AMG Review of Anthology

Stephen Thomas Erlewine
All Music Guide

Spanning 36 tracks over the course of two CDs, 2005's Anthology is by far the most comprehensive Bryan Adams compilation yet released. While this doesn't have every charting hit he's had -- minor singles like "Fits Ya Good" are missing in action -- it does have every noteworthy hit, from "Lonely Nights" in 1982 to "This Side of Paradise" in 2005. Since his first compilation, 1993's So Far So Good, was frustratingly incomplete, it's nice to have Anthology be so comprehensive, even if it's exhaustive to a fault. There will be many fans that just want the first disc, which roughly spans from 1982 to 1993: it's the one that has his biggest and best songs, while the second disc, covering 1993 to 2005, has songs that not only were bigger in Canada and Europe than the U.S., but tunes that leaned toward bland adult contemporary, lacking the anthemic rock of the hits from the first disc. That said, there is no better Bryan Adams compilation on the market and fans that don't like his later work can just listen to the first disc, which is about as good a distillation of his prime years as there could be. [Initial pressings of Anthology contained a bonus DVD that featured a full-length recent concert taped in Lisbon.]