Bryan Adams - Get Up, album review: 'highlights his gift for a melody'

Frankly it’s hard to imagine even the Adams family rousing themselves to joy at the prospect of a new Bryan album - not just his first proper one since 2008’s miserable 11, but one where he’s so short of inspiration that he gives up after nine tracks and repeats four of them acoustically.

But there’s a terrific twist to an over-familiar tale.

This time around, Adams been produced by Electric Light Orchestra’s Jeff Lynne, who has re-invigorated his client, much as he did with George Harrison in the late-‘80s.

The songs remain, basic, chorus heavy and occasionally witty (Go Down Rockin’ indeed), but Lynne’s warm sheen and deft touch banish Adams’s traditional plod factor, highlights his gift for a melody, and brings a verve that the Canadian seemed to have lost forever.

What a surprise.

(Polydor)