On A Day Like Today

i love this cd...especially the song 'fearless' its great, way to go sis on getting me hooked on buyan!! :P hes great and makes me proud to say im Canadian lol!!

When I got this album for Christmas back in 1998, I was only eight years old and was the biggest fan of Melanie C. Back then, I listened to only that song. But one day, my Melanie C obsession faded because I started to listen to Bryan's older albums and newer albums. So one day, I decided to go back and listen to the rest of the album with a new frame of mind, and I personally was impressed with what I heard.

The thing with 'On A Day Like Today' is, Bryan Adams fans either love it or hate it, and I personally love it. I think this album definitely ranks up on high standards with some of his best work, and deserves just as much recognition as some of his previous and more popular albums.

'On A Day Like Today' comes two years after "'18 Til I Die" and a year after his second live album "MTV:Unplugged". Between 1996 and 1998 Bryan Adams really experimented and took his music to newer levels. With "18 Til I Die" Bryan experimented more with some blues, and introduced some acoustic work as well, then of course carried the acoustic experiments onto his MTV performance for Unplugged.

However, with this album the music are very similar and simplistic, a lot of the arrangements are the same. The songs themselves have the same sort of 'feel' to them but at the same time have something different to bring to the table. It's a raw pop/rock album at it's best and with this album I think Bryan Adams just wanted to keep it simple and just release an album, then take a bit of a well deserved break from recording.

The singles were the title track "On A Day Like Today", "When You're Gone", "Inside Out" and "Cloud Number Nine" was also a single but it was remixed by the Chicane for the single release which was affective but the original album cut deserves some limelight as well, it's beautiful. All great singles in my opinion, not a single hit and miss.

Elsewhere on the album there are also some great cuts that would have made excellent single material - "Fearless", "Getaway", "If I Had You", and "Where Angels Fear To Tread". "If I Had You" and "Where Angels Fear To Tread" are beautiful classic Bryan Adams ballads I would rank up there with "Heaven" and "Everything I Do (I Do It For You)" and "Fearless" and "Getaway" are classic rock anthems in my books.

Also, "How Do You Feel Tonight", "C'Mon C'Mon C'Mon", "I'm A Liar", "Before The Night Is Over" and "I Don't Want To Live Forever" are wonderful as well.

This is a subtle effort on Bryan Adams' part, and it's probably one of those albums you'd definitely have to spend some time with before the hooks really grab you but definitely another five star release from Bryan Adams. Give it a chance.

Bryan Adams' "On A Day Like Today" again marked a new chapter in a legendary career. In the 80s, Bryan did some great work on albums such as "Cuts Like a Knife", his signature album "Reckless", his deep album "Into the Fire", and his commerically successful "Waking Up The Neighbours". Following that string of 4 albums, Bryan released "18 Til I Die" which really didn't achieve the glory of those past 4 albums. His next Studio album was this one and unfortunately, this album keeps Bryan Adams stagnent and makes me wonder if he will ever achieve the heights he had in the 80s.

Like "18 Til I Die" this is not a terrible album, but it just doesn't reach the high standards set by Bryan Adams in the past. Unlike "18 Til I Die" which was an album in which Bryan Adams had a "Mid Life Crisis and Youthful resurgance", this album goes back toward a more mature Bryan Adams. I can best describe this as his "Adult Contemporary Album". Most of the songs could easily be played on an "Adult Contemporary" or "Mix" station. A big change on this album is the absence of Robert "Mutt" Lange (Mr Shania Twain). Lange was a major contributer from a musicianship, songwriting, and production standpoint on the last 2 albums. Lange was never able to achieve the great songwriting that Bryan had with Jim Vallance in the 80s, but didn't do a bad job. The replacement for Lange was producer Phil Thornalley. Thornalley also co-writes some songs with Bryan. The other main co-writer with Bryan is Gretchen Peters whom Bryan worked with on the "Unplugged" live album. As for the Adams Band - Mickey Curry, Dave Taylor, and Keith Scott are all back. Gone is keyboardist Tommy Mandel.

So what doesn't help this album reach the bar that Adams has set. My big feel is that many of the songs lack the personal passion that Bryan brought on all of his albums up until this one. There are 4 songs ("Before the Night Is Over", "I Don't Wanna Live Forever", "When You're Gone", and "Cmon Cmon Cmon") on this album that do show the old passion, but for the most part it does lack the personal passion. Especially the title track "On a Day Like Today" - I thought one of the weakest tracks on the album was picked as the title song. The song does nothing to stick in my mind. It is really the four songs I list above which really carry the album as a whole.

"Before the Night Is Over" has almost a feel from "Reckless" to it. It is the strongest song on the album. Just from the opening chords and lines "Hey Baby". If I were the record company and Adams, this would have been the single I released. "I Don't Wanna Live Forever" quick tempo to it and has some great raspy vocals and harmonies, although it doesn't quite have a feel from "Reckless" (this song really stands more on its own as opposed to comparing to past works. "Cmon Cmon Cmon" has a very 90s feel to it and it almost reminds me of "Rock On" and kind of reminds me of a much softer and more mature version of Michael Damian's "Rock On".

"When You're Gone" is the most interesting and eye-catching song. The reason is that Melanie C from the Spice Girls (better known by her Spice Girl persona 'Sporty Spice'). This song starts with almost a retro Beach Boys start. Don't let the Spice Girls connection shy you away from this song. Melanie C holds her own in this song and blends her harmonies beautifully with Bryan on this song. Melanie C basically does background vocals for the entire song and my only complaint is I would have liked to hear her get a little more of a solo (she does get a couple of solo lines). I give Bryan credit for not being afraid to put a Spice Girl on one of his albums.

So Bryan Adams will go the Adult Contemporary Route marking another chapter in what is sure to be a Hall of Fame Career. This won't be one of his albums that gets him into the Hall of Fame, but it won't prevent him from getting in.