Tags
Brand New Day, Bryan Adams, Get Up, Lonely Nights, Reckless, Run To You, This Time, When You're Gone, You Want It You Got It, You've Been a Friend To Me
When people think “Bryan Adams” it’s easy to visualize the rock swagger or call to mind the many, many power ballads that have dominated wedding receptions from the mid-1980s on. But Adams is also a master of the polished poprock gem. The list of infectious hook-laden tunes is so long we couldn’t possibly recount them all here. His most recent album, 2015’s Get Up, is more proof he’s still got the knack for pumping out catchy songs. Producer Jeff Lynne does an amazing job of tweaking and sweetening the pop tinge with his signature suite of production techniques. There’s more than a little ELO flavour to tracks like “That’s Rock and Roll,” “Do What You Gotta Do,” and “Don’t Even Try,” the latter featuring a great Beatlesque guitar sound circa Beatles for Sale. Adams also gets back to his 1980s poprock roots on tracks “You Belong to Me,” “Go Down Rockin’” and “Yesterday Was Just a Dream.” But the standout track is “Brand New Day” with its driving, propulsive rhythm guitar that recaptures some of the excitement of his early to mid-1980s poprock glory days.
Listening to Get Up offered me a chance to revisit the Adams canon. Truth be told, Bryan and I had a falling out in the late 1980s. His follow up albums to Reckless moved away from the poprock hooks, either focusing on balladeering or working out some ‘rawk’ issues (see ‘swagger’). In a way it was understandable. By 1987 Adams had put out three killer albums in row but routinely would get trashed by the rock press who complained his work was clichéd and lacked authenticity. The final straw was when critics skewered him over his “Summer of ‘69” single because Adams was only 10 years old that year and could hardly have been the protagonist. What, did they think that Bowie really was an astronaut? Did they think Springsteen was the serial killer, state trooper and the guy avoiding the state trooper in those songs from Nebraska? In frustration, Adams crafted and refined his ‘rocker’ image on albums like Waking up the Neighbours and 18 till I Die. These albums were enormously popular but they didn’t really connect with me.
Lonely Nights
I had discovered Adams on a bus going downtown in Vancouver sometime in 1981. I was listening to CFOX on some strange FM-only portable radio when “Lonely Nights” came on: I was floored. I loved the shimmery lead guitar, what would become Adam’s signature crunchy rhythm guitar, and the tune. I immediately went downtown and picked up You Want It, You Got It. Side One of the album still blows me away: “Lonely Nights,” “One Good Reason,” “Don’t Look Now,” “Coming Home,” and “Fits Ya Good” – I could (and did) play it over and over. It remains my favourite Adam’s album (and my 16-year-old self did find Adam’s cover shot pretty cute). Cuts Like a Knife also had so many great tunes, though I would single out “This Time” as a pretty perfect poprock single. Reckless would be Adams’ masterpiece with nary a false move. Its key single, “Run to You,” is as good as poprock gets, a remarkable bit of songwriting, production, and arrangement. The atmospheric keyboard backdrop and ringing guitar lines alone are worth the price of the album.
I lost track of what Adams was doing around the early 1990s. Going back now, I am impressed with how much good poprock his post-1997 catalogue includes. 1998’s On a Day Like Today is particularly strong, with “How Do You Feel Tonight,” “On a Day Like Today,” and “Cloud Number 9.” But the monster single is undeniably the hooky “When You’re Gone.”
2004’s Room Service is another strong effort, with “Another East Side Story” clearly saying ‘I’m the single here’. Since then a host of other singles deserve mention: “The Best of Me,” “One World, One Flame,” “She Knows Me,” and “You’ve Been a Friend to Me.” Looking back over Adams’ canon, Ok, he’s definitely the ballad guy who likes to ‘rawk’ out, but his great talent, his authentic voice (for me), is his way with a tune. All the greats could craft a song that would get into your head and stay there – Adams has more than a few of those.
Bryan Adams hardly needs me to tell you how to find him on the internet but here is his official website and Facebook page.
Virginia native and L.A. transplant David Brookings cut his teeth on the classics of the poprock. His sound melds the Beatles with the 1970s Beatles-influenced bands like ELO and Badfinger. His previous six albums channel these influences in a catchy DIY sort of way, with great album covers evoking the spirit of the 1960s, and some standout tracks like “Obsessed,” “Dead Battery,” and “If I Don’t Make it Back.” But his latest longplayer, David Brookings and the Average Lookings, represents a career peak, with his finest songs and most impressive performances. “Hearts” is a solid single, featuring an impressive layering of sonic effects in terms of instruments and vocals. I thought it was far and away the obvious track to feature from the album, but the more I listened to “Time to Go” I wasn’t so sure. So they both appear here. Honourable mention to the very catchy “Place We Can Go.”
The arrangements on this Gordy Garris Group album are so subtle, meant to complement and enrich what could essentially be a record of acoustic singer/songwriter tunes. For instance, “Nightfall” starts with a nice acoustic guitar finger roll, which is quickly augmented by a low impact organ undercurrent, and eventually joined by the full band and some nice ‘oohs’ background vocals. 
This unabashed love single to the Ramones by Propeller works at so many levels. It manages to be so Ramones without being just a derivative knock off of that band while also being a solid tune on its own merits. “Turn on the Radio” is featured on Propeller’s latest album, Fall Off the World, which features a cover that is a spot-on reincarnation of the many K-Tel compilation albums (that certainly did not feature the Ramones!) from the 1970s. Other strong tracks include “Wish I Had her Picture,” “She’s So Alive,” and “Can’t Feel These Things.”
Montreal’s Maybelleen have got a unique sound, a blend of 1960s musical motifs (great signature vintage guitars, harmony vocals) with various 1980s synth keyboards, a mix that defies easy categorization. “Bring to Light” is from their debut EP, Gold in Your Hands, a collection of very professional sounding demos. Their first official EP Stereotypes has refined the vocal sound with songs that continue to riff on and develop their hybrid 1960s/1980s sound with the catchy title track,“Models on TV,” and particularly on “To Know Me Better Now.” Their most recent EP In My World has brought the guitars up front and tweaked the vocals to create a more conventional (but still great) poprock sound, as is showcased in “When I’m Right.”
Sometimes a band says, “ya, we’re from Australia” with every line they sing. Perth’s Verge Collection ooze Australia, from their charmingly accented singing to the various Australianisms littered throughout their songs. “Our Place” is a swinging bit of fun that makes you want to hit replay as soon as it ends, with some languid sounding lead guitar and a subtle bed of organ anchoring the song. The single’s B-side “Feel Bad Songs” is also great.
Austin, Texas has so much great music going on, including The Blurries, who kick off their 2011 record Paper Cuts with a track that bolts out of the gate and doesn’t stop. “Little Marie” is driven by a combination of acoustic and electric guitar, with the acoustic anchoring the song and the electric providing its propulsive tension. You can watch the band perform a version of the song for the podcast 
… and you’re sitting, well, not on top of the world, but somewhere – interesting. Since 2004 California’s Rogue Wave have been releasing albums that tweak and redirect that state’s peculiar dream-state, inviting a melancholy re-assessment of life and the act of living it. Their 2005 single “Publish My Love” stood out from the pack of bands peddling acoustic-guitar based, pleasant-sounding pop songs for its starkly original sound: all the classic poprock motifs were there but somehow Rogue Wave put it together in a distinctive way.
Their new release is the whimsically-titled Delusions of Grand Fur and it reproduces all that the band excels at: highly textured production, a solid bed of acoustic guitars, creative instrumentation, and catchy tunes made more interesting by inventive vocal and percussion arrangements. Highlights include “In the Morning,” “Look at Me,” and the stunning, stand-out single, “California Bride” with its shimmering guitars and dreamy vocals.