Room Service, by Bryan Adams

By 2004, Bryan Adams released albums that no longer attracted interest from mainstream pop audiences in the United States (though he remained more popular in global markets and in his native Canada). That said, he had achieved considerable success as a result of the soundtrack for Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron and still had (and even more than twenty years later, has) a great deal of appeal as a live performer. As a result, in order to justify a new tour it was not hard for Adams to release six years after his previous studio album another album in Room Service to contain songs that he could tour around to visit adoring fans around the world even if radio stations in the United States were no longer interested in playing his music (which is honestly their loss). When this album came out I listened to it as I was (and remain) a fan of Adams, but it was a bit disappointing that the album did not seem to make an impact at all in the United States. Does it hold up more than twenty years after its release, though? Let’s listen.

The album begins with “East Side Story,” an appealing mid-tempo love song referencing both New York City and West Side Story that is an example of the sort of song that Pat Monahan would write if he could. “This Side Of Paradise” is a standout song on this collection, a melancholy reflection on life and death that remains poignant even now in its reflection of the existential loneliness of the singer. “Not Romeo, Not Juliet” makes an obvious reference to Shakespeare’s play while promoting an ordinary quotidian sort of love along with an enjoyable fuzz guitar solo. “Flying” is a straightforward and pleasing ode to passionate and enduring love, the sort of song that Adams cranked out for years during his peak. “She’s A Little Too Good For Me” is another song here that sounds exactly like something that the lead singer of far less famous pop-punk band would have written about an interesting and striking woman who somehow loves him even if she is out of his league. “Open Road,” another standout track and single from this album, is a bold driving song celebrating freedom and opportunity. “Room Service,” the title track to the album, is an excellent addition to the genre of songs that deal with the vagabond life of the touring musician. “I Was Only Dreamin'” is a well-produced song that sings of something that Duncan Sheik would have appreciated in dreaming of the good life that goes away when one wakes up. “Right Back Where I Started From” appealingly tells a familiar tale of not appreciating what he had until he lost it, a tale that applies as well to love and relationships as it does to fame and success. “Nowhere Fast” offers an ode of devotion to a beloved partner where the singer seeks for the past to be forgiven and forgotten and promises to change to make the relationship last, with an interesting turn of phrase for the hook. “Why Do You Have To Be So Hard To Love?” is a bleak and spare song that reflects on the possible trauma responses of a loved one that is likely to be relatable to a lot of people who love those deeply scarred by a difficult life. “Blessing In Disguise” is an upbeat rockabilly song with occasionally stuttering singing that reflects on the paradoxical nature of life and love in a way that would have been appreciated by the Stray Cats and many others of that kind. “Ce N’etait Qu’un Rêve,” with Emmanuelle Seigner, offers a French version of “I Was Only Dreamin'” that is aimed clearly at the French market. The album then ends with an interview about the album with Nigel that reflects on the genesis on the album and it being made from songs written in hotel rooms all over the world.

Despite the closing interview’s attempt to weave the songs together as having a thematic unity, it is unfair to judge this album for its consistency in theme and approach. Even if the rough tracks of the album were recorded (very well, I must add) in various hotel rooms while the singer was on tour, the songs themselves are more like a set of twelve impressionistic sketches on life and love, one of those sketches re-done in a French fashion, and a discussion after the fact that attempts to frame the album as a unified whole. Still, there is a lot of tension here between cynical reflections (“This Side Of Paradise,” “Not Romeo, Not Juliet,” and “Room Service,” for example) with more idealistic and romantic ones (“Open Road,” “Flying,” “Nowhere Fast”). Which side is to be believed, or do we take the whole thing as being less an attempt at a coherent worldview on life and love than a very disparate set of songs that individually are well-written and well-produced but that sit uneasily with other songs that cut against their approach and tone? I would rather take it as the latter, a collection of very good to great songs that nevertheless are meant as sketches of moments rather than life philosophies. Life is both a lonely road and an open road, and we feel differently about it at different times, which makes this album fitting in its deep ambivalence.