great A&M classics

[godeltsihw]

being Canadian, i loved Bryan Adams .. mostly his 1981 album 'You Want it ... You Got It'. Wasn't a major hit in America, but HUGE in Canada with 3 BIG hits: Coming Home, Fits Ya Good and Lonely Nights [his first US hit]

i also enjoyed the 1984 self-titled solo release from Squeeze duo Difford and Tilbrook

 

[Steven J. Gross]

There's also this little Bryan Adams album called "Reckless", that NEVER gets brought up here!
That and the "Cuts Like A Knife" album are really classics.

 

[Mr Bill]

I ws fortunate enough to see Adams when he opened for the Kinks in 1982. You Want It -- You Got It had just been released and, based on the performance I saw, I picked it up. Great album, but his third Cuts Like A Knife, aided by a few terrific videos on eMpTy Vee, was his breakthrough. I also picked up his A&M debut (simply entitled Bryan Adams) but YWI-YGI and CLaK are my faves. Reckless, Into the Fire and everythingn that has followed have been disappointments to me....

Of course, if you want a real treat you need to find his disco 12" which preceded his A&M debut (it's among the very first in A&M's 12" SP12xxx series). He does his best to sound like disco era Rod Stewart ("Do ya Think I'm Sexy?") and almost succeeds. I believe those two disco cuts have appeared on one of his compilations...

--Mr Bill

 

[godeltsihw]

I ws fortunate enough to see Adams when he opened for the Kinks in 1982. You Want It -- You Got It had just been released and, based on the performance I saw, I picked it up. Great album, but his third Cuts Like A Knife, aided by a few terrific videos on eMpTy Vee, was his breakthrough. I also picked up his A&M debut (simply entitled Bryan Adams) but YWI-YGI and CLaK are my faves. Reckless, Into the Fire and everythingn that has followed have been disappointments to me....

Of course, if you want a real treat you need to find his disco 12" which preceded his A&M debut (it's among the very first in A&M's 12" SP12xxx series). He does his best to sound like disco era Rod Stewart ("Do ya Think I'm Sexy?") and almost succeeds. I believe those two disco cuts have appeared on one of his compilations...

--Mr Bill

'Let Me Take You Dancing' circa 1979. I have it on 45. lol Was his debut single. I liked his 1980 solo-debut even though it did not feature any hits.

 

[AM Matt]

I also have the first 2 Bryan Adams on CD as Canadian imports. The song "Give Me Your Love" should have been a hit in the U.S. but it was a hit in Canada. His third CD "Cuts Like A Knife" back in May of 1983 when I was listening to Rockline with host Bob Coburn, Bryan thought that the album wasn't that great. Rolling Stone magazine "Cuts Like A Knife" gave it 2 stars out of 5 stars (fair). Former Rolling Stone writer John Swenson gave his debut 3 stars (good) & "You Want It, You Got It" 4 stars (excellent). Matt Clark Sanford, MI

 

[Mr Bill]

Another Canadian act I really enjoy also got short shrift in the US of A. The Payola$. This was the band that super-producer Bob Rock was in and led with vocalist Paul Hyde (the other members were practically a revolving door). I believe that they (like Mr Adams) were Vancouver-based. Their first US releases were on the A&M distributed I.R.S. Records (while the Canadian versions were A&M Canada).

You can visit their page at my I.R.S. website: http://www.irscorner.com/pq/payola.html Do it now because they won't be "Album Of The Week" until May, 2015...

--Mr Bill

 

[jfiedler17]

I agree that CUTS LIKE A KNIFE is still his best (that one's just great from start to finish!), but I've actually liked most of his stuff since then. RECKLESS and INTO THE FIRE, while the "filler"'s not anywhere near as good as it is on CUTS ..., still have great singles on them. His early '90s stuff [WAKING UP THE NEIGHBORS and 18 UNTIL I DIE] with "Mutt" Lange was really sub-par for the most part [too many soundalike ballads that just DRAGGED and too many rockers that bordered on being flat-out obnoxious ("The Only Thing That Looks Good on Me Is You" immediately comes to mind)], but, even though his commercial success has faded enormously, his music itself has artistically bounced back considerably in the late '90s. MTV UNPLUGGED (and the single "Back to You") I thought was a really enjoyable listen, ON A DAY LIKE TODAY I thought was easily the best of his '90s studio albums, and "The Best of Me" (the title cut from his last greatest-hits CD) is one of his best singles he's made in ages. CUTS is a hard album to top, though!

Paul Hyde and the Payola$! Wow, THERE'S a band you never hear name-dropped anymore! I have a single of their (as far as I'm aware) lone Hot 100 hit, "You're the Only Love." Good song.

Jeff F.