Produced by Adams and Bob Clearmountain and originally released on the A&M label on the artist’s 25th birthday, Reckless spawned five Top 15 singles in the U.S. – a feat previously only accomplished by Michael Jackson’s 1982 Thriller and Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the U.S.A., also from 1984. Bolstered by the success of those five tracks – “Run to You”, “Somebody”, “Heaven”, “Summer of ’69”, “One Night Love Affair”, and “It’s Only Love” – Reckless peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard albums chart and became the first Canadian-recorded album to sell more than one million units in Canada. Bryan Adams 1984 album Reckless has really become his signature album for his career. Although Everything I Do, I Do It For You was his most successful single, that was found on the Waking Up the Neighbours. The album Reckless really was a monster hit. It spawned 6 Top 40 singles including the #1 hit Heaven (the other songs were Run to You, Somebody, Summer of 69, One Night Love Affair, and Its Only Love. Reckless was released at a time when the music and pop industry was in one of its peak periods for the decade. The fact that Reckless had multi-platnium sales and 6 Top 40 singles during a very competitive time in the industry speaks volumes for this particular piece of work. Bryan also came out when Canadian musicians was making an impact. Rush was continuing to be a major force in progressive Rock while Corey Hart had some success on the Pop circuit. Adams would soon pass them and become Canadas #1 music act in terms of commerical sales. The Title Reckless says it all. Reckless is actually a reference in to a line in the final song Aint Gonna Cry in which Adams sings I got Reckless baby. The album was made when Adams was in his mid 20s and really does a great job at telling tales from a young males perspective of someone this age. The songs from the album were all collaborations between Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance. Many people say when the Adams/Vallance duo split from songwriting in the 90s that Adams career went into decline. But it was Vallance who contributed some of the strongest songwriting in Bryans career. Bryan Adams has always been blessed with working with some of the most talented studio musicians in the business. Many of these musicians have stayed with Bryan for the past 20 years. Keith Scott and Dave Taylor have been long time guitarists. Vallance makes percussion contributions. Mickey Curry and Pat Steward are the drummers while Tommy Mandel plays keyboards. The producer of this album is Bob Clearmountain known to be one of the best studio mixers in the business. Clearmountain did a great job at working the right sound on this album. The content of the album is first rate all the way. As for the packaging, the cover features what has become a trademark black and white picture of Bryan Adams with a classic 80s haircut and a leather jacket. The liner notes contain all of the lyrics to all of the songs as well as the band credits and contributions on each song. There are also 3 notable guests on the album. The most famous of the 3 is Tina Turner who actually shares lead vocals with Bryan on the Top 40 hit Its Only Love. Her contribution on this album actually coincided with her big comeback in 1984. The chemistry between Bryan and Tina in this song is incredible and passionate (so much there were actually romantic rumors between the two). Lou Gramm of Foreigner does some background vocals on Shes Only Happy When Shes Dancing which wasnt a Top 40 hit, but could have easily have been one. Steve Smith of Journey does Drums on the hit Heaven. The album is arranged perfectly. I couldnt think of a better song to kick off the Reckless album than One Night Love Affair and I couldnt think of a better song to wrap the album up with than Aint Gonna Cry. All of the songs are harder edge Rock songs except for Heaven which was the lone ballad. The best song on the album is probably the song Run To You. This was the first single released from the album and it really put Bryan Adams on the music landscape. I never grow tired of that song. What also is worth noting are the non Top 40 songs that are on this album Aint Gonna Cry, Long Gone, and Shes Only Happy When Shes Dancing all merit as solid hits. The 4th song Kids Wanna Rock is a fan favorite, but not a personal favorite of mine - yet it too could have been a solid hit based on its popularity. I was very surprised this album didnt get consideration for Album of the Year. There is a lot of great lyrics and great music to back this up. After this album, Adams would release Into The Fire which might not have been the commerical monster that Reckless was, but would continue to the path of Adams becoming one of the premier musicians in the industry. vinylrecords.ca/bryan-adams-reckless-1984-canadian-rock-p-17964.html
Posted on: Sun, 28 Dec 2014 07:46:27 +0000
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