CD Review
Artist: Bryan Adams
Title: 11
Label: Universal Music
Released: March 18^th, 2008 

4 ½ Stars

Reviewed By: Kindah Mardam Bey 

I've always been a late bloomer. I'm always hesitant of loving a band, or rocker too soon, they could let you down in the long run. U2's groundbreaking ‘Rattle & Hum' was of no use to me until two years ago, Coldplay was overplay in my opinion, until I became passionately involved with their music last year and Bryan Adams all he ever did for me was ‘Everything I Do (I Do It For You).' However, this last month I had a Bryan Adams epiphany; well, better late than never said the late bloomer.

I must admit to enjoy songs like ‘Inside Out,' and ‘When You're Gone,' by Adams when they played on the radio, but it was February's One Night Live concert in Toronto where I got to finally see the unbelievable energy and talent of Bryan Adams. Someone send out a memo ‘Bryan Adams is cool.' So my journey of rediscovering loads of songs I had heard over the years that Adams has built a career on, and now my eventual descending on Adams newest album 11, I can say I've had a great crash course in that husky come-hither voice. 

We can all admire Adams for his great humanitarian efforts, and his album cover for 11 shows a more polished-spiv of a rocker, but Adams brings to 11 what would be considered a consistent level of quality and romanticism that he has always produced on his records. You would think that Adams would be sick of singing love songs, or at least exhausted all themes of romantic love, and yet, alas, he is still making songs best suited for those evenings where ‘the bride and groom will take the floor.' From ‘Tonight We Have The Stars' to ‘We Found What We Were Looking For' and ‘She's Got A Way' all the album is full of great road-trip stories on the journey of love.

So, I'm afraid I can't be terribly logical about Bryan Adams, as I've just ‘found' him. I think he's fabulous, go see him in concert as often as you can, and thoroughly enjoy his newest album 11.   

1. "Tonight We Have the Stars"
2. "I Thought I'd Seen Everything"
3. "I Ain't Losing the Fight"
4. "Oxygen"
5. "We Found What We Were Looking for"
6. "Broken Wings"
7. "Something to Believe In"
8. "Mysterious Ways"
9. "She's Got a Way"
10. "Flower Grown Wild"
11. "Walk on By"