Cuts Like a Knife

Cuts Like a Knife is the third studio album by the Canadian rock artist Bryan Adams. Released on 18 January 1983 through A&M Records, the album became a huge commercial success in Canada and the United States whereas outside North America, the album did poorly. After the release of Reckless the album would chart on the British album chart and would later be certified Silver by the BPI. It was recorded at Little Mountain Sound, Vancouver, Canada. The album was a commercial success and sold over 2 million copies worldwide.

Three singles were released from the album: "Straight from the Heart", "Cuts Like a Knife" and "This Time"; the three were responsible for launching Adams into mainstream popularity. The album is regarded as one of Adams' finest albums and of the greatest albums of the '80s. The album was named the #48 Greatest Canadian Album of All Time by Bob Mersereau in his book The Top 100 Canadian Albums.

Music

Recording and production

The recording for the album was between 13 August-20 October 1982. Mixing started on 14 October and ended on 20 October. "Straight from the Heart" was recorded at Little Mountain Sound, Vancouver, Canada by Bob Clearmountain and Adams; it was later mixed at Le Studio, Morin-Heights, Canada. "Straight from the Heart" was originally written in 1978; the title for the song originally came from his friend Eric Kagna. This song was the last recorded song for the album. Adams didn't really want "This Time" to be recorded but since Clearmountain insisted, the song was recorded at Little Mountain studio.

Cuts Like a Knife (song)

"Cuts Like a Knife" is a song by Canadian rock musician Bryan Adams. It was released in May 1983 as the second single from his third studio album Cuts Like a Knife (1983). It peaked at number 6 on the Billboard Top Tracks chart and number 15 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song has appeared on all of Adams' compilation albums with the exception of The Best of Me.

Writing and recording

In an interview in 1988 with Vancouver's Georgia Straight newspaper, Adams explained how Vallance and he came up with the title for the song:

"I think that I'm one of the world's best mumblers, I can mumble some of the best lyrics, but putting them together is another story. I think that's where Jim is really good -- he can piece a story together. It's just a good thing to have the tape rolling when you're recording me. The best example was when we wrote "Cuts Like A Knife," which was just literally a mumble. We looked at each other, rolled the tape back, and it sounded like "cuts like a knife," so we started singing that."