Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Photos: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Adams, Bryan
Label: Polydor Records
Release: 2014
Length: 33:00
Rating: 3/5
The long-haired, lanky teenager on the »Tracks Of My Years« cover isn’t some runaway from the crew bus hauling Deep Purple’s stage gear somewhere in the mid-seventies, but Bryan Adams at sixteen. Yes, that Bryan Adams, who in the eighties and nineties thrilled young and old alike with unforgettable rock hits like »(Everything I Do) I Do It For You«, »Lonely Nights«, »Straight From The Heart«, »Run To You«, »Summer of ’69«, »Somebody« and »Heaven«, to name just a few of this famous Canadian musician’s biggest smashes. »Tracks Of My Years«, his twelfth studio album and the follow-up to »11« (2008), came out just as Bryan, who by his own account has always been a huge fan of loud guitar music and bands like the aforementioned Deep Purple, The Who, Led Zeppelin and Humble Pie, was seriously thinking about making his first hard rock album.
He’ll have to wait a while longer for that first hard rock project, though, because in the meantime he got an invitation from producer/musician and Verve Records boss David Foster to record an album of ten covers of various r’n’b, pop and country artists together. Foster’s criterion was that Bryan’s chosen covers had all once hit the top ten in the US. After a lot of persuading, Bryan, who was no stranger to playing other artists’ songs live, finally accepted Foster’s offer.
For a long time, he wondered what the point really was of recording an album of covers of rock, blues, rock’n’roll and pop classics, songs he’d treated with an almost religious reverence, only now, relatively late in his career. In both the instrumental and vocal interpretations of these beloved classics, Bryan and his studio crew, which besides Foster on keys also included guitarists Rusty Anderson and Michael Thompson, managed to capture the essence of the originals and add their own sonic stamp. Legendary producer Bob Rock helped Adams and Foster with the perfectionist production of »Tracks Of My Ears«.
On »Tracks Of My Years«, Bryan picked eleven covers by fairly genre-diverse artists who stormed the top of the American charts in the sixties and seventies. Among them are Bryan’s take on the Beatles classic »Any Time At All«, a cover of »Lay Lady Lay«, originally by Bob Dylan, a cover of the rock’n’roll evergreen »Rock And Roll Music«, originally created by Chuck Berry and popularized even further by the Beatles, an adaptation of the CCR standard »Down On The Corner« and a fresh look at The Beach Boys hit »God Only Knows«. »She Knows Me«, which came out as the first single from the album, is an Adams original, written with his old songwriting partner Jim Vallance. In interpreting all ten evergreens, Bryan did his best to capture the essence of each original while leaving his own sonic fingerprint on it, and for the most part he pulled it off, especially vocally, where he pretty much ‘adopted’ the hits of his great idols as his own.
Bryan’s versions of the chosen rock evergreens on »Tracks Of My Years« are a fine tribute to some of his favorite musical influences, and they sound different enough in his hands that this isn’t just another set of note-perfect emulations of hits we’ve heard ‘a million times’. What the project means for his rich and hugely successful career in terms of artistic daring is another question, since apart from »She Knows Me« it brings no new original music, though there’s no doubt it’ll be yet another international success. For a musician who has achieved and conquered practically everything there is to achieve in the world of modern popular music, few real challenges remain, and the announced, possible creation of his first hard rock album would definitely be an interesting and innovative artistic step. Adams has also revealed that he plans to record three different albums in cooperation with the American label Verve Records. Besides »Tracks Of My Years«, he plans an album dedicated to the thirtieth anniversary of his big studio hit »Reckless« (1984), plus an album of new songs to be produced by none other than Electric Light Orchestra mastermind Jeff Lynne.
Lineup
Bryan Adams – vocals, acoustic guitar, bass guitar
David Foster – keyboards, piano
Michael Thompson – electric guitar
Keith Scott – electric guitar
Dean Parks – electric guitar
Rusty Anderson – electric guitar
Norm Fisher – bass guitar
Paul Bushnell – bass guitar
Josh Freese – drums
Mickey Curry – drums
Abe Laboriel Jr – drums
Gary Breit – piano, organ
Jamie Edwards – keyboards
Production
Bryan Adams, David Foster and Bob Rock
Tracklist
1. Any Time At All
2. She Knows Me
3. I Can’t Stop Loving You
4. Kiss And Say Goodbye
5. Lay Lady Lay
6. Rock and Roll Music
7. Down On the Corner
8. Never My Love
9. Sunny
10. The Tracks of My Tears
11. God Only Knows
