We all know Bryan Adams and what a great songwriter he is as he has had numerous hits such as “Cuts Like A Knife” and “Summer of ’69’ to only name a couple. He and his writing partner Jim Valance are two of the best. But did you know they also wrote for other artists? Before Bryan was famous as Bryan Adams, he and Jim wrote a couple songs for the band Kiss. On the Kiss album ‘Creatures of the Night’, they have two songs and both written with Gene Simmons and sung by Gene. One is one of his trademark songs “War Machine” and the other is “Rock And Roll Hell. What we have here is the brand new single released from Bryan covering those two songs. Is it technically a cover if he wrote it? Good question.

After all these years, why has he suddenly decided to release his own version? Easy, Bryan has started a brand new record label called Bad Records and this was his way of kicking off that label and it’s very first single release. They were released digitally and they decided to actually release a 7″ Vinyl Single as well which of course I had to buy as I am a huge Kiss fan and “Creatures” is one of my favorite albums by the band. It is Kiss Adjacent so I had to get it.

A-SIDE:

The A-Side is “War Machine” and Bryan was only 22 when he wrote this with Gene all thanks to a call from the albums producer Michael James Jackson. So young and so talented! Gene had the original bass line that is the driving force behind the song and Bryan came up with the War Machine theme of the song. Bryan’s version keeps that dark, heavy bass and the whole evil, vibe of the song. He tries his best to sound as evil and menacing as Gene, but this is Bryan Adams and it is hard to see him as evil. I think this a fun single to see Bryan try to be so bad and they do a great job with it. I like it. This might be the heaviest of heavy metal songs Bryan has ever performed and that scream at the end…chills!! LOL!!

B-Side:

The B-Side was the other song they brought to the table and wrote with Gene and this one is “Rock And Roll Hell” and quite fitting for Gene songs..War and Hell…fits perfectly. This one is also another evil, menacing type song and Bryan does the best he can do. They make some changes, as there is some extra echos added in to the song and the cowbell is quite prominent. It doesn’t quite feel as evil, but damn, the guitar work is sensational and there is a killer solo by, I am assuming his long time, amazing guitarists, Keith Scott…he is awesome. Another valiant effort, but Bryan is no Gene. Still fun stuff and a really cool piece.

I am really thrilled to see bands releasing 7″ Singles again. I’ve gotten them from Bryan Adams, Bon Jovi, Kiss and Ghost. I hope they keep doing it as I’ll keep buying them. This release from Bryan was completely unexpected and what a freaking treat. I love he did these and hopefully we will get more from him from songs he’s written with other people. Cool idea!!