Bad Records
So, it is with “Roll With Punches”, his 17th studio album since his debut in 1980, and the first to be released on his own independent label, Bad Records.
Long-time songwriting collaborators Jim Vallance, Mutt Lange and Eliot Kennedy are present and correct and Swedish hitmaker Tony Nilsson, too, who contributes to four songs.
This time Adams plays bass, drums, guitar and harmonica – as well as singing, of course! – and is joined, as ever, by guitarist Keith Scott, with whom he has been playing since 1976. Adams produced the album in Canada and the Grenadines, so it’s very much his album
Now, nobody can make Bryan Adams sound more like…Bryan Adams! So that is what is neatly achieved here – music with a polish but not over-polished, and Adam’s vocals featuring that familiar, appealing roughness – perhaps more so than usual, given that he is now 65. However, each song is sung with commitment and an impressive interpretive skill honed over a long career.
In the 70s and 80s, there was an influential BBC rock TV programme hosted by “Whispering” Bob Harris and, latterly, the late Annie Nightingale. The title referred to the BBC cleaning staff who wore grey uniforms, and if they could whistle the tune of a song they heard in the Radio or TV studios after one listen, it was said that it was going to be a hit. Well, every one of the 10 songs on this album passes that test and would have had the staff whistling like the dawn chorus!
“Never Ever Let You Go” is an upbeat song, typical of the album as a whole and will have you singing along by the time the chorus comes around for the second time, as will “Life Is Beautiful”, another positive, glad-to-be-alive ditty that slows things down nicely.
There is also what I would call a ‘typical’ Adams ballad -the Adams/Lange-penned “Will We Ever Be Friends Again”, by which I mean a classy, memorable tune delivered with panache. When what you produce is so good, why change a winning formula? Not everything has to push the envelope and feature a new direction.
Not that every song is slow or poppy, the title track, for example, is an absolute scorcher and one that allows Scott to solo like a man possessed at the end of it!
Rocking for 45 years, Adams is not only rolling with the punches but landing quite a few himself. Round 46 awaits.
4,5/6 | Ross Sampson
Release date August 29th 2025