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I wanted to dedicate my first review on this site to an artist I know very well and to what I consider one of my favorite music albums.
"Into The Fire" is the fifth album by the Canadian artist, released in 1987, four years after the great success of the album "Reckless" and it had significantly less commercial success. It's a less immediate album than its predecessor, addressing deeper themes and featuring more elaborate and refined arrangements.
Bryan Adams, we can say, as a musician has invented nothing, and as a writer, he has never stood out with excellent or original lyrics. In this album, which I consider his best, you can see the attempt to create a more committed product, both musically and lyrically. Even the voice here is at its best. The themes tackled are ambitious, and the lyrics more studied, although they often fall into avoidable banalities and clichés.
Influencing this "turn" was surely participation in the proliferating beneficial musical initiatives of those years (Live Aid, Conspiracy of Hope…). It's a pity that all this was concentrated for a commercial purpose.
The music, to me, is pure emotion. It starts with "Heat of the Night", the most famous single of the album, a track that goes very well with its video which renders the somewhat dark sensation that then unfolds in the chorus. Notably, the lead guitar here is played by Adams himself, who normally focuses on rhythm.
The title track opens with suggestive echoes, then proceeds with an intense rhythm with clean rhythms and distorted solos. A nervous track, managing to convey a sense of unease, then provides a breather in the short rhythmic solo before bursting into the finale. "Victim of Love" is a track built on piano chords and a single lead guitar played by a Keith Scott in splendid form. It’s a crescendo of emotion that culminates in a long and powerful final solo.
"Another Day" is a track I've always considered minor, but definitely enjoyable, and here too Adams takes up the lead guitar. And here we arrive at the gem of the album and for me the entire discography of the artist: "Native Son", a song that even after 13 years of listening still manages to move me for 6 minutes. I would have too many words to spend. The final solo gives me chills.
"Only The Strong Survive" is an energetic and engaging rock track (200bpm!). It is followed by “Rebel”, a track of great pathos where the piano plays the main role, but it’s everything but a ballad. "Remembrance Day" bursts in, a song about war. Lots of bass work and unusual drum timing. The chorus is very incisive in the refrain.
"Hearts On Fire" is perhaps the only somewhat foreign element of the album, where the more “lighthearted” Bryan Adams makes a return, but it has a great riff that strongly recalls that of "House Arrest" from the next album.
It concludes with the exciting "Home Again", which beautifully wraps up the album, to the point that you feel a sense of disappointment when the music fades away.
"Into The Fire" is an album to get to know a less known side of the Canadian rocker, it is not the usual album with an alternation of slow tracks and pseudo-rock, of banal love songs but authentic "rock emotions", played and arranged very well.
Tracklist and Lyrics
01 Heat of the Night (05:07)
I was caught in the crossfire of a silent scream
Where one man's nightmare is another man's dream
Pull the covers up high and pray for the mornin' light
Better leave it alone in the heat of the night
Met a man with a message from the other side
Couldn't take the pressure - had to leave it behind
He said it's up to you
You can run or you can fight - (ya that's right)
Better leave it alone in the heat of the night
In the heat of the night they'll be comin' around
They'll be lookin' for answers they'll be chasin' you down
In the heat of the night
(Where you gonna hide when it all comes down)
(Don't look back don't ever turn around)
Had to pay the piper to call the tune
Said he'd be back someday - said he'd be back real soon
Pull the shades down low - you'll know when the time is right
When you're lyin' alone in the heat of the night
05 Native Son (06:04)
I've seen many moons through these wrinkled eyes
The years have made me old but they've made me wise
Now the white man lives where our rivers run
For now better days have passed
We walk the streets of broken glass
Our people vanished as snow before the summer sun
Like dogs we were driven from this place
Such injustice, time will not erase
All these changes cannot be undone
When you feel the anger inside of you
Hold your head high - let your aim be true
Though your heart beats like a drum
My native son
Once there was a time my little one
Before the wagons - before the soldiers' guns
When this land was ours as far as the eagle flies
No white flag - no broken truce
With few words one can speak the truth - I don't hear it
Time won't heal it now
With each new day that comes to pass
Will the great spirit free us all at last?
He said we were the chosen ones
For all we had there's nothin' left
We won’t forgive - we can't forget
You know that your day will come
My native son
With each new day that comes to pass
Will the great spirit free us all at last?
What has happened can never be undone
When I was young - not yet a man
The sun rose and set upon our land
We were the chosen ones
My native son
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