Bryan Adams' first studio album in six years, "Tracks of My Years," showcases the Canadian rocker's re-imagined take on 12 songs from the 1970s, including unforgettable hits from Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Ray Charles, Smokey Robinson, Chuck Berry, the Beach Boys and more.
"Tracks of My Years" is a scrapbook of musical memories that define the man and his tastes. Here, reports Elmore Magazine. the Canadian legend's influences run the gamut from the archetypal Beatles ("Any Time at All") and Chuck Berry ("Rock And Roll Music") to the genius of Ray Charles ("I Can't Stop Loving You") to the swoon of Smokey Robinson ("The Tracks of My Tears").
But Adams' goal here isn't to duplicate the original recordings; rather, it's to inject his "18 Til I Die" vigor into tunes that clearly inspired him to pick up his first six-string, play it until his fingers bled and get behind a microphone with the true passion of a rock star.
Among these 16 tracks, a trio of highlights stands out: the first is Adams' trippy yet comforting take on Bob Dylan's "Lay Lady Lay," a song that shows off the singer's tender side. Next is the album's one original, "She Knows Me," a tune that easily fits into the '60s world of peppy, three-minute singles. The last is a somber rendition of the Beach Boys' "God Only Knows." Stripping the song of its original production values, leaving just voice and piano, Adams delivers a performance as lasting as Carl Wilson's lingering tenor.
Adams' Top 10 hits include "Summer of '69" and "Everything I Do (I Do It For You)."
Here are some highlights from Adam's interview with Music Times, on the eve of the release of "Tracks of My Years:"
- He said he had such an obsessive work ethic early in his career that he's forgotten entire stretches of the '80s and '90s. "I wish I could be kidding you," he told Music Times. "But I don't actually remember a lot of my career. It's not that I have some sort of amnesia or something, or that I'm suffering from memory loss. It's just the volume of work that went on between 1983 and 1999 was so intense that there are great waves of my life that I just don't remember."
- "In October, I'm doing some Bare Bones[Tour] shows, which is kind of like a presentation of songs from the past 30 years acoustically. Then, come November, I'm gearing up the band again, and we're gonna go out and do a 30th anniversary Reckless Tour. It should be good. I'm looking forward to it."
- "Back in the day in the '70s, radio didn't really play songs based on categories. They'd play songs if it was a great song. So you get a mix of country and rock and R&B. It was a good time for music, really - certainly inspiring for me. So when it came time to choose the songs, it was just a matter of going through all those amazing songs and seeing which ones sounded right. They sort of had to sound like me."
- "When it came time to choose an album cover, I decided I wanted to have a photo of me when I was a youngster. I wanted to put a picture on there that was indicative of the time when I figured out music was what I wanted to do. As you can tell from that picture, I was kind of into hard rock. And I never looked back."
- On younger artists who've caught his eye... "Actually, you know what, I really like that song by Miley Cyrus, too. 'Wrecking Ball.' I love that song. It's amazing. I wish I'd written that song. I just thought it was a good chorus. She's hot too, man. She's so hot. Give me a break. For an old soldier like me. It's pretty amazing. [Geezer voice] 'Wouldn't have done that in my day, let me tell you.'"
