Room Service

1	East Side Story 3:22
2	This Side of Paradise 3:50
3	Not Romeo Not Juliet 3:38
4	Flying 4:04
5	She's a Little Too Good for Me 2:37
6	Open Road 3:28
7	Room Service 2:53
8	I Was Only Dreamin' 2:32
9	Right Back Where I Started From 3:41
10	Nowhere Fast 3:48
11	Why Do You Have to Be So Hard to Love 2:57

Barnes & Noble

It's been more than seven years since Bryan Adams last released a studio album in these parts, so it's kind of endearing that he'd choose to record Room Service on the fly -- the title is a testament to the fact that he put the disc together while on the road in Europe, literally living out of a suitcase. That sense of being uprooted plays a large part in the disc's 11 tunes, which find the Canadian singer-songwriter wrestling with life questions from a variety of perspectives. At times, as on the highway-ready "This Side of Paradise," Adams is relentlessly upbeat, striving to savor life's fleeting pleasures as they whiz by in the ether. Elsewhere, as on the spare, unblinking title track, he's striving to come to terms with loneliness and isolation, moods that are underscored by his plaintive delivery. As is his wont, Adams spends a good bit of time pining over love lost ("I Was Only Dreaming") and love just within reach (the infectious "East Side Story"), but the disc isn't quite as steeped in sweetness as his mid-'90s work. An affable return from a gent who can still channel the spirit of the "Summer of '69." David Sprague

All Music Guide

Bryan Adams released his ninth studio album, Room Service, in September 2004 in the U.K. and his native Canada, and it took seven additional months for the disc to receive American release. Room Service sounds as if Adams unearthed a collection of punchy, polished pop/rock tunes and power ballads that he cut 15 years previously and released it as his new album. Marginally better than 1996's 18 'Til I Die, where Adams seemed desperate to sound and (more accurately) look hip, Room Service isn't bad -- it never takes enough risks to be bad; it's merely pleasant and professional -- and surely Adams fans who have stuck with him this long will find it ingratiating. Stephen Thomas Erlewine