Bryan Adams released So Far So Good compilation

First posted 9/11/2020.

So Far So Good Bryan Adams

Rating: 3.840 out of 5.00 (average of 6 ratings)

Released: November 2, 1993 Recorded: 1983-1993 Peak: 6 US, 1 UK, 1 CN, 114 AU Sales (in millions): 5.0 US, 0.9 UK, 15.9 world (includes US and UK) Genre: classic rock Tracks: (1) Summer of ’69 (2) Straight from the Heart (3) It’s Only Love (with Tina Turner) (4) Can’t Stop This Thing We Started (5) Do I Have to Say the Words? (6) This Time (7) Run to You (8) Heaven (9) Cuts Like a Knife (10) Everything I Do I Do It for You (11) Somebody (12) Kids Wanna Rock (13) Heat of the Night (14) Please Forgive Me Total Running Time: 62:28

Awards:

A Brief History: Born November 5, 1959, in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, Bryan Adams started his career in the mid-‘70s. At only 15 years old, he became the lead singer of Sweeney Todd, a pub band. In 1978, he met Jim Vallance from the rock band Prism. The two formed a songwriting partnership which produced dozens of hits throughout Adams’ career. Adams released his first solo album in 1980 and another followed in 1981. His third album, 1983’s Cuts Like a Knife, proved to be his breakthrough, giving him his first top-10 hit in the U.S. His 1984 Reckless album was a multi-platinum smash, as was his 1991 Waking Up the Neighbours, which gave Adams the biggest hit of his career with “Everything I Do (I Do It for You).” So Far So Good captures tracks from Adams’ four studio albums released between 1983 and 1991. Links go to dedicated DMDB pages, but these albums are all spotlighted on this page. Cuts Like a Knife (1983) Reckless (1984) Into the Fire (1987) Waking Up the Neighbours (1991) Songs featured on So Far So Good are noted below in the album snapshots. Following the song titles the date of the song’s release or first chart appearance, and its chart peaks are noted in parentheses. Click for codes to singles charts. Cuts Like a Knife (1983): After two solo albums, Adams third effort, Cuts Like a Knife, proved to be his breathrough. The album gave him his first top-ten hit in the U.S. and brought him attention on the album rock chart with the title cut. Cuts Like a Knife (2/12/83, 15 US, 6 AR, 12 CN, 55 AU) Straight from the Heart (3/12/83, 10 US, 32 AR, 51 UK, 20 CN, 98 AU) This Time (8/13/83, 24 US, 21 AR, 32 CN) Reckless (1984): Reckless proved to be a monster success, producing six top-20 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including Heaven, his first #1 hit. Five of those songs are featured on So Far So Good. “One Night Love Affair” is omitted in favor of the less well-known, minor album rock hit Kids Wanna Rock. Heaven (1/28/84, #1 US, 9 AR, 12 AC, 38 UK, 11 CN, 4 AU, airplay: 2 million) Run to You (11/3/84, 6 US, 1 AR, 11 UK, 4 CN, 4 AU) It’s Only Love (with Tina Turner) (11/24/84, 15 US, 7 AR, 29 UK, 14 CN, 57 AU) Summer of ‘69 (12/8/84, 5 US, 40 AR, 42 UK, 11 CN, 3 AU, airplay: 1 million) Kids Wanna Rock (12/15/84, 42 AR) Somebody (1/19/85, 11 US, 1 AR, 35 UK, 13 CN, 76 AU) Into the Fire (1987): While Into the Fire didn’t meet with near the success of Reckless, it was still a platinum-selling, top-ten album. Only one song is represented on the So Far So Good collection although the album did produce the top 40 hits “Hearts on Fire” and “Victims of Love.” All three songs were top-10 album rock hits. Heat of the Night (3/28/87, 6 US, 2 AR, 50 UK, 7 CN, 25 AU) Waking Up the Neighbours (1991): After the relative disappointment of Into the Fire compared to the success of Reckless, one wouldn’t be off base to assume Adams’ career was on the down slide. However, he roared back with the huge #1 hit Everything I Do (I Do It for You) and a follow-up album which produced seven songs which made appearances on various charts. It’s surprising only three of those make appearances here. “Thought I’d Died and Gone to Heaven” was a top-20 hit and “There Will Never Be Another Tonight” hit the top 40. Everything I Do (I Do It for You) (6/29/91, 1 US, 1 UK, 10 AR, 1 AC, sales: 3 million, airplay: 3 million) Can’t Stop This Thing We Started (9/14/91, 2 US, 12 UK, 2 AR, 40 AC, sales: ½ million) Do I Have to Say the Words? (8/1/92, 10a US, 30 UK, 5 AC) So Far So Good (1993): This collection includes one song, the top-ten ballad Please Forgive Me. Originally, the album was supposed to have another new song entitled “So Far So Good,” but it was dropped. WK Overall, this hits package does a decent job of capturing the past decade of Adams’ career, but it could easily have included three or four more songs given that the running time is just over the hour mark. Please Forgive Me (10/23/93, 7 US, 2 UK, 1 CN, 1 AU)

Resources and Related Links: Bryan Adam’s DMDB Encyclopedia entry WK Wikipedia

Aerosmith’s Pump released

First posted 4/2/2008; updated ?.

Pump Aerosmith

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Released: September 12, 1989 Peak: 5 US, 3 UK, 2 CN, 13 AU Sales (in millions): 7.0 US, 0.1 UK, 11.5 world (includes US and UK) Genre: classic rock

Tracks: (Click for codes to singles charts.) Young Lust (Tyler, Perry, Jim Vallance) [4:18] F.I.N.E. (Tyler, Perry, Desmond Child) [4:09] (11/25/89, 14 AR) Going Down/Love in an Elevator (Tyler, Perry) [5:39] (9/2/89, 5 US, 1 AR, 13 UK, 13 CN, 33 AU, gold single) Monkey on My Back (Tyler, Perry) [3:57] (4/14/90, 17 AR) Water Song/Janie’s Got a Gun (Tyler, Tom Hamilton) [5:38] (9/23/89, 4 US, 2 AR, 76 UK, 2 CN, 1 AU) Dulcimer Stomp/The Other Side (Tyler, Vallance, Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, Eddie Holland) [4:56] (6/16/90, 22 US, 1 AR, 46 UK, 22 CN, 73 AU) My Girl (Tyler, Perry) [3:10] Don’t Get Made, Get Even (Tyler, Perry) [4:48] Hoodoo/ Voodoo Medicine Man (Tyler, Brad Whitford) [4:39] What It Takes (Tyler, Perry, Child) [5:11] (1/13/90, 9 US, 1 AR, 15 CN, 46 CN) Total Running Time: 47:22 The Players: Steven Tyler (vocals, keyboards, harmonica, percussion) Joe Perry (guitar) Brad Whitford (rhythm guitar) Tom Hamilton (bass) Joey Kramer (drums, percussion)

Rating: 4.346 out of 5.00 (average of 13 ratings) Quotable: “Rank[s] with Rocks and Toys in the Attic.” – Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide Awards:

About the Album: 1987’s Permanent Vacation heralded in the second wave of Aerosmith, the return of the original lineup in one of rock history’s greatest comeback stories. While that album “seemed a little overwhelmed by its pop concessions, Pump revels in them without ever losing sight of Aerosmith’s dirty hard rock core.” STE For Pump, the band set out to explore “a rawness that had been glossed over for a commercial sound in Permanent Vacation.” WK As guitarist Joe Perry said, “We wanted to strip off a little fat we felt on our last one.” WK The result? Q magazine called it “the year’s best metal album,” WK noting that “it took a bunch of hoary, addled old stagers like Aerosmith” to “hoist the heavy metal crown from the likes of Def Leppard and Bon Jovi.” WK Rolling Stone called Aerosmith “the reigning kind of the double entendre” WK but said Pump “has more going for it than locker-room laughs, such as the vintage high-speed crunch (circa Toys in the Attic) of Young Lust…[and] the sassy slap ‘n’ tickle of My Girl.” WK Part of the success of Vacation was due to producer Bruce Fairbairn, who returns for Pump. At his suggestion, the band brought in outside songwriting help from Desmond Child (Loverboy, Bon Jovi) and Jim Vallance (Bryan Adams, Bon Jovi) for the previous album. Both songwriters show up again here – Child on What It Takes and F.I.N.E. and Vallance on “Young Lust” and The Other Side. Two of those songs were top 40 hits. “What It Takes,” which “has more emotion and grit than any of their other power ballads,” STE hit #9 on the U.S. pop charts while “The Other Side” reached #22. Both songs also topped the album rock tracks chart. “The Other Side” gave Aerosmith some legal troubles when the famed Motown songwriting team of Holland-Dozier-Holland threatened to sue the band because of similarities between the melodies of “The Other Side” and “Standing in the Shadows of Love.” Aerosmith ended up adding them to the songwriting credits. WK The album’s two biggest songs, however, were penned solely by the band. Lead single Love in an Elevator, like “The Other Side,” rock[s] relentlessly, no matter how many horns and synths fight with the guitars.” STE The song was a top-five pop hit and, surprisingly, Aerosmith’s first trip to the pinnacle of the album rock chart. “Janie’s Got a Gun tackles more complex territory than most previous songs” STE with its no-holds-barred glimpse into incest and murder. It was also a top-five pop hit. It also gave Aerosmith its first Grammy – for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. They went on to win the award three more times. Notes: An alternate version of the album included a hidden instrumental track after “What It Takes” while the Japanese version added the song “Ain’t It Enough.”

Resources and Related Links: Aerosmith’s DMDB Encyclopedia entry STE Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide WK Wikipedia

Aerosmith roars back with Permanent Vacation

First posted 4/1/2008; updated 9/8/2020.

Permanent Vacation Aerosmith

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Released: August 18, 1987 Peak: 11 US, 37 UK, 7 CN, 42 AU Sales (in millions): 5.0 US, -- UK, 9.0 world (includes US and UK) Genre: classic rock

Tracks: Song Title (Writers) [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. Heart’s Done Time (Joe Perry, Desmond Child) [4:42] Magic Touch (Steven, Tyler, Perry, Jim Vallance) [4:37] (5/21/88, 42 AR) Rag Doll (Tyler, Perry, Vallance, Holly Knight) [4:25] (9/12/87, 17 US, 12 AR, 42 UK, 23 CN) Simoriah (Tyler, Perry, Vallance) [4:25] Dude Looks Like a Lady (Tyler, Perry, Child) [4:25] (8/29/87, 14 US, 4 AR, 20 UK, 22 CN, 95 AU) St. John (Tyler) [4:10] Hangman Jury (Tyler, Perry, Vallance) [5:33] (11/14/87, 14 AR) Girl Keeps Coming Apart (Tyler, Perry) [4:13] Angel (Tyler, Child) [5:08] (1/30/88, 3 US, 2 AR, 69 UK, 14 CN) Permanent Vacation (Tyler, Brad Whitford) [4:49] I’m Down (John Lennon, Paul, McCartney) [2:20] The Movie (instrumental) (Tyler, Perry, Whitford, Tom Hamilton, Joey Kramer) [4:00] Total Running Time: 51:38 The Players: Steven Tyler (vocals, keyboards, harmonica, percussion) Joe Perry (guitar) Brad Whitford (rhythm guitar) Tom Hamilton (bass) Joey Kramer (drums, percussion)

Rating: 3.792 out of 5.00 (average of 12 ratings) Awards:

About the Album: Aerosmith looked like they might be finished as a band after 1979’s Night in the Ruts. Guitarist Joe Perry left the band during the making of the album, the band members were fighting, and substance abuse was taking its toll. Three years later, the band released Rock in a Hard Place but without Perry and Brad Whitford, who left during recording, the band wasn’t the same. The original lineup returned for 1985’s Done with Mirrors, but the album was met with a tepid reception. Then rap group Run-D.M.C. came to the rescue. Their #4 remake of Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way” featured Tyler and Perry and brought the band back into the limelight. Suddenly, during the height of ‘80s hair bands, Permanent Vacation proved “the crucial catalyst in reintroducing Aerosmith to the masses.” AMG It was the group’s most successful album in a decade and found themselves at the top of the heap, reinvented “as ‘80s and ‘90s superstars.” AMG Credit goes to John Kalodner, the A&R executive who pushed the band to work with “knob-twiddler extraordinaire Bruce Fairbairn and career-revitalizing song doctors Desmond Child and Jim Vallance.” AMG Fairbairn had previously produced three Loverboy albums and, most notably, Bon Jovi’ monstrous 1986 smash, Slippery When Wet. After Permanent Vacation, he also produced Aerosmith’s next two albums – which were even bigger successes. Desmond Child had also worked on Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet, co-writing the #1 hits “You Give Love a Bad Name” and “Livin’ on a Prayer.” While “Child’s pedantic writing often compromises the timeliness of even the best material,” AMG Dude Looks Like a Lady, co-written with Tyler and Perry, proved a perfect song for the ‘80s. It offered a tongue-in-cheek nod to the contradictory nature of hair bands (a movement which Aerosmith was now part of) looking affeminate while promoting themselves as hyper-masculine. The band also managed to give the song enough pop sensibility to make it a hit without abandoning their rock cred. Jim Vallance co-wrote all the songs on Bryan Adams’ 1984 smash album Reckless, which included the #1 “Heaven” and top-five hit “Summer of ’69.” He co-wrote Rag Doll with Holly Knight as well as Tyler and Perry. The song gave Aerosmith its second top-20 hit from the Permanent Vacation album. After those two straightforward rock songs, the album’s third single “showcases the band at the peak of its power ballad cheese.” AMG “The crowd-pleasing schmaltz of Angel” AMG ended up the band’s biggest hit to date, soaring all the way to #3 on the pop charts. The album’s “pre-fab radio gems…remain largely unassailable from a ‘delivering the goods’ perspective” AMG and “the mostly stellar songwriting…makes it a strong effort overall.” AMG There are also “a guaranteed number of incredible tracks for any time and place. These include the earthy voodoo blues of St. John and the excellent hobo-harmonica fable of Hangman Jury.” AMG Still, “some of the album’s nooks and crannies haven’t aged all that well because of Fairbairn's overwrought production, featuring an exaggerated sleekness typical of most mid-‘80s pop-metal albums.” AMG There are cuts that “lean to the filler side,” AMG but “the awkwardly Caribbean title track and the cover of the Beatles’ I’m Down are well executed.” AMG

Resources and Related Links: Aerosmith’s DMDB Encyclopedia entry AMG John Franck & Ed Rivadavia, All Music Guide

Bryan Adams “Summer of ‘69” released

Summer of ‘69 Bryan Adams

Writer(s): Bryan Adams, Jim Vallance (see lyrics here) Released: June 17, 1985 First Charted: December 8, 1984 Peak: 5 US, 4 RR, 40 AR, 42 UK, 11 CN, 14 AU, 7 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.61 US, 1.8 UK, 4.42 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 1.0 radio, 258.44 video, 848.95 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Rock singer/songwriter and guitarist Bryan Adams was born in 1959 in Canada. He became the lead singer of Sweeney Todd at age 16, but left within a year to start a solo career. His self-titled debut came in 1980, but his big break came with 1983’s Cuts Like a Knife which gave him a top-10 hit in the United States with “Straight from the Heart” and two more top-40 hits. His next album, 1984’s Reckless, was a blockbuster, hitting #1 in the U.S. and selling more than 5 million copies. The album featured six top-20 hits, including the #1 “Heaven.” The lead single, “Run to You,” was a top-10 hit and topped the album rock charts. It set him up for three more hits on that chart before year’s end; one of those songs was “Summer of ’69.” Surprisingly, it only reached #40 on that chart, but it fared much better when released as a single six months later. It became his fourth top-10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was about the “dilemma between settling down or trying to become a rock star.” WK Adams said, “It’s a very simple song about looking back on the summertime and making love.” SF It went through multiple changes because neither Adams nor co-songwriter Jim Vallance thought it was strong enough for the album. Early versions were called “Best Days of My Life.” The song refers to people who Adams knew, including a former drummer (Jimmy) and his sound manager (Jody). WK Adams, who would have only been nine years old in the summer of 1969, claimed “69” referred to the sex position. Vallance said, “When we recorded the demo in my basement, towards the end of the song Bryan sang a little naughty bit: ‘me and my baby in a 69.’ We had a laugh about it at the time and Bryan decided to keep it when he did the final recoriding a month or two later.” WK Vallance has also said, “I think ‘Summer of ‘69’ was Bryan and I at our best.” SF Resources: SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 11/6/2022.