Bryan Adams goes retro with Get Up album

LOS ANGELES — It has been a long time coming.

Canadian singer-songwriter Bryan Adams says his new album, Get Up, is the ideal follow-up record to his iconic Reckless album of 30 years ago.

The album, released on Friday, features several fast, catchy tunes like “Brand New Day,” and “You Belong to Me” which harken back to the signature feel-good style that made Adams a household name in the 1980s with hits like “Heaven” and “Summer of ’69.”

“In many ways it is the album I wish I’d been able to make 25 years ago,” Adams said, describing Get Up, as carefree, rocking and retro sounding.

His songwriting for Hollywood earlier in his career spawned some of his biggest hits, including “Heaven,” one of the best things to come out of the much-panned movie A Night From Heaven, and “(Everything I Do) I Do it for You,” the theme song from the 1991 film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.

But Adams, who has sold more than 65 million albums worldwide and won multiple awards, has never paid attention to shifting audience trends. He is all about his art and music.

“I don’t actually know what my target audience is and I don’t know anything about the music business. I just do what I do, which is make music, which is what I’ve always done. I just like making songs that I like and that’s it,” he said.

Produced by Electric Light Orchestra front man Jeff Lynne and co-written with his longtime collaborator Jim Vallance, Get Up, also boasts a few gentler songs, like “Don’t Even Try,” and “We Did it All.”

Adams, a trim father of two who turns 56 in November, also has a passion for photography, with a new book on abstract photography due out soon. It follows Exposed, a collection of portraits of entertainment and fashion celebrities, and Wounded — The Legacy of War, depicting photographs of soldiers maimed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Adams has lined up an extensive tour to promote the new album and admits it is challenging to focus on his passions simultaneously.

“I think what’s nice about having another venue to be creative in is you tend to get a break from what you do… And when you come back to it, you have a new perspective for music,” he said, adding: “Music is always the top of the heap. I’m not going to quit my day job.” — Reuters