Bryan Adams 11 (2008) DVD5

goodliife · July 12, 2011

Imagen IPB

EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue, Log) + Full Scans ~ 480 Mb (incl 5%) | Mp3 (CBR320, Stereo) + Full Scans ~ 203 Mb (incl 5%)

Label: Polydor | # 178 865-7 | Time: 00:58:05

“Never one for subtlety, Bryan Adams once had a flair for hooks so grand and universal that they filled arenas and blanketed the airwaves. In 2008, some 11 studio albums into his career (according to Adams' own calculation, apparently taking soundtracks into consideration, because by a simple count of studio albums 11 seems to be his tenth full-length proper album), his fondness for obvious hooks had flattened into clichés, with all of 11 feeling like something he'd done before, some ten or 15 years previously. To a certain extent, Adams' refusal to acknowledge shifting fashions was admirable -- especially for somebody who has made a name for himself in the new millennium with his fashionable photography -- but 11 is such a relic of '90s mainstream rock that it almost feels as if it were cryogenically frozen in 1993 and unfrozen later. It's all cavernous drums, shimmering guitar textures cribbed from U2, rockers that don't rock, and ballads that are so stately they don't quite seem to end. This outdated sound would have been forgivable, even charming, if Adams retained his knack for big hooks that could suck you in despite your better instincts, but 11 is resolutely devoid of memorable melodies. It doesn't quite seem like Adams is incapable of writing hooks anymore but rather that he can't be bothered, that he'd rather be pursuing his photography and that he just completed this album because it was about time to get another record out there. He's enough of a pro to create an album that sounds for all the world like the kind of glistening, gleaming Bryan Adams album his fans have grown to love, but the stilted predictability of 11 offers a reason why he hasn't had a big American hit since the mid-'90s: he sounds like he's stuck in that time and has no desire to leave it. [A CD/DVD edition was also released.]

Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Allmusic.com

”

Tracklist:

01. Tonight We Have The Stars [0:04:06]

02. I Thought I'd Seen Everything [0:05:06]

03. I Ain't Losin' The Fight [0:03:56]

04. Oxygen [0:03:35]

05. We Found What We Were Looking For [0:03:37]

06. Broken Wings [0:03:36.64]

07. Somethin' To Believe In [0:04:00]

08. Mysterious Ways [0:04:28]

09. She's Got A Way (New Mix) [0:03:48]