A couple of years on, and ‘Into The Fire’ could arguably be Bryan Adams’ most overlooked album of his vast discography. It was a time when he and cohort Jim Vallance had decided to move on from the success of ‘Reckless’, and create a new set of tunes pitched at a different angle.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Bryan Adams
ALBUM: Into The Fire
LABEL: A&M
SERIAL: SP 3907 (LP), CD-3907 (CD)
YEAR: 1987
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Canada
LINEUP: Bryan Adams – guitar, piano, keyboards, vocals * Keith Scott – lead guitar, backing vocals * Mickey Curry – drums * Dave Taylor – bass * Tommy Mandel – organ, keyboards * Robbie King – organ * Jim Vallance – piano, percussion, sequencer * Dave Pickell – piano * Ian Stanley – keyboards
TRACK LISTING: 01 Heat Of The Night * 02 Into The Fire * 03 Victim Of Love * 04 Another Day * 05 Native Son * 06 Only The Strong Survive * 07 Rebel * 08 Remembrance Day * 09 Hearts On Fire * 10 Home Again
WEBLINKS: Site Link
Background
At the time of writing, Bryan Adams is currently out there touring on the back of a ‘Reckless’ reimaged concert run. I’m not sure why he has to do this some thirty years after the pinnacle of his success with that album, but I’m sure we can all remember those hit singles during 1984 and 1985 which defined his career.
A couple of years on, and ‘Into The Fire’ could arguably be Bryan Adams’ most overlooked album of his vast discography. It was a time when he and cohort Jim Vallance had decided to move on from the success of ‘Reckless’, and create a new set of tunes pitched at a different angle.
Songwriting moved away from boy-meets-girl love songs, there’s less guitar construction, less conventional methods to build songs, instead favouring a move to sequencers, emulators and programming. Also, the song content became a lot more serious.
Too much hanging with the likes of Sting and Bono put ideas into Adams’ head about being taken seriously as a songwriter. The output on ‘Into The Fire’ didn’t quite reach dizzying heights, but still, there’s enough good stuff on here to blow away the ‘most overlooked album’ status.
The Songs
If you can remember back as far as 1987 (believe me, some people can’t, lol!), then there were a handful of songs which battled its way across radio and TV.
You’ll remember some of these. Lead off ‘Heat Of The Night’ and the title track ‘Into The Fire’ should be familiar to most of you, while ‘Hearts On Fire’ is reminiscent of the ‘Reckless’ era, that’s because it was written back during the recording sessions for that album.
The subject matter gets a bit serious on ‘Native Son’, where Adams and Vallance write about the injustices of the Native American Indians.
Vallance goes an extra step, ‘Remembrance Day’ a reflection of his time spent travelling the battlefields of Northern France, the lyrics taking in the horrors of war during the 1st World War.
Both ‘Another Day’ and ‘Only The Strong Survive’ bounce around like popcorn in a well buttered pot, while ‘Victim Of Love’ takes a darkened hue, offset by the power ballad ‘Rebel’.
In Summary
I’ll admit to not playing this album as much as I should have back in 1987. Despite its indifference from the likes of Adams and Vallance, I don’t think it deserves the underdog status.
When you compare this to the earlier albums from Adams’ discography (albums 2, 3 and 4 especially), then this fifth effort makes a fine compendium for his 80’s era output.
Bryan Adams on Video
Click to go to YTM album page.
