Into the Fire (album)

Infobox Album
Name = Into the Fire
Type = Album
Artist = Bryan Adams


Released = March 30, 1987
Recorded =
Genre = Rock
Length = 44:53
Label = A&M
Producer = Bryan Adams
Bob Clearmountain
Reviews =
* Allmusic Rating|2|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:bmf1zfoheh2k link]
*
* "Rolling Stone" NR [http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/cd/review.asp?aid=26030 link]
Last album = "Reckless"
(1984)
This album = "Into the Fire"
(1987)
Next album = "Live! Live! Live!"
(1988)
Misc = Singles
Name = Into the Fire
Type = studio
single 1 = Heat of the Night
single 1 date = 1987
single 2 = Hearts on Fire
single 2 date = 1987
single 3 = Victim of Love
single 3 date = 1987
single 4 = Only the Strong Survive
single 4 date = 1987
single 5 = Into the Fire
single 5 date = 1987
single 6 = Another Day
single 6 date = 1987

"Into the Fire" is the fifth studio album by the Canadian rock artist Bryan Adams. Released on March 30, 1987 through A&M Records, the album was a huge commercial success selling over 2 million units worldwide, peaking at number 7 on the US "Billboard" 200 chart and reaching high positions in charts worldwide. It was recorded at Adams' home in London, England.

Six singles were released from the album: "Heat of the Night", "Hearts on Fire", "Victim of Love", "Only the Strong Survive", "Into the Fire" and "Another Day".cite web
url=http://skolarbete.nu/skolarbeten/bryan-adams/
title=The Life Of Bryan
language=Da icon
publisher=-skolarbete.nu
accessdate=2008-06-24 ]

Music

Recording and production

The recording for "Into the Fire" started on August 16, 1986 and finished on October 24. It was recorded a studio set up in Adams' house.cite news
title=Album notes for Anthology by Dave Marsh (CD booklet). A&M Records (A&M 5613).
date=2005-10-18] Adams and his backing band, which consisted of Keith Scott, Mickey Curry, Dave Taylor and Tommy Mandel, used the dining room, bathroom and bedroom to isolate the different instruments. The studio was named Cliffhanger since Adams' house was close to the sea. "Heat of the Night" was recorded September 12, 1986. "Hearts on Fire" was originally written for "Reckless" in 1984 but was recorded on September 1, 1986. "Hearts on Fire" was mixed in London, England on January 11.

By the time "Into the Fire" was completed, there were only two songs Vallance and Adams were satisfied with: the dark and depressing "Victim Of Love", and the upbeat "Hearts On Fire", which was written during the "Reckless" recording sessions, two years earlier."cite web | url=http://jimvallance.com/01-music-folder/songs-folder-may-27/pg-song-adams-into-the-fire.html |title=Into the Fire| publisher=JimVallance.com | accessdate=2008-10-07] A significant influence to the album was Adams' involvement with Sting, Peter Gabriel and U2 on the six-city "Amnesty International Conspiracy of Hope" tour in 1986. After the Amnesty tour Adams wanted to be taken more seriously as a songwriter and recording artist. Adams believed a change in musical and lyrical direction was the way to achieve that goal.

As Adams said to "Rolling Stone Magazine" "We wanted to make a record with more lyrical depth". Where Adams had previously used guitars, they would instead employ the latest in "sampling".

The song "Into The Fire" was recorded in 1986 at "Cliffhanger", his home studio in West Vancouver. At the recording session Adams and Bob Clearmountain had problems with the guitar sound. On the demo for "Into the Fire" Adams and Vallance used a Rockman pocket amplifier.

Release and reception

One of Adams' most successful albums, "Into the Fire" co-produced by Adams and Bob Clearmountain, peaked at number seven on the Billboard 200. The album was released in March 1987 and featured the singles "Heat of the Night", and "Hearts on Fire". The hit single "Heat of the Night" was nominated for a Juno Award for Single of the Year in 1987, and became Adams' only single from Into the Fire to chart in mainland Europe. This doesn't mean the album was unsuccessful since the album sold over two million copies worldwide at its time of release while Adams previous album, "Reckless", had sold over 12 million and in that context "Into The Fire" can only be viewed as a commercial failure. As Adams said:

"I have to laugh when the press say that LP didn't do well because it did as well as "Cuts Like Knife", but I suppose the perception was it wasn't "Reckless II"! Who cares? There were some songs that were slightly different than what we had written before ... some were, lets say, slightly more exploratory than we'd written in the past. Vallance was up for the songwriting challenge of not repeating "Reckless"."

"Heat of the Night" was the debut single from "Into the Fire" and was released in the summer of 1987. It was released worldwide in March 1987. The song reached the top ten on the mainstream Rock Tracks at number 2 and it charted on the "Billboard" Hot 100 where it peaked at 6. "Heat of the Night" reached the top ten on the Canadian album chart and remained in the top ten for five weeks. It attained the highest Canadian chart position Adams had reached and was Adams' first top ten single in Canada. "Heat of the Night" was released the following month in the UK and peaked in the top fifty on the UK Singles Chart at fifty.

"Hearts on Fire" was the second single from "Into the Fire". The song become a minor hit at its time of release. The song peaked at twenty-six on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart and peaked at number 3 on the "Billboard" mainstream rock tracks.

"Victim of Love" and "Only the Strong Survive" would be the two follow-up singles to "Hearts on Fire". These singles became minor hits with "Only the Strong Survive" charting in Canada at 47. The next single was "Into the Fire" which became a hit in the United States at its time of release and peaked at 6 on the "Billboard" mainstream rock tracks. The last single from the album "Another Day" peaked at 33 on the "Billboard" mainstream rock tracks and was the last single to be released from the album.

Into the Fire Tour

On May, 1987 Adams startet the the Into the Fire tour where his first performance was in Shreveport, Louisianna with his backing band. Adams first stop of the UK leg of the tour at the Prince’s Trust charity concert at Wembley Stadium, London. Adams would later heads back to the United States to continue the American leg of the tour, Adams appeared on The David Letterman Show. Adams would later sell out two nights in a row at Madison Square Garden in New York City and was visited backstage by Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, he would later get a sold out show in Toronto, Ontario. The tour continued through the Western United States. Adams heads back to the UK on October 13 in Newcastle, England. Adams sold out four nights in a row at Wembley Arena in London. Adams starts his tour in mainland Europe and Adams previous album "Reckless" achieves gold status in Sweden and "Into The Fire" achieves gold status in Switzerland and later he travels to Dublin, Ireland. Adams started the Asian leg of the tour and ended up selling out ten concerts, five of which were in Tokyo's Budokan. "Into the Fire" ends up being certified platinum with sales over 100,000 copies sold in Japan. Adams headed back to Europe and played in East Berlin and later West Berlin. The last concert part of the Into the Fire tour was played in Locarno, Switzerland.

Track listing

tracklist
writing_credits = yes

title1 = Heat of the Night
writer1 = Adams, Vallance
length1 = 5:07

title2 = Into the Fire
writer2 = Adams, Vallance
length2 = 4:41

title3 = Victim of Love
writer3 = Adams, Vallance
length3 = 4:06

title4 = Another Day
writer4 = Adams, Vallance
length4 = 3:41

title5 = Native Son
writer5 = Adams, Vallance
length5 = 6:04

title6 = Only the Strong Survive
writer6 = Adams, Vallance
length6 = 3:45

title7 = Rebel
writer7 = Adams, Vallance
length7 = 4:02

title8 = Remembrance Day
writer8 = Adams, Vallance
length8 = 5:59

title9 = Hearts on Fire
writer9 = Adams, Vallance
length9 = 3:30

title10 = Home Again
writer10 = Adams, Vallance
length10 = 4:18

Personnel

* Bryan Adams - guitar, piano, keyboards, vocals
* Keith Scott - lead guitar, backing vocals
* Mickey Curry - drums
* Dave Taylor - bass
* Tommy Mandel - organ, keyboards
* Robbie King - organ
* Jim Vallance - piano, percussion, sequencer
* Dave Pickell - piano
* Ian Stanley - keyboards

Chart positions

References