swoon for bryan adams!
ReplyDeleteIt's so great I found your blog! For this month I am going to learn a bit of music. I am terrible at saying who sings what and groups and all that.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I love Bryan Adams. He's got some of the most romantic songs!
I seriously love Bryan Adams. When everyone else was in love Kurt Cobain in high school, I was listening to hard core BA. :) My favorite album of his was "Waking Up the Neighbours," 11 was good, but not my favorite. I liked "a Day Like Today" which is probably my favorite (my) post-high school album he did. I just saw him in concert about a year ago. Seriously, the man can still rock at 51. He's just having his first child now, and so is Trent Reznor. I hope these two children can get together and make an awesome band I can listen to in 25 years time or so!
ReplyDeleteMichelle-I'm gonna tell Bryan he has at least one groupie left in New York!
ReplyDeleteNoemi-thanks for dropping by. It's funny, many of this discs I will speak about are on European labels, as European fans seem to support music more avidly than US fans.
Rebecca-I'm wit' ya! "Neighbors" was a classic and was one tough act to follow!
Larry
I once had a Bryan Adams cassette tape--don't know which album--but that's all I ever owned by him. He does put out quality pop. I just never became a fan.
ReplyDeleteContrary to my usual practice of subscribing to comments, to save time during challenge I will not be doing so during April. If you want to respond to my comment , please email me directly from your email notification for the comment.
Thanks.
Lee
Tossing It Out
Twitter hashtag: #atozchallenge
Lee-
ReplyDeleteI don't get e-mails on comments (too much e-mail to go through as it is without having a lot at home) but understand that you have your hands full this month.
Larry