“EVERYTHING I DO? GREAT SONG!”

Canadian singer, songwriter, photographer and purveyor of commercial rock, Bryan Adams, returns with album No 17, Roll With The Punches. It’s incredible that he still finds the time to record and tour, given everything else he does – including activism for various causes. Yet, while Joel McIver was expecting an enlightening chat about a 40-year career of playing arenas, possibly with some interesting anecdotes about Tina Turner and the Canadian honours system, he wasn't expecting to duet with Adams on a rendition of Britain’s longest-running No 1 single...

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It’s been 41 years since Bryan Adams entered global consciousness with his 12-million-selling album, Reckless, although he’d already enjoyed plenty of success in his native North America with three earlier LPs. Reckless was chock-full of hit singles - Summer Of '69, Run To You, Somebody, a duet with Tina Turner called It's Only Love - and just what the world was ready for at the time. Compare the similar levels of adulation afforded Born In The U.S.A. by Bruce Springsteen, also released in 1984, an album that delivered a similar brand of heart-on-sleeve, heartland anthemic rock.

Seven years later, Adams stepped up even further with his signature song, (Everything I Do) I Do It For You, a Grammy-winning, Oscar-nominated power ballad from 1991's Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves soundtrack. Those tentpole releases remain the headlines of Adams' career, but dig deeper and you'll find that the singer, now 65, has been phenomenally busy in other areas since then. As well as releasing regular albums, he exhibits his photography worldwide, he runs his own philanthropic foundation, and he raises awareness for several charities. The man seems to possess inexhaustible supplies of energy.

Adams' new album, Roll With The Punches, is a watershed release for him in some ways: it's his first since he split from his longtime manager Bruce Allen in 2023, and also the first on his own label, Bad Records. This means that he's on even more fiery form than usual when we meet over Zoom between UK tour dates. We've heard a six-song sampler of the new album and can confirm that, much like the man, it's energetic and somewhat confrontational.