Room Service (2004) Review by Steven Stanley

Give or take 8 days, 'Room Service' was released exactly 6 years after Bryan's last full 'Bryan Adams studio album', 'On A Day Like Today'. The biggest wait any Adams fan had ever had to endure for a new studio album if they weren't a fan of horses.

Kidding aside, this was an important album for Bryan. At this time more than ever artists needed to release regularly and do promo to retain interest and fans. It was going to have to be a good album to keep his strong steady fans happy, and to remind the people who'd begun to wane from his gigs just what Bryan Adams was all about... especially if it only lasted 36 minutes!

In the 6 years Bryan hadn't released an album (Spirit aside) he'd been touring the world... you name it he'd been there. He was enjoying it so much he decided to record this album on the road, backstage and in hotels... hence the title. Bad move.

Let me be honest. Bryan is a fantastically talented individual capable of writing and singing most acts under the table. But... I don't think he knows his own strengths and weaknesses (as also mentioned in my review of '11')... something which made producing the album himself in hotel rooms (in my opinion) a bad thing. No Mutt Lange was in the studio with him, telling him to rock it up more... no band to jam with to see how this and that sounded.

If I'm honest a lot of the songs on here sound like b-side material. 'She's A Little Too Good For Me' sounds like a pop song written for a boyband like Busted or the Jonas Brothers. 'Flying' is basically a Westlife song (an awful Irish boyband for people that live outside the UK) with possibly the worst lyrics ever to grace a Bryan Adams album. "Ya were flying, such a long way up from the ground". Please. 'This Side Of Paradise' is good lyrically, albeit some of them were recycled from other songs..."we wander round in the darkless but every now and then a little light shines through" previously used on 'A Little Love' from the 'MTV Unplugged' album.

Two of the pop/rock highlights on this album are 'Room Service' and 'Open Road' and as with most Bryan Adams songs, they sounded even better live. The album showed so much promise when it premiered with 'Open Road'... it had kind of a 'Run To You' vibe about it. The verses are killer, although he sells out on the chorus but you forgive him instantly when the verse kicks in again. It's crying out for a guitar solo (the album too nevermind the song!) but instead Bryan opts for harmonica. It works well but give me Keith Scott any day. Still, it's a great song.

As for the slower numbers if there was one other song I would highlight it would be 'I Was Only Dreamin'', because it just has that touch of class the others don't and was quite different to anything he'd done in the past. It feels a bit dreamy instead of sticking to the formulaic 'Hard To Love'/'Flying' housewife hoover-fest. Speaking of 'Hard To Love', Bryan played a great gig at Abbey Road just before the album released... during that song he did a brilliant electric solo that gave the song the extra touch it needed. Too bad he didn't put that on the album.

I'm a strong believer in reliving memories through music. I think back to a time and place and there's always a track I can think of, good or bad that brings that memory back to life. It could be playing football in the park at school, beating Karl at 'Os... whatever. Going back to 2004 I was travelling around the US and Canada at the time 'Room Service' was released and being drip fed new songs with every new city I got to. I was actually in Vancouver the day the first song went out and by the time I got to San Diego I'd heard it all.

On what most people would deem a trip of a lifetime you would think then, more than ever... some 'Room Service' tracks would become the songs of the holiday. My point being is that every cool memory I have from that trip - not one song from that album reminds me of it. It just didn't resonate with me, to this day it still doesn't. It just feels rushed and a bit lazy in it's production.

I would have liked to have given this album more, but at the end of the day it's a 2 star album. It doesn't even come close to the likes of 'You Want It You Got It'. And to issue that classic parents line... "I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed".

Key Tracks:
Open Road
I Was Only Dreamin'

© 2009 18 Til I Die.co.uk. All rights reserved.
Web site comments to admin@18tilidie.co.uk
The images and photographs of Bryan Adams are reproduced with the kind permission of Adams Communications. These images and photographs are not to be reproduced without the specific permission of Adams Communications (and, where applicable, any separate copyright owner).