''On a Day Like Today'' is the eighth
studio album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...
by Canadian singer-songwriter
Bryan Adams
Bryan Guy Adams (born 5 November 1959) is a Canadian musician, singer, songwriter, composer, and photographer. He has been cited as one of the best-selling music artists of all time, and is estimated to have sold between 75 million and mor ...
, released on October 27, 1998.
Singles
"
On a Day Like Today" was the first single released. It reached number thirteen in the UK and number one on the
Canadian Singles Chart
The Canadian Singles Chart was a chart compiled by the American-based music sales tracking company, Nielsen SoundScan, which began publication in November 1996. It was published every Wednesday and also published on Thursday by '' Jam!''/Canoe. I ...
. Follow-up single "
When You're Gone", featuring
Melanie C
Melanie Jayne Chisholm (12 January 1974 - 25 December 2022), better known as Melanie C or Mel C, is an English singer-songwriter and media personality. She is best known as one of the five members of the Spice Girls, during which time she was ni ...
, reached number three in the UK, and was in the top-ten for ten weeks, while peaking at number eleven in Canada. "
Cloud Number Nine
"Cloud Number Nine" (sometimes spelled as "Cloud #9" or "Cloud Number 9") is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter Bryan Adams. It was released on May 3, 1999, as the third single from his eighth studio album, '' On a Day Like Today'' (1998). The ...
" reached number six in the UK and number seven in Canada.
Critical reception
''On a Day Like Today'' received mixed reviews from critics. Writing for ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...
'', Tom Lanham gave the album a B+ rating, stating that "Adams started searching for that perfect balance of mature grace and useful guitar grind".
However, William Ruhlmann of
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
gave the album two-out-of-five stars, claiming that "Adams simply had no contemporary audience left, and this was not the record to rebuild his career. It was defiantly bereft of ballads, nothing to break on the AC chart, and even if his rock audience had been listening, there was nothing here to rank with his earlier signature hits".
Commercial performance
''On a Day Like Today'' was a success around the world, peaking at number three in Canada, and number eleven in the UK. However at the time in the U.S. market, it became the first of Adams' albums since 1983's ''
Cuts Like a Knife
''Cuts Like a Knife'' is the third studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Bryan Adams. Released on 18 January 1983 by A&M Records, the album was a huge commercial success in the United States and Canada. Three singles were released worldwide ...
'' not to obtain a
platinum
Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver".
Platinu ...
sales certification. According to
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
, the record company didn't do a lot of advertising for album, as Adams and this album got caught when his record company sold his recording contract to rap label
Interscope
Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture with Atlantic Records of Warner Musi ...
, who in turn did very little in the USA to promote it.
Track listing
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
Personnel
* Bryan Adams – vocals,
Wurlitzer electric piano
The Wurlitzer electronic piano is an electric piano manufactured and marketed by Wurlitzer from the mid-1950s to mid-1980s. Sound is generated by striking a metal reed with a hammer, which induces an electric current in a pickup. It is conceptua ...
,
Mellotron
The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which pushes a length of magnetic tape against a capstan, which pulls it across a playback head. A ...
, guitars, bass, arrangements, string arrangements
*
Robbie Buchanan
Robbie or Robby is a surname. It is usually encountered as a nickname or a shortened form of Robert, Rob or Robin. The name experienced a significant rise in popularity in Northern Ireland in 2003.
People Given name Robbie
*Robbie Amell (born 1 ...
– keyboards
* Mike Gillies – programming
*
Vincent Jones –
Hammond organ
The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...
*
Dave Pickell Dave may refer to:
Film, television, and theater
* ''Dave'' (film), a 1993 film starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver
* ''Dave'' (musical), a 2018 stage musical adaptation of the film
* Dave (TV channel), a digital television channel in the ...
– acoustic piano, Hammond organ
*
Phil Western
Phillip Charles Western (August 12, 1971 – February 4, 2019) was a Canadian musician, based in Vancouver and a founding member of the bands Download, PlatEAU, Frozen Rabbit, and Off and Gone.
Biography
Having started his career as a drumm ...
– keyboards, programming
*
Olle Romo
Olle Romö is a Swedish music producer, songwriter, and drummer.
Romo rehearsed with Swedish progressive rock group Kaipa in early 1982, however he left the group after a few weeks to join Eurythmics, and he was a drummer for them from the mid-to ...
– programming
*
Keith Scott – guitars,
six-string bass
An extended-range bass is an electric bass guitar with a wider frequency range than a standard-tuned four-string bass guitar.
Terminology
One way that a bass can be considered 'extended-range' is to use a tuning machine mechanism that allows fo ...
*
Phil Thornalley
Philip Thornalley (born 5 January 1960) is an English songwriter-producer who has worked in the music industry since 1978. He is perhaps best known for co-writing (with Scott Cutler and Anne Preven) the song " Torn" (made famous by Natalie Imbr ...
– guitars, bass, string arrangements (4)
*
Dave Taylor – bass
*
Mickey Curry
Michael Timothy Curry (born June 10, 1956) is an American musician. He has collaborated with singer-songwriter Bryan Adams since the early 1980s, but has also worked with Hall & Oates, Cher, Tina Turner, Alice Cooper, David Bowie, Elvis Costello, ...
– drums
* Danny Cummings – percussion
* Bob Buckley – string arrangements
* David Munday – string arrangements (4)
* Vancouver Orchestra – strings
*
Melanie C
Melanie Jayne Chisholm (12 January 1974 - 25 December 2022), better known as Melanie C or Mel C, is an English singer-songwriter and media personality. She is best known as one of the five members of the Spice Girls, during which time she was ni ...
– vocals (8)
Production
* Bryan Adams – producer, package design, photography
* Bob Rock – producer (1, 2, 3, 5-9, 11, 12, 14)
* Phil Thornalley – producer (4), additional recording
* Phil Western – producer (10), additional recording
*
Randy Staub
Randy Staub is a Canadian recording engineer. He has been nominated for the Juno Awards' " Recording Engineer of the Year" award 12 times. He won in 2002 for the songs "How You Remind Me" and "Too Bad" by Nickelback.Peebles, Frank (April 4, 2008). ...
– recording
*
Bob Clearmountain
Bob Clearmountain (born January 15, 1953) is an American recording engineer, mixer and record producer. He has worked with many major acts, including Bruce Springsteen, the Rolling Stones, Toto, Bon Jovi and Bryan Adams, with whom he has a very ...
– mixing
* Dean Maher – additional recording, mix assistant
*
Ron Obvious Ron is a shortening of the name Ronald.
Ron or RON may also refer to:
Arts and media
* Big Ron (''EastEnders''), a TV character
* Ron (''King of Fighters''), a video game character
*Ron Douglas, the protagonist in ''Lucky Stiff'' played by Joe A ...
– technical engineer
*
Bob Ludwig
Robert C. Ludwig (born c. 1945) is an American mastering engineer. He has mastered recordings on all the major recording formats for all the major record labels, and on projects by more than 1,300 artists including Led Zeppelin, Lou Reed, Qu ...
– mastering
* Gateway Mastering (Portland, Maine) – mastering location
* Sandy Brummels – art coordinator
* Glen Ross – package design
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:On A Day Like Today
1998 albums
A&M Records albums
Albums produced by Bob Rock
Albums recorded at The Warehouse Studio
Bryan Adams albums