Customer Reviews

Anthology

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Arguably Bryan Adams fans are going to be pleased with ANTHOLOGY, the best compilation of his hits spanning (at present) Bryan and the boys 25 years of chart-making sounds. From the humble rarely heard beginning of his career (REMEMBER and LONELY NIGHTS) all the way up to his latest disc (ROOM SERVICE), this two disc set follows Bryan's career and presents a near definitive listen to his best cuts.

As with any "best of" collection, there are some notable absences (Bryan's duet with Barbara Streisand "I Finally Found Someone" coming to mind), but it's hard to imagine these tracks not finally giving his supporters something to sing about. As well, the two-disc set includes a few tracks that didn't necessarily have to be there, but there inclusion doesn't dampen the exciting undercurrent of Bryan's sound.

As to new material, the disc boasts three 'new' cuts, two of which are new recordings of already existing material: a live recording of "18 'Til I Die" is a keeper as the listener gets drawn into the live experience of seeing Bryan in concert (showing how much he enjoys entertaining his fans), while the new version of "When You're Gone" with Pamela Anderson (a boy/girl, audience-member participant favorite of Bryan's since its release) avoids falling flat thanks to its catchy rhythm despite the near-dead weight of Pamela's vocals ... but if you've seen this song in concert then you know that this is probably what Bryan wanted. The sole new cut, "So Far So Good", does get buried a little bit under the weight of his stronger material, but it's definitely worth including here as a bonus to the long-time supporters.

Bryan Adams - Anthology

"Anthology" is a career-spanning 2-CD collection, the US Version including 33 classics and three so-called new recordings: "18 'Til I Die" (recorded live in Lisbon, from the concert DVD), "When You're Gone" (featuring Pamela Anderson making her singing debut), and "So Far So Good". The European version includes "I'm Not the Man You Think I am" as a new track instead of the Pam Anderson duet. The complete colletion being newly digitally remastered which is something A&M (Universal) should do with the complete BA catalogue.

European Version includes "When You're Gone" with Melanie C instead of the new version with Pamela Anderson. Also on the Euro Version but missing on the US Version are "All I Want is You" and "I'm Not the Man You Think I am".

Only included on the US Version are "This Side of Paradise" and "Why Do You Have to be So Hard to Love".

Also the tracklisting especially on disc two has been mixed around on the US Version, the European version is compiled chronologically.

Remarks:
All I Want is You: from the Album Waking up the Neighbours, only on Anthology/Euro
I'm Not the Man You Think I am: written & recorded for the movie Colour Me Kubrick, only on Anthology/Euro
So Far So Good: recorded for the compilation of the same title, but remained unreleased till now

Some Hits are missing on this compilation, although they may have been inluded on previous collections "So Far So Good" and/or "The Best of Me":
Victim Of Love - from Into the Fire
Kids Wanna Rock - from Reckless
Diana - from the Reckless sessions, only released as a single in some countries
Do I Have To Say The Words ? - from Waking Up The Neighbours
I'll Always Be Right There
Don't Give up - with Chicane (has been a hit in Europe but not in the US)
Flying - from Room Service
Room Service - from Room Service
I Finally Found Someone - Duet with Barbra Streisand, but released on Sony/Epic (BA's label is Universal)
and the really rare tracks 'Run Rudolph Run' and 'Tears Are Not Enough'

There is also a limited edition 2CD+DVD that includes bonus DVD of 22 of Bryan Adams' videos.

THE BAND: Many band members or guest artists have joined Adams over the years. The main band players being - Bryan Adams (vocals, guitar, bass, piano), Jim Vallance (co-writer, guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, percussion), Keith Scott (guitar), Dave Taylor (bass), Brian Stanley (bass), Tommy Mandel (keyboards), Phil Nicholas (keyboards), Robbie King (keyboards), Mickey Curry (drums), Pat Steward (drums). Guest artists have included - Sting (bass, vocals), Mutt Lange (guitar), Tina Turner (vocals), Bonnie Raitt (vocals, guitar - actually, the song is Raitt's song and Adams is just borrowing it), Pam Anderson (vocals... if that's what you call it), and Rod Stewart (vocals).

THE DISCS: (2005) 2 discs clocking in at approximately 154 total minutes (disc-1 at 77:45, disc-2 at 76:32). Included with the discs is a 22-page booklet containing song titles/credits/notes, a 2-page intro, several Bryan Adams photos with band members, what songs came from which albums, and thank you's. Digitally remastered sound. Two versions of this release are available. The U.S. version has the 2 music compact discs (only). The U.K. version contains a bonus DVD of Adams in a 2005 concert recorded in Lisboa, Portugal (22 songs, 105 minutes). Label - A&M Records.

ALBUM REPRESENTATION: Bryan Adams/Debut (1 song); You Want It, You Got It (1); Cuts Like A Knife (3); Reckless (6); Into The Fire (2); Waking Up The Neighbors (4); So Far So Good (1); 18 Til I Die (4); Unplugged (2); On A Day Like Today (2); The Best Of Me (2); Room Service (3); Movie Soundtracks (2); Bonnie Raitt's Road Tested/Live (1); Unreleased (2).

COMMENTS: Canadian born (Kingston, Ontario) Bryan Adams was biggest back in the early to mid 80's. He had a string of hits starting with his "Lonely Nights" from the "You Want It, You Got It" album (1980). Adams became a household name with "Cuts Like A Knife" (1983 - 4 hits), and reached global stardom with "Reckless" (1984 - 6 Top 40 hits and selling 5+ million units). Adams had a string of Top 10 charting albums with "Cuts Like A Knife", "Reckless", "Into The Fire", "Waking Up The Neighbors" and the compilation "So Far So Good". The standard rockers are here - "Lonely Nights", "Cuts Like A Knife", "This Time", "Run To You", "Somebody", "Summer Of '69", "One Night Love Affair", etc... as well as the sap drenched ballads - "Straight From The heart", "Heaven", "(Everything I Do) I Do For You", "Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman", etc. For me, Adams was always a middle of the road rocker (one of those musicians that back in your school days you never admitted you really liked for fear he wasn't cool enough). He could certainly rock, but his success with the ballad(s) made him soft in my eyes. Not to take anything away from him though... he's road tested and had much staying power and success over the past 25 years... not to mention writing and playing some incredibly catchy melodies. Being a much bigger fan of his 80's material, I truly believe his best music (outside of a scattered hit here and there) is well behind him. Disc 1 sees Adams in his glory years - all studio tracks from 1980 through 1991. Disc 2 is an oddball collection of his later era hits, movie soundtrack songs ("Spirit - Stallion Of The Cimarron" and "Three Musketeers"), 4 live tunes, and 2 unreleased songs. The good - the live "Unplugged" songs are excellent (especially "I'm Ready" with the orchestra behind him); digitally remastered sound is sharp; and most importantly so many great tunes all in one place. The bad - many casual fans will listen to disc-1 much more than disc-2... not that that's a bad thing, but disc-2 is so up and down; "Cuts Like A Knife" (with 3 tunes) and "Into The Fire" (with 2) are severely under represented here... I would've liked to see at least 1-2 more songs here from each; the duet with Pam Anderson, "When You're Gone", is a joke and borderline embarrassment... really - this should have stayed in the vault... better yet burned to a crisp and then shot up into outer-space with no chance of return. The DVD is a true bonus - excellent sound, lots of good songs, but often times gritty film presentation (more so in the dark lit spots). Overall a great collection and this "Anthology" should replace ANY other Bryan Adams compilation you have (4.5 stars).

Like the other reviewers here have already stated, if you don't own any Bryan Adams this is the most comprehensive set you can get. With that said, I'd like to give my two cents as to the tracklist.

I understand that someone wanted to include songs from all of Adams's albums, but I really think they could have left "Remember" and "Lonely Nights" off disc one since they were not hits. This would have allowed more room for "Victim Of Love" and "Do I Have To Say The Words?" That's the only quibble with disc one.

The second disc is questionable. Does Bryan Adams have enough strong material for a second disc? Well, yes, if you include the few hits and add strong album cuts. For example, you could put "Into The Fire", "Native Son" or "Rememberance Day" from 1987's "Into The Fire" album. Or, you could replace all the live tracks with "Do To You", "I'll Always Be Right There" and the studio version of "18 'Til I Die" from 1996's album of the same name. From 1998's "On A Day Like Today", I think "When You're Gone" with Melanie C. is a better choice than Pamela Anderson's version. You could also add "Getaway". I was particularly unimpressed with the selections from 2004's "Room Service". I think "East Side Story" is a great song, and so is "She's A Little Too Good For Me". I do think they should have tried to include "I Finally Found Someone" with Barbra Streisand no matter how much the licensing might have cost.

All the tracklisting aside, the digital remastering is excellent and makes all the older material sound renewed and vibrant. Speaking of which, A&M records should really digitally remaster Adams's entire catalogue with bonus tracks. His first two albums aren't even available in the U.S., but are imports only. I think Bryan has proven himself by this point where he should be valued enough to have all of his albums in print.

So, if you want digitally remastered hits, or if you have nothing from Adams, but were waiting for a more concise collection, then this is an economical and, for the most part, satisfying collection.

The Good
Not having listened to 2000's Best of Me collection, most comparisons for this release will be made to 1993's So Far, So Good. Anthology is Bryan Adams first double disc retrospective. There isn't a hit song or single that was left out (for the most part). The first disc relies heavily on Bryan's most successful years with tracks like "Straight From the Heart," "Cuts Like a Knife," "This Time," "Run to You," "Somebody," "Heaven," "Summer of '69," "It's Only Love"...you get my point.

He had a bunch of hits, there's no point in me naming them all. Disc one also features a couple of choice nuggets from Adams' early career such as the riff and keyboard oriented "Remember (boy does he sound young)," the catchy lyrics of "Lonely Nights", and the often neglected "One Night Love Affair". Adams contributions to movie soundtracks are split between the two discs; "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You,", "All for Love," and "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman."

Disc two is where things start to get a little murky. Not so much for a longtime devotee of Adams, but for more of the casual fan like me. This is because disc two focuses on the nineties and beyond. Let's face it; the music listening public was starting to get a little tired of Bryan Adams by then. There are still plenty of likeable songs like "The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me Is You," his duet with Bonnie Raitt "Rock Steady", and the two live tracks "Rock Steady" and "18 `Till I Die." However, right around track eight ("Back to You"), you can instantly hear Bryan Adams age fifteen years.

He changes from youthful rocker to aging balladeer as you sift through the material from the 90s to last year. The two bonus tracks fall in line with Adams 80's material. "When Your Gone" is a duet with Pamela Anderson, which is surprisingly a good combination. "So Far, So Good" was a track that was lingering from back in the day and was finally completed. Do your self a favor and snag the limited edition that includes bonus DVD of 22 of Bryan Adams' videos.

The Bad
For some reason "Do I Have to Say the Words" and "Kids Wanna Rock" were considered hits to be included on So Far, So Good, but not for this collection.

The Verdict
It's about time that the folks over at A & M Records decided to give Bryan Adams the two disc Anthology treatment. Adams' certainly made an impact on the rock music scene that's worth chronicling from his early days to the present. Hell, he made an impact on my life as well.

The chucky guitar riffs of "Run to You" and "It's Only Love" inspired me to take up the guitar. I think I was around 8 years old, playing along on my mother's broom when the songs came on. I still play air guitar when they come on the car radio. Despite my personal dislike for his later material, it doesn't get any better or more complete than this.

There is a reason Bryan Adams has such amazing staying power. Not only is he so good looking, but his music is great and he keeps bringing out the hits. This is one of the few 'greatest hits' cds of anyones, that actually pretty much has all of their best works. I love this cd (except maybe the live songs), but it has everything Bryan Adams fans will know and love and his voice is as good now as his earlier music. I think he gets better with age. Great cd. Go out and get it.

Take a songwriter, vocalist and add slashing guitars, fantastic keyboards, pounding drums and you've got Bryan Adams' music. This album takes us back to the beginning prior to 1980 if you include when he starting writing. This includes 36 tunes on 2 discs plus a bonus DVD. If you're a Bryan fan, you know all of these so just a word about some of the recordings - this has the long, not radio, version of "Everything I Do', a studio version of 'The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me Is You', (I prefer the Unplugged version), live version of '18 Til I Die'. Missing on this album is his duet with 'Barbra Streisand'. For the most part though, this IS the Bryan Adams story and a bargain to boot.

This is an exceptional CD. Bryan Adams really out-done himself on this one. On some CDs you will have some tracks you like and some not, every song on this piece is wonderful. This is the kind of music you want your teenage children to buy. If my children were not grown and gone, I would buy this for my teenager. Its affordable and good clean music!

Finally, we get a more comprehensive Bryan Adams "hits" collection in the form of an 'Anthology'. After previous compilations like 'So Far So Good' and 'Best Of Me' failed to please many fans most should be quite happy with the new 2-disc set.

Most impressive is the digital remastering by Bob Ludwig @ Gateway Mastering. After doing a wonderful mastering job on previous John Mellencamp and Def Leppard hit releases he doesn't disappoint with this Bryan Adams release. It's simply one of the best remastering jobs I've ever heard. Early tracks like "Straight From The Heart" and "Run To You" have never sounded so full of depth and range. They sound "heavy" with their driving bass lines and punchy drums. It's like a breath of fresh air hearing these Bryan classics in this upgraded sound quality. It's like hearing them for the first time all over again! Thumbs up to Bob for a job very well done!

With that said, there are a few flaws here, notably the missing hits! "Victim Of Love" - a #32 hit for Bryan in '87 - is nowhere to be found. The biggest omission, however, is "Do I Have To Say The Words?, a #11 hit in '92. Perhaps if the label included edited single versions the tracks could have been squeezed on.

On disc 2, the exclusion of "I Finally Found Someone" (with Barbara Streisand) - a #8 hit in '96 - is understandable since it was released on the Epic label and was probably difficult to license. However, "Star" (an album cut) could have been replaced with his #59 airplay hit, "I'll Always Be Right There".

From his latest album, 'Room Service' (released internationally in 2004) notable singles missing include "Flying" and the title cut. With only so much space on each disc some tracks are bound to be missing, and some favorites have been picked over the chart hits.

Despite these problems, the compilation is a wonderful overview of Bryan's past 25 years in the music business, not only in a generous 36-track release but also in superior audio quality. Also, for a limited time, the 2-CD collection is packaged with a bonus 22-track concert DVD, featuring a 2005 live show from Portugal.

Bryan Adams leaped to stardom in the mid 80's and continued his hit streak until the mid 90's. Disk one has all the essential songs on this compilation. Songs like "Cuts Like A Knife", "Run To You", "Straight From The Heart", "Lonely Nights", "Heat Of The Night", "Heaven", "Somebody", "This Time" and "Summer Of '69" are worthy of classic rock status and timeless hits. Mr. Adams scored his two biggest hits from movies, "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You" and "Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman" but they are overwrought, sappy ballads. Disk number two is for diehard fans only. The DVD is a recent live concert and although a nice added bonus, not essential viewing.