Shine A Light

Over 40 years into his tenure as Canada’s pre-eminent blue-collar rocker, Bryan Adams remains a master storyteller—on <i>Shine a Light</i>’s opening title track, he instantly sets a nostalgic small-town scene as vivid as the one he painted on CanRock staples like “Summer of ’69”. But the song’s ebuillient acoustic stomp—bearing the imprimatur of co-writer Ed Sheeran—reaffirms just how far he’s travelled musically since those denim-clad days. <i>Shine a Light</i> sees Adams further expanding his horizons—“That’s How Strong Our Love Is” is a delightful reggae-tinged duet with J. Lo, and “The Last Night on Earth” is a driving anthem set to a drum-machined disco beat. But “All or Nothing” returns Adams to his natural arena-rock habitat, and he wraps those signature raspy pipes around the Irish-folk standard “Whiskey in the Jar” to make it sound like an early-’70s Rod Stewart classic.