Phil Thornalley

ROOM SERVICE is the tenth studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Bryan Adams. The album was released by Polydor Records on September 10, 2004. Room Service was the first release of new Adams material since the soundtrack album Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron in 2002 and the first studio album in six years since On a Day Like Today. Adams produced the album and co-wrote the songs with various co-writers, the themes of the songs being varied between street life, touring, truth, love and relationships.

The British trio Johnny Hates Jazz had Spandau Ballet's striking attire, clean-cut looks, and knack for smooth, glossy pop songs that were more soulful than the critics gave them credit for. Unfortunately, like Spandau Ballet Johnny Hates Jazz were stigmatized in the U.S. by an omnipresent hit that burned out interest in the group before the rest of their discography had the chance to be heard. Johnny Hates Jazz was formed in 1986 by Clark Datchler (vocals, piano), Calvin Hayes (keyboards), and Mike Nocito (bass). Named after a friend who despised jazz, Johnny Hates Jazz released their first single, "Me and My Foolish Heart," on RAK Records that year. The band searched for a major-label deal, and they were signed by Virgin Records after a gig at, ironically enough, a jazz club near the end of 1986.

This album will raise eyebrows. After all, didn't Johnny Hates Jazz have only one hit song? Forget the band's brief popularity on the American charts. Johnny Hates Jazz was a vastly underrated group, a British pop act whose handsome looks blinded many to the talent bubbling underneath the surface. Most of the record consists of tracks from the band's debut LP, Turn Back the Clock, and their lesser-known follow-up, Tall Stories. Tall Stories was recorded after vocalist Clark Datchler left the group, replaced by Phil Thornalley. Since the long-deleted Tall Stories is hard to find, this might be the only opportunity for fans to hear songs from it. Three of them are collected here: "Let Me Change Your Mind," "Last to Know," and "Fool's Gold." Sounding no different than anything on Turn Back the Clock, these tracks prove that Johnny Hates Jazz didn't lose their knack for soulful, danceable hooks after Datchler's departure. Given that Turn Back the Clock has no filler, the songs taken from that album shouldn't been seen as providing the complete picture.

The first Johnny Hates Jazz album to feature original vocalist Clark Datchler since 1988's Turn Back the Clock, 2013's Magnetized, reunites Datchler with original bassist Mike Nocito. After scoring several hits with Turn Back the Clock, including the ubiquitous radio single "Shattered Dreams," creative differences found Datchler leaving the band to be replaced by Phil Thornalley for 1991's Tall Stories. That sophomore release did not fare as well as their debut and Johnny Hates Jazz soon folded altogether. After reconnecting in 2009, Datchler and Nocito conceived of an album of new Johnny Hates Jazz material with Datchler writing the songs and Nocito producing, as well as handling the engineering and programming.