Reckless

I borrowed my mom's CD and then after I did, I went out and bought my own copy....along with one for my best friend, who also loved this album and was looking to explore Bryan Adams.

'Reckless' is widely considered Bryan Adams' first master stroke, and to be honest - it deserves all the credit it has been given in this particular scope of his career. I don't think there is one miss on this album, and from his first album to this point Bryan Adams kept improving and growing as an artist.

The album is full of smash hits, and the album had six hit singles from the album that all made the top fifteen in the US Hot 100 - which prior to Bryan Adams achieving was only done so by Michael Jackon's 'Thriller'. The singles from the album have all become staples of Bryan Adams' career - 'Run To You', 'Summer of '69', 'Heaven', 'Somebody', 'One Night Love Affair' and 'It's Only Love' featuring the lovely Tina Turner.

However, while all those songs are great there are definitely some other tracks on the album that deserve mentioning - 'Kids Wanna Rock' is classic BA at his best, She's Only Happy When She's Dancin' is a fun little groove, 'Long Gone' is a silly break up song, and 'Ain't Gonna Cry' is another break up song and the one thing that makes me laugh at the end of 'Ain't Gonna Cry' is the creepy screaming at the end. Kind of reminds me of something I heard in a horror movie.

Overall this is a great album and it's obvious why this album has held the tests of time. If you're looking to explore Bryan Adams more as an artist and aren't yet familiar with his discography, I would definitely recommend starting here, it's an important piece in the Bryan Adams catalogue. Every song on here is a five star classic!

RECKLESS was Bryan Adams' second great album in a row, and it also defined 80s mainstream rock. The perfect blend of Springsteen/Seger heartland rock, Allmans/Outlaws guitar rock, and Fleetwood Mac pop, topped with Adams' own Joe Cocker/Ray Charles-influenced rasp, this album featured great hooks and hot guitars. Although no one knew it at the time this provided the template for bands like Warrant and Firehouse. This album contains everything from powerful rockers to beautiful ballads. Some people call it bubblegum, but I totally disagree. Adams would make records as good as this one, but he never made one better.

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 "It's 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 Canada's #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 male's 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 Bryan's 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 "It's 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 "She's Only Happy When She's Dancing" which wasn't 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 couldn't think of a better song to kick off the "Reckless" album than "One Night Love Affair" and I couldn't 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 "She's Only Happy When She's 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 didn't 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.