You Want It - You Got It

by

Bryan Adams

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The best way I look at Bryan Adams' "You Want It, You Got It" was this was the album that launched what I term "The Franchise". This was Bryan Adams' second full album and his second in which in co-wrote the songs with Jim Vallance. Adams and Vallance had collaborated together on Adams self title debut. But it was this album that truly launched 'The Bryan Adams sound' that would dominate the 80s and 90s. In addition, this is where Bryan Adams would start to form a core of studio musicians that would follow him for the next 2 decades. This album would feature Tommy Mandel on keyboards and Mickey Curry on drums. Mandel and Curry would become a staple of Adams' albums for the 80s and 90s. This was also the first of four studio albums in a row that Bryan would produce with Bob Clearmountain. Clearmountain is best known as one of the best studio mixers in the music business. All of these factors would launch "The Franchise" for Bryan Adams and set the tone for his musical development in the 80s.

This album being Adams' sophomore effort is a less commercial effort than the more familiar works that follow, but the quality of the music is there. There surprisingly is a lot of depth on this particular album. The song "Last Chance" is a very interesting track because there is a Saxaphone integrated into the music. The inclusion of a Sax is a rare thing on an Adams album which normally is usually loaded with lots of guitars and keyboards. You'll also hear Mandel's keyboards quite a bit on this song - as well as on the track "Lonely Night". The other thing is that the Adams/Vallance songwriting connection really gets off to a good start on this album. There is some nice depth of tracks "Lonely Nights", "Fits Ya Good", "Tonight" and "No One Makes It Right".

Some interesting stuff is on this album There is a reference in the track "One Good Reason" that says 'Now that Ronnie's in the Office...' - a slight political jab put into the song by Adams and Vallance. The track "Don't Look Now" has a distinct Jackson Browne feel to it - it does remind of "Running on Empty". 'Don't Look Now' also reminds me as a pre-quel to another Adams classic called 'This Time' that will follow on the third album. The original version of "Fits Ya Good" is on this album which is more uptempo and harder edged than the version found on the 1997 'Unplugged' album. The song "Jealousy" is also something a little different than you will hear on many Adams albums. Curry and Mandel's drumming and keyboards really shine on it this song. Nice bass work followed by some cool guitars mark the start of "Tonight" and some bold lyrics that say "Who you gonna run to now that your (butt) is on the line..." followed by some great range in Adams' vocals.

It is also worth noting that I think Clearmountain and Adams do a great job at ordering the tracks on the album. "Lonely Nights" is the perfect opening song. "No One Makes It Right" is the perfect finale to the album. "One Good Reason" has that feel of being a #2 track. Even "Last Chance" is perfectly slotted as the next to last track on the album. I wouldn't change a thing in terms of the ordering of the tracks. The first and last songs are the best 2 on the album - especially "No One Makes It Right" - which might sound like that emotional song you would hear at a teenage prom, but I still never get tired of it.

The disappointments are the title track (kind of weak by my standards). The liner notes are very thin - they contain no lyrics and do match up the credits to the song very nicely.

Most fans starting to build a Bryan Adams collection probably won't start with this album, but I would say why not? This album will also give you many great singles that have been omitted on the greatest hits and live albums. Highly recommended!

Yep, I agree with the previous reviewer that Bryan Adams hadn't quite found his style yet, but he was definitely working on it. You can hear how hard he was working by the decidedly raw sound on this CD. The production values are not the best, but alas, they are far from the worst, and remember, Mr. Adams had not yet reached arena-rock status by this time. Probably the best reason to get this CD is the first song (and his first Top 40 hit) "Lonely Nights." I think that this song comes closest to the 'typical Bryan Adams sound' that we would find later on CUTS LIKE A KNIFE and RECKLESS. In fact, this song even sounds a little like "Summer of '69" only not half as overplayed and annoying.

The next song, "One Good Reason," is interesting as Bryan sounds like he was going for a British-New-Wave-style here (which is kind of funny, as he would later trash this kind of music in a song called "Kids Wanna Rock" from RECKLESS). "Don't Look Now" is a good tune, so is "Fits Ya Good" which is a fairly heavy rocker with a slicing guitar solo in it. It's definitely Bryan's hardest track on this CD. Probably his weirdest song is the title song, which starts off as a fast rocker, gets slower on the yelping choruses, and basically goes back-and-forth between fast and mid-tempo, and ends up with Bryan apparently mocking himself by screaming and then coughing to end the song. It's kind of interesting as a curio, anyway.

The CD ends with an excellent slow number called "No One Makes It Right," which represents the first in an eventually long line of Adams ballads. Here Bryan keeps it simple and mainly acoustic, with a beautiful piano melody. It kind of reminds me of his later ballad "The Best Was Yet To Come" that ends CUTS LIKE A KNIFE, except I like this song better as a tune and also it's not quite as depressing.

Overall, this is a solid debut album that points the way toward bigger and better things that were to come later from Mr. Adams. Fans should definitely buy it, just for the first and last songs alone. :)