ROCK prodigy Ryan "not Bryan" Adams is nothing if not prolific - he churns out records and form new bands at a rate that would take most artists about six entire careers, while still only being in his twenties.

At the moment he seems to be living his own career in reverse. Having made his solo name with a confessional, country-influenced debut album, Heartbreaker, and mastered mainstream rock on Gold, he's now reverted to doing what you'd expect and plugged in his electric guitar to kick out the jams on a set of raw, livewire rockers.

Rock N Roll struts from U2's 1980s arena bluster to Nirvana's raw-throated energy and, inevitably, to shades of The Strokes. It's another side of Adams, but, like REM's attempt to do trashy punk rock on Monster, it's not quite convincing. Allegedly, it was recorded in response to the record company refusing to release Adams's introspective Love Is Hell album, the first part of which has now been quietly released as an EP. The record company were wrong. Although Love Is Hell Part One has patchy moments and isn't exactly a cheerful affair, it has much better songs. The title track and This House Is Not For Sale are among his best.

Updated: 09:30 Thursday, November 20, 2003