Published on May 5, 1997
As much as I’ve tried to get my wife to take an active part in
“The Daily Vault,” she just isn’t interested. Where I will add at
least 200 items to the now-famous Pierce Memorial Archives (not
quite as popular as the brewery tours), she will buy no more than
10 releases each year.
In another attempt to get her involved, I asked her to pick
something for today’s review. A routine strip-search by the guards
and background check later, she threw a disc at me – damn near took
off my head, too.
At first glance, I thought she had copped out. Bryan Adams? She
barely got through the door to pick this one. But his 1988 release
Live! Live! Live! turned out to be a good selection that
captured the emotion of the music, if not the energy.
Originally released only in Japan, I’m guessing A & M was
disappointed at the commercial failure of Adams’s last venture,
Into The Fire. Only after he had regained a foothold in
America did they finally release this one Stateside.
Pulling together most of his best-known hits to that point, a
few songs that I can’t remember which album they came off of (hey,
I’m not Cecil Adams – I don’t know
everything), and one or two covers, Adams is able to provide
an enjoyable time in front of the CD player. And for the most part,
these performances are note-for-note what you’d hear on the studio
albums.
That, I guess, is the first disappointment. No, I don’t want to
hear Adams flub the guitar solo on “Somebody,” or hear his voice
crack on “Heaven.” But I would have liked to hear Adams or any
member of the band cut loose and take some chances with the
material – guess Adams’s style of radio-friendly rock doesn’t allow
itself to take part in wild abandon like that.
In fact, the riskiest Adams gets is on an acoustic guitar-only
rendition of “Into The Fire,” which proves to be a lovely track –
and dares to pave the way for an appearance on “MTV Unplugged”.
(Editor’s note: In fact, Adams came out with MTV Unplugged
in 1997.) In fact, I’m right now building up the courage to
go into the basement of the Pierce Memorial Archives to dig out my
copy of
Into The Fire because of this rendition.
The hits? Well, because this was released in 1988, don’t look
for “Everything I Do (I Do For You),” or anything else from
Waking Up The Neighbours. Most of Adams’s hits are here
(though I really wish he had done “This Time”), and the
performances are good. From the opening guitar riffs of “Cuts Like
A Knife” to the powerful renditions of “Run To You” and “Summer Of
’69” (wonder why the radio censors never caught onto the line “me
and my baby in ’69”?), complete with the Belgian audience taking
over the vocals on the first verse.
The two covers on this one, Robert Johnson’s “Walking After
Midnight” and Bobby Fuller’s “I Fought The Law” seem to be
throwaways – Adams has many solid songs in his repertoire, making
it funny that he would choose to cover songs.
The only real problem with
Live! Live! Live! is the energy level – if I didn’t know
better, I would have said I was listening to his greatest-hits
album
So Far, So Good with audience noises dubbed in. Like the
lack of improvisation, I think Adams’s musical style is what brings
down the intensity on this one. Sure, he and his band are tight and
play the songs perfectly – but I miss the human aspect of the show.
I want to feel as excited as if I were in the audience feeling my
heart skip a beat as the house lights turn off.
As live albums go,
Live! Live! Live! is better than many I’ve heard, and Adams
shows why he was one of the kings of Top 40 radio in the mid-’80s.
And if you don’t mind hearing a somewhat robotic performance to get
to the few magical moments of the album, it’s a trip worth
taking.