Bryan Adams
Waking Up the Neighbours

THE REVIEW

Hearing the cowbell beaten in time, introducing the guitar that plays a "cool" riff, while the singer comes in saying "Oh Yeah," for an 80s rock enthusiast, is one of the best things. And if it’s like this right from the first song, you know you’ve spent your money well. On the cover, a boy with a Stratocaster slung over his shoulder yelling into a megaphone, to show that "Waking Up the Neighbours" is a prerogative of those who are not afraid to express themselves by making noise, and it belongs to those who like to party without worrying about others' opinions. It's not for everyone.

This album is based on these tones, which marks a leap in fame and also in musical quality for the Canadian rocker, placing itself right in the middle between the sounds of and those of "18 Til' I Die." Not to forget that just after "Wakin' up the Neighbours," the best "So Far So Good" will come out, supported by this album, which offers some of the singles that Adams' fans will take to their graves.

After the dazzling start of "Is Your Mama Gonna Miss Ya," we continue shaking and jumping to the rhythm of "Hey Honey I'm Packin' You In," and reach the single "Can't Stop This Thing We Started," one of Bryan's most engaging concert songs, as well as one of the most famous and appreciated. The first song that can be called "slow" or "sickly" for the malicious is number four, "Thought I'd Died And Gone To Heaven", which well demonstrates Adams' dialectics and songwriting poetics. We have another romantic and poignant slow song before the more famous "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You," the soundtrack of the movie "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves," with Kevin Costner (n.d.a.), a hugely successful track and the album’s lead single. It is "Do I Have To Say The Words?," the eighth track, the other ballad exceeding six minutes; it precedes the more famous aforementioned hit but is surrounded by the two most rocking pieces of the entire album. First, we find "House Arrest," the spirit and backbone of waking up the neighbors, as explained in the lyrics, then the even more party-like "There Will Never Be Another Tonight." We shake our asses also to the following, "All I Want Is You," slow and bold, yet powerful and precise at the same time. Still rock, almost not wanting to forget the blues and rock'n'roll origins of the author, but perhaps also to fill the quality gap that the more marketable ballads inevitably create. Three last songs, to end still keeping the rhythm with the tip of the foot tapping on the ground. And who doesn't feel like pretending to play an invisible guitar listening to "Touch The Hand" and "If You Wanna Leave (Can I Come Too?)"?

We also mention the intermediates "Not Guilty," "Vanishing," "Depend On Me," and "Don't Drop That Bomb On Me," listenable but seemingly placed there to take up time, considering how much else there is to listen to; they are mediocre tracks, an appetizer of the more "soft" genre where Adams will end up in the future.

So this is indeed the album of the Robin Hood song, but it aims to stand out especially for all the rock around it; all the songs can be listened to in succession, there’s no way to get tired or need to turn it off, the music here takes center stage, in an incessant coming and going of rock and slows, as if it were an overseas high school party. The help of "Mutt" Lange in production certainly lends a hand, but the purpose of a producer is truly to bring out the greatest talent from the artist.

That said, we can also ask ourselves a question: is it possible that sometimes a Canadian knows how to rock better than Americans? Sure, the origins are there, but one wonders if Bryan is a worthy competitor to several stars and stripes bands, and so kudos to the maple leaf if it wants to dispense other artists like Adams.