Reckless

Very good

Most fans will agree the original album is THE BEST Bryan Adams made. The original "10 songs version" (written after the fairly successful Cuts Like A Knife) came out way back in 1984. However, Reckless had no fillers as every song was great and resulted in six of them being released as singles. IMHO Run To You is the highlight on the superb original version but the other 9 give it a damn good run for its money!So 30 years go by and like so many albums these days, a deluxe version is released to celebrate/commemorate the original. The BIG question is.....do we get a true deluxe version? OMG yes we do!Having been a huge BA fan since hearing Run to You on the radio back in '84, seeing him numerous times live and buying everything before and after Reckless, I admit this will be a somewhat biased review. This fully deserves the description Deluxe Edition;On the first cd we have the original album plus 7 new songs. As stated earlier, the original 10 songs are BA at his best. One Night Love Affair starts us off, great song with both guitar and vocal hooks. Next arguably the weakest song on the album She's Only Happy...(and this is a good song too, just not as good as the rest!) We then get the mighty Run to You, IMHO one of the top 3 BA songs of all time. Next Heaven, a superb rock ballad. Then we get Somebody; another magnificent tune. Summer of 69 followed by Kids Wanna Rock followed by It's Only Love (with Tina Turner). 3 immense songs and there's no time to rest because he finishes off with Long Gone and Ain't Gonna Cry. Both great rock songs. But what of the 7 "new" songs? To my ears all 7 could easily have appeared on Cuts like a Knife, although I can see why perhaps 3 of them didn't make the original version of Reckless. The 4 songs I immediately enjoyed are "Teacher, Teacher", "Play to Win", "Too Hot to Handle" and "Reckless". All 4 are strong songs, each with a hook that BA so enjoyed writing back then, either guitar or vocal based. My only slightly negative comment is either there are little if any keyboards or they have been mixed VERY low in the production of these new songs. However, it's good to hear something from BA which proves he used to be a rocker, as there are no ballads amongst the 7 songs. Not that I mind a good rock ballad and it has to be said BA has written quite a few classics in his career.On the second cd we have a concert recorded by the BBC from 1984, BA making reference to the venue (Hammy Odeon) during the concert. I have to say it's so good to hear songs from his first 2 albums. He opens this cd with "Remember" and later on plays 2 songs from his second album ("Tonight" and the excellent "Lonely Nights"). The rest of the concert is understandably based around both Reckless and Cuts Like a Knife songs. I have to say I love the placing of "Best was yet to come", because he follows immediately with Heaven, Run to You and Somebody. The cd finishes with Summer of 69. It has to be said BA still regularly plays quite a number of this 84 set-list, proving the longevity, depth of talent and strength of his song writing skills.If you're a BA fan, I would urge you to get this Deluxe Version of one of the greatest albums of the 80's. It's worth every penny.

Is there any doubt that "Reckless", Canadian rocker Bryan Adams' fourth album, is the pinnacle of his career? OK, there was the massive success of that "Everything I Do" single, but do you know anybody who still likes that song after it was UK number one for around sixteen years? Yes, yes, I know it was sixteen weeks, but at the time it felt like years. I don't know what it is about "Reckless", but everything just seems to be right about it. The songs are fantastic (co-writer Jim Vallance brought the best out of Adams), the production perfect, the performances full of energy and the whole album has a confidence and joy that he'd never managed to capture before and struggled to regain afterwards.The singles (there were seven of them from the ten tracks, which gives it the feel of a greatest hits collection rather than a studio album) are amongst his best songs ever - the morally-dubious cheater's anthem "Run To You" is far better than the subject matter deserves (it's probably one of the greatest songs of the decade), "Summer Of '69" is a fist-poundingly joyous slice of nostalgia, "Heaven" is beautifully tender and, despite the power ballad bombast, is wonderfully romantic, passionate slice of soft rock, "One Night Love Affair" is a melodic rocker that kicks off the album with a sense of purpose, the duet with Tina Turner, "It's Only Love" has a fantastic opening riff and more balls than a sports equipment store and "Somebody" is a immensely catchy piece of pop-rock. The only single on the album I'm not overly keen on is "Kids Wanna Rock" as it seems to be the only cynically-written track to 'get the crowds going'. It's not bad, it's just not anywhere near as good as the rest of the material on the release.The other album tracks are also pretty good, "Long Gone", especially; if it had been on one of Bryan's weaker albums, it probably would have been a single. "She's Only Happy When She's Dancing" is a little throwaway and ordinary, but not too distracting from the overall quality of "Reckless". Altogether, it's not an over-exaggeration to call this a classic album, probably the only one that Adams has to his name, despite the longevity of his career and many hit singles. There are always going to be people who will sneer at a mainstream rock album like this, but for anyone who enjoys rock music, one listen to "Reckless" would probably be enough to convince those, apart from the biggest cynics, that this is a truly great piece of work. As George Michael would later title one of his albums, you really do need to listen without prejudice. Definitely one of the best albums of the 1980s.

travelling, and playing whilst on my treadmill.