Tracks of My Years

Tracks of My Years is the twelfth studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Bryan Adams. The covers album was released on September 30, 2014 by Polydor Records. It is an eclectic mix of songs reflective of the time when rock was played alongside pop, country and R&B, and follows Adams’ acoustic album, 2010's Bare Bones, a release that resulted in sold out shows across Europe, North America, Australia and South Africa.

"Tracks of My Years" is also the title of a feature on Ken Bruce's BBC Radio 2 show.

Tracks of My Years
Studio album by Bryan Adams
Released	September 30, 2014 (2014-09-30)
Recorded	2014
Genre	Rock
Length	33:00
Label	Polydor
Producer	David Foster, Bryan Adams, Bob Rock
Bryan Adams chronology
11 (2008) Tracks of My Years (2014) Get Up (2015)
Singles from Tracks of My Years
"She Knows Me" Released: August 27, 2014

The track list features 10 covers, including "Lay Lady Lay" (Bob Dylan), "I Can't Stop Loving You" (Ray Charles) and "Any Time at All" (The Beatles). The album also includes "She Knows Me", an original song written by Adams and Jim Vallance, which was released as the album's only single.

Background

Adams said of Tracks of My Years: "Making the selection of the songs for the album took a long time. We recorded all kinds of songs until the songs sort of presented themselves, or sounded different enough from the originals. We did about three months of recording, spread out over the course of two years."[1]

The album was mainly produced by David Foster and Bryan Adams. In 2016, Adams said he was "reluctant" to record a covers album, but his label Polydor wanted him to do it. Adams said, "I got into it in the end. And David is a brilliant producer — nothing against him. It just wasn’t something I really wanted to do." Adams simultaneously worked with producer Jeff Lynne on his thirteenth studio album, Get Up, which was released in 2015. Adams said of the process: "I would literally leave one studio where I was recording the covers with David Foster, and go to another studio where I was working on the new album with Jeff. That gave me the impetus to get through the Foster record, because I didn’t enjoy that at all."[2]

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number one on the Canadian Albums Chart, selling 14,000 copies in its first week[3] and at number 22 in Italy.[4] In the US, the album debuted at number 89 on the Billboard 200, selling 4,000 copies in its first week.[5] The album has sold 14,000 copies in the US as of September 2015.[6]

Track listing

Standard edition

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Any Time at All"	Lennon-McCartney	David Foster, Bryan Adams	2:34
2.	"She Knows Me"	Bryan Adams, Jim Vallance	Foster, Adams	3:37
3.	"I Can't Stop Loving You"	Don Gibson	Foster, Adams	3:39
4.	"Kiss and Say Goodbye"	Winfred Lovett	Bob Rock, Adams	3:10
5.	"Lay Lady Lay"	Bob Dylan	Foster, Adams	3:34
6.	"Rock and Roll Music"	Chuck Berry	Rock, Adams	2:34
7.	"Down on the Corner"	John Fogerty	Foster, Adams	2:39
8.	"Never My Love"	Don Addrisi, Dick Addrisi	Foster, Adams	3:17
9.	"Sunny"	Bobby Hebb	Foster, Adams	3:31
10.	"The Tracks of My Tears"	Robinson, Moore, Tarplin	Foster, Adams	2:56
11.	"God Only Knows"	Brian Wilson, Tony Asher	Foster, Adams	3:30

Deluxe edition (bonus tracks)

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
12.	"You've Been a Friend to Me"	Adams, Gretchen Peters	Foster, Adams	2:50
13.	"Help Me Make It Through the Night"	Kris Kristofferson	Foster, Adams	2:40
14.	"C'mon Everybody"	Eddie Cochran, Jerry Capehart	Rock, Adams	2:50
15.	"Many Rivers to Cross"	Jimmy Cliff	Foster, Adams	4:09
16.	"You Shook Me"	Willie Dixon, J.B. Lenoir	Foster, Adams	3:47

Japanese edition (bonus track)

No.	Title	Length
17.	"Let It Be Me"	3:20

Charts

Chart (2014)	Peak position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[7]	61
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[8]	5
Canadian Albums (Billboard)[9]	1
Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[10]	13
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[11]	38
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[12]	34
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[13]	41
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[14]	5
Portuguese Albums (AFP)[15]	10
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[16]	6
UK Albums (OCC)[17]	11

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)[18]	Gold	40,000^^
^*sales figures based on certification alone ^^shipments figures based on certification alone

References

1. "Bryan Adams: New Album 'Tracks Of My Years' Will Cover Bob Dylan, Ray Charles, The Beatles : Genres". Music Times. August 2, 2014. Retrieved April 19, 2015.
2. Keith Valcourt (October 15, 2015). "Bryan Adams: 'Get Up, Stay Up'". The Washington Times.
3. Cross, Alan (October 1, 2014). "Weekly Music Sales Report and Analysis: 08 October 2014". A Journal of Musical Things. Retrieved April 19, 2015.
4. "Album". Archived from the original on June 26, 2014. Retrieved August 27, 2014.
5. Caulfield, Keith (October 12, 2014). "Billboard 200 Chart Moves: Herb Alpert Returns After 27-Year Absence". Billboard. Retrieved October 10, 2014.
6. "Upcoming Releases". Hits Daily Double. HITS Digital Ventures. Archived from the original on September 17, 2015.
7. Ryan, Gavin (October 18, 2014). "Triple J Has Australia's Number One Album". Noise11. Retrieved October 20, 2014.
8. "Austriancharts.at – Bryan Adams – Tracks of My Years" (in German). Hung Medien.
9. "Bryan Adams Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard.
10. "Danishcharts.dk – Bryan Adams – Tracks of My Years". Hung Medien.
11. "Ultratop.be – Bryan Adams – Tracks of My Years" (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
12. "Ultratop.be – Bryan Adams – Tracks of My Years" (in French). Hung Medien.
13. "Dutchcharts.nl – Bryan Adams – Tracks of My Years" (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
14. "Longplay-Chartverfolgung at Musicline" (in German). Musicline.de. Phononet GmbH.
15. "Portuguesecharts.com – Bryan Adams – Tracks of My Years". Hung Medien.
16. "Swisscharts.com – Bryan Adams – Tracks of My Years". Hung Medien.
17. "Bryan Adams | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart.
18. "Canadian album certifications – Bryan Adams – Tracks of My Years". Music Canada. Retrieved October 7, 2019.