Into the Fire (album)

Music

Recording and production

The recording for Into the Fire started on 16 August 1986 and finished on 24 October. It was recorded at a studio set up in Adams' home in Vancouver, British Columbia.{{cite news

By the time Into the Fire was completed, Adams and Vallance were satisfied with only two songs: The dark "Victim of Love" and the upbeat "Hearts on Fire". A possible influence on the album was Adams' involvement of the six-city "Amnesty International Conspiracy of Hope" tour in 1986. Adams says in the "Into the Fire" songbook that the album's title track refers to a man who is at a crossroads and does not quite know what to do with his life, which is how Adams felt when he started recording the album after the massive success of Reckless.

Release and reception

The album was released on 30 March 1987 and featured the singles "Heat of the Night" and "Hearts on Fire". Though commercially successful, peaking at number seven on the Billboard 200, the expectations for Into The Fire were set by the overwhelming success of Adams' previous number one hit album Reckless. That album had sold over 12 million; in that context Into the Fire, which sold over 2 million copies worldwide at its time of release, was viewed as a commercial failure.

As Adams said:

Critical reception was generally unfavourable, with the album's lyrics being particularly singled out as substandard. Robert Christgau knocked Into The Fire for its "dumbness density", noting that he counted "an astonishing fifty-six full-fledged clichés on what's supposed to be a significance move."

Steve Hochman of Rolling Stone expressed similar sentiments:

A retrospective review from Eduardo Rivera at AllMusic characterized most of the album's songs as "lifeless and dull", with some even being called "depressing", "ugly" or "truly awful". Only "Hearts on Fire" met with Rivera's critical approval.

"Heat of the Night" was the debut single from Into the Fire and was released worldwide in March 1987. In the US, the song ascended to number 2 on the US Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and at number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100.{{cite magazine | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090113152917/http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/retrieve_chart_history.do?model.chartFormatGroupName=Albums&model.vnuArtistId=3925&model.vnuAlbumId=1114451 | url-status=dead | archive-date=January 13, 2009 | access-date=2008-06-24 }}{{cite web |access-date=2008-06-24 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130808001221/http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?resultpage=1&table=SEARCH_RESULTS&action=&title=&artist=Lostprophets&format=&debutLP=&category=&sex=&releaseDate=&requestNo=&type=&level=&label=&company=&certificationDate=&awardDescription=&catalogNo=&aSex=&rec_id=&charField=&gold=&platinum=&multiPlat=&level2=&certDate=&album=&id=&after=&before=&startMonth=1&endMonth=1&startYear=1958&endYear=2007&sort=Artist&perPage=25 |archive-date=2013-08-08 |access-date=2008-06-24 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080913103452/http://www.everyhit.com/ |archive-date=2008-09-13 | access-date=2008-03-07}} and was Adams' only single from Into the Fire to chart in mainland Europe. "Heat of the Night" was eventually nominated for a Canadian Juno Award for Single of the Year in 1987.

"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 number 26 on the Hot 100 chart and at number 3 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart while reaching number 25 in Canada.

"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 "Victim of Love" reaching number 10 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, number 32 on the Hot 100 and number 49 on the Canadian Singles chart. "Only the Strong Survive" reached number 47 in Canada. "Another Day", which was released as the B-side to "In the Heat of Night", peaked at number 33 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. The title track also received airplay on American album-oriented rock radio stations and reached number 6 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.

"Native Son" was covered by Dan Ar Braz on his 1991 album Frontières de sel.

Track listing

Personnel

Personnel taken from Into the Fire liner notes.

• Bryan Adams – lead vocals, rhythm guitars (1, 2, 4–10), keyboards (7, 10), gang vocals (1, 8), lead guitar (1, 4), piano (5, 8)
• Keith Scott – lead guitar (2, 3, 5, 7–10), rhythm guitars (5, 7–10), gang vocals (1, 8), guitar harmonics (1), harmony guitar (4), slide guitar (6)
• Dave Taylor – bass
• Mickey Curry – drums

Additional musicians

• Robbie King – organ (1, 4, 6, 7)
• Tommy Mandel – keyboards (2), organ (5, 9, 10)
• Dave "Pick" Pickell – piano (3, 6, 7)
• Ian Stanley – keyboards (3, 5, 8)
• Jim Vallance – percussion, piano (1, 4, 10), sequencing (2, 8), keyboards (3), gang vocals (8)

Production

• Bryan Adams – producer
• Bob Clearmountain – producer, recording, mixing
• Jim Vallance – associate producer
• Tim Crich – recording
• Richard Moakes – second engineer
• Ron Obvious – technical engineer
• Bob Ludwig – mastering
• Masterdisk (New York, NY) – mastering location
• Jeff Gold – art direction
• John Warwicker – art direction
• Platform – design
• Anton Corbijn – photography
• Hans Sipma – photography

Charts

Weekly charts

Certifications

References

References

1. (1995). "The Great Rock Discography".
2. Giles, Jeff. (5 November 2015). "The Story of Bryan Adams' Only No. 1 Album, 'Reckless'".
3. (30 March 1987). "Bryan Adams - Into The Fire".
4. Sentinel, THOM DUFFY, The Orlando. (22 May 1987). "BRYAN ADAMS STRETCHING OUT FROM 'RECKLESS' THE ROCK SINGER'S NEW ALBUM ISN'T A RADICAL DEPARTURE FROM THE HIT LP RECKLESS. BUT INTO THE FIRE IS HIS MOST AMBITIOUS EFFORT TO DATE.".
5. "Bryan Adams Into The Fire Chart History".
6. "Into the Fire". JimVallance.com.
7. Rivadavia, Eduardo. (2011-04-03). "Into the Fire Review".
8. (2011). "The Encyclopedia of Popular Music". [[Omnibus Press]].
9. WILLMAN, CHRIS. (1987-04-05). "Bryan Adams Grows Up". [[Los Angeles Times]].
10. (1999). "MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide". Visible Ink Press.
11. Uricchio, Marylynn. (1987-04-24). "Variety would spice up Adams' 'Into the Fire'". [[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]].
12. Brackett, Nathan. (2004). "The Rolling Stone Album Guide". Simon and Schuster.
13. Christgau, Robert. (June 2, 1987). "Into the Fire". [[The Village Voice]].
14. Hochman, Steve. (1987-05-21). "Bryan Adams: Into The Fire".
15. "Maple Briefs," ''Billboard'' magazine, 08 August 1987, p. 66
16. "1987 | Single of the Year | Bryan Adams".
17. (1987). "Into The Fire".
18. {{cite Kent
19. (May 9, 1987). "European Top 100 Albums".
20. "German Chart". Charts-Surfer.