Bryan Adams: Waking Up the Neighbours (A&M)

WAKING UP the Neighbours will, with no sweat, reestablish Bryan Adams as the radio's hoarse purveyor of energy and fun. A scrupulously careful yet adamantly alive piece of work, this collaboration between the Canadian singer-guitarist and the Midas-touch songwriter-producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange alternates half-tamed sonic raunch like 'Is Your Mama Gonna Miss Ya?' and 'Hey Honey — I'm Packin' You In!' with eloquent mall ballads such as '(Everything I Do) I Do It for You', Adams's current planet-wide phenomenon, and the even moodier 'Do I Have to Say the Words?' For further balance there is fairly soulful midtempo rock ('Depend on Me') and an oddly toned state-of-the-world finale called 'Don't Drop That Bomb on Me'.