Bryan Adams - Reckless
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Written By: Moti Kupfer
Album review - Bryan Adams - Reckless
Release date - 5.11.1984
Record company - A&M
Genre - Rock
It was the summer of 1984. Bryan Adams was in New York, working on his next album, "Reckless," which was released on November 5, 1984.
After his breakthrough with "Cuts Like a Knife," he felt he had to "strike while the iron was hot".
Adams and his producer Bob Clearmountain were at the famous "Power Station" recording studio in Manhattan. They were in the final stages of recording, nine tracks had already been recorded at "Little Mountain Sound" in Vancouver, the Canadian city where Adams had lived since he was a teenager. Now they were putting the finishing touches on it, adding vocal overdubs. But while Clearmountain was happy with the result, Adams felt it wasn't perfect. His instincts told him they needed something more, but he couldn't pinpoint what was missing, and he was also tired.
He decided to invite his manager Bruce Allen to New York to listen to the album. Allen responded immediately with the question: "Where's the Rock?" According to Adams, Allen's question changed everything. The next day, he was on a plane back to Vancouver, and he called Jim Vallance, his songwriter and partner, and said, "We need to turn up the volume on the songs."
With his manager's words still ringing in his head, Adams chose two re-recorded songs, "One Night Love Affair" and "Summer Of '69." In addition, he and Vallance wrote a new song that answered Bruce Allen's question in the most definitive way. They called this song "Kids Wanna Rock."
Adams was born on November 5, 1959 (he celebrates his birthday with the album) in Kingston, Ontario, to an English couple who emigrated from the city of Plymouth to Canada in the 1950s.
His father was an officer at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in the British Army, and joined the Canadian Army, and later worked as an observer for the United Nations, and as a diplomat for the Canadian Foreign Service.
As part of his last assignment, the family emigrated to Austria, Portugal, and Israel, where Adams attended the Scottish School in Jaffa, in the early 1970s. By 1974 they had returned to Canada, without his father who was stationed overseas.
Adams bought his first electric guitar at the age of 10 in Reading. An Italian brand from Gherson, based on a Fender Stratocaster.
He dropped out of school to play in a band called "Shock" and used the money his parents had saved for college to buy a grand piano. He began working in the Vancouver music scene with bands and as a session singer. At the age of 15, he became the lead singer of the glam rock band "Sweeney Todd", replacing original vocalist Nick Gilder. In 1978, Adams met the musician who would change his life, Jim Vallance, who became his writing partner. They met through a mutual friend at a Vancouver instrument store.
Vallance was the former drummer and primary songwriter for the Vancouver rock band "Prism". Shortly before meeting Adams, he had left the band to focus on a career as a session musician and songwriter.
They met at Vallance's home studio a few days later. This became the beginning of a fruitful partnership that lasted throughout the 1980s. Together they wrote for Adams, and for other artists, including "Kiss", Johnny Hallyday, Bonnie Tyler, Bonnie Raitt, "Loverboy", Rod Stewart, Carly Simon, Neil Diamond, and more.
When Adams reflected on the earliest stages of creating "Reckless," he claimed he had no strategy. "I wish I could say I had a game plan,” he laughs, “but I didn't. I was just trying to keep the ball rolling, trying to pay the bills. That was all I was trying to do."
Adams never claimed to be the next Dylan, nor did he make any sociopolitical statements like Bruce Springsteen. In truth, Adams was as much a working-class hero as The Boss, except that Adams didn't make it his appearance. "For me," he says, "there was no message, no attempt to be a man of the people. "I was just trying to write great songs."
Before the duo began writing the songs for "Reckless," they already had several songs in development, including the ballad "Heaven," which was originally recorded for the flop film "A Night In Heaven."
The song was inspired by "Journey's" hit "Faithfully." Midway through the recording session, drummer Mickey Curry, who had warned Adams of his limited availability that day, announced that he had to leave because he had a prior commitment to a session with Hall & Oates. Adams called "Journey" drummer Steve Smith, who happened to be in New York at the time and he filled in for Curry. Producer Jimmy Iovine thought the song was not right for the album, and advised Adams not to include it, but Adams eventually managed to change his mind.
Another song that was ready early on was "Run to You", which Adams and Vallance had originally written for "Blue Oyster Cult", and even its opening riff was very reminiscent of their huge hit "Don't Fear (The Reaper)". After the band rejected the song, Adams decided to record it himself. The video was directed by Steve Barron, who had worked on most of Adams' videos at the time. Barron had directed Michael Jackson's video for "Billie Jean", and also directed videos for "Culture Club" and "Tears for Fears". The video was nominated for five MTV Video Music Awards. British Eurodance band "Rage" reached number 3 in the UK charts (1992) with their cover of the song.
"Somebody," which became the second single from the album, was written by Vallance and Adams about relationships and World War I, from their perspective. "Adams and I are both interested in First World War history (Bryan's grandfather served with the British Army in WW1). As a result, lyrical references to the war occasionally appear in our songwriting" Vallance said.
They wrote "Summer of '69" together, and the song went through several changes after the duo were not convinced it was good enough to be included on the album. In its first version, it was called "The Best Days of Our Lives".
The two were inspired to write the song after listening to "The Beatles'" "Strawberry Fields Forever", which was a homage to John Lennon's childhood, and they wanted to recreate that feeling of a sweet childhood memory. Adams later clarified that the lyrical meaning of "Summer of '69" was about having sex in the summer. Just think for yourself what the number 69 represents.
Many of the lines in the song were inspired by songs by other musicians such as "Foreigner", Bruce Springsteen ("Jukebox Hero", "Thunder Road"), and "The Beatles" ("I Want to Hold Your Hand").
He looked as if he had been struck by lightning, half-shocked, he mumbled something... "It was almost like a tornado had come through the studio and just blown everything apart," Bryan Adams said of the moment Tina Turner finished recording her duet with him, the song "It's Only Love." Adams, a young musician of 25 at the time, had not initially planned to record this song as a duet. But he felt he needed another voice, "to make this a special song." And he had only one candidate in mind: Tina Turner, the solo singer who had recently made a comeback with "Private Dancer."
"Working with Tina Turner was amazing. I used to go to see her in the clubs when I was in my late teens/early 20s before she hit the big time. It was incredible to watch her years later," Adams said.
This song takes an unconventional approach to healing from heartbreak, reminding us that it's just love, and life goes on even after love is over.
Now Adams felt he had a gem of an album in his hands, but even he couldn't believe how big it was.
All six singles from the album became hits in the US, reaching at least the Top 15 on the US charts, with "Reckless" selling 12 million copies worldwide.
For Listening: Spotify, Apple Music
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