Badams Music Limited
Release Date: April 28th 2023
Reviewed by: Joshua Andre
Bryan Adams– A Rockin’ Christmas EP (Amazon mp3/iTunes)
Track Listing:
- Let’s Get Christmas Going
- Christmas Time (Classic Version)
- Joe And Mary
- Must Be Santa
- Merry Christmas
It’s 2023, and The Voice was resoundingly blocked by Australia not too long ago. Afghanistan stunned England at the Cricket World Cup 2023 in their latest group match, and Mitchell Starc is the most expensive player in the history of IPL cricket. The Israel-Palestine war is still going without any end in sight, new AI meta bots have been circulating online recently as well; and though I wrote a similar introduction post last year, the fact still remains. Depending on your views, the world is in a good place, or it isn’t. you can be in one of two ideological and political camps; and sometimes you may lose friendships or familial relationships because of differing views. And thus, it is now in these turbulent times, where we need music more than ever. Music, or I guess in essence God through any type of music He chooses, can lift the spirits, can calm our soul and can sooth and ease our pain and suffering. Music can make us think about our life and can make us ponder the deep questions; while music can also provide us a means to escape.
CCM, worship, pop, rock, country, and every other genre in between can all, at one point or another, strive to accomplish these tasks of making each of our days all the brighter. We’ve reviewed plenty of uplifting albums throughout this year, last year, and in all other years previous… but one such artist that I’ve stumbled across lately that has warmed my soul, is Bryan Adams and his music, especially his new rock album So Happy It Hurts, and his new re-recorded albums Classic and Classic II. I’m not that well-versed in anything from Bryan Adams all that much. Jon blogged about Bryan way back in 2019. And so, if you want to read about Bryan and his music, and his biggest hits like “Summer of 69”, “Everything I Do (I Do It For You)”, “Please Forgive Me”, “Heaven”, “Here I Am” and “All For One” to name a few; you can read that blog at your own pace. I subsequently rated Bryan’s album extremely high in 2022. But now that Bryan has unveiled a new holiday EP called A Rockin’ Christmas, comprising of 5 original melodies; the question remains as to whether each of the 5 original tracks, inclusive of the already reviewed “Let’s Get Christmas Going”, rates high compared to other hit original Christmas melodies by other artists or at least how do these songs compare to holiday singles from Dan + Shay and Love & The Outcome which I reviewed way back in October this year?
So let’s recap. Sadly, the lead single and EP opener “Let’s Get Christmas Going” never gets off the ground. The single is dreary, meandering, and monotonous; as Bryan relays that we need to get Christmas going to get into the spirit of the holiday. It’s a vague as anything, and I can’t in good conscience recommend this song to anybody. It’s an unfortunate outcome because Bryan is talented in his music. Unfortunately, also, I haven’t yet gained a better appreciation for the song as I’m listening to the rest of the tired melodies. As such, “Let’s Get Christmas Going” can get going into the trash can. “Christmas Time” (the ‘Classic’ version of the song) is a ‘inspirational’ kind of rock melody, but like the album opener, Bryan doesn’t really go hard enough nor further in the lyrics, as it is another vague melody where Bryan outlines that ‘…there’s something about Christmas time, something about Christmas time, that makes you wish it was Christmas everyday, to see the joy in the children’s eyes, the way that the old folks smile, says that Christmas will never go away, we’re all as one tonight, makes no difference if you’re black or white, ’cause we can sing together in harmony, I know it’s not too late, the world would be a better place, if we can keep the spirit more than one day in the year, send a message loud and clear…’, and it’s a song where Bryan reiterates that Christmas time is special, but at the end of the day, we don’t actually know why! “Joe And Mary”, a modern-day retelling of the Christmas story, only touches upon the birth of Jesus, but only in the way how it impacted human history in terms of culture, and not about the divinity of Jesus at all; while the absurdly nonsensical “Must Be Santa” is incredibly grating and quite juvenile. “Merry Christmas” rounds out the EP, and is… nice and fine. But I’d rather listen to Ed Sheeran and Elton John’s song of the same name, and let’s just leave it at that, as Bryan tries hard in this song, but still misses the mark.
When I listened to So Happy It Hurts, I concluded that though there were a number of the romantic songs on this album quite possibly being able to be interpreted as worship songs to Jesus- even if that wasn’t Bryan’s intention; Bryan Adams’ latest all new studio album is a reinvigorating breath of fresh air. An album full of positive and happy moments and a collection of songs that are musically and lyrically extremely cohesive; So Happy It Hurts is an album that demands to be listened to; no matter if you love rock music or not. This album is a must for fans of artists like Sting, Bon Jovi, Rod Stewart, and Bruce Springsteen. However A Rockin’ Christmas, though rocking, isn’t engaging at all, and the Christmas EP as a whole pales in comparison. Perhaps you can wait for such a time as Bryan decides to create a full length Christmas album. But at this stage, let’s stay clear from this EP and listen to “Behold” and “Christmas Hits Different” instead!
3 songs to listen to: Christmas Time, Joe And Mary, Merry Christmas
Score: 1.5/5
RIYL: Sting, Bon Jovi, Rod Stewart, Bruce Springsteen, Richard Marx, Ronan Keating, U2, Queen