More restless than reckless 30 years on
Bryan Adams hasn’t been reckless a day in his life.
This isn’t a criticism of him or the 30th anniversary edition of his Reckless album.
It’s just that he’s always been career-driven, motivated by success, a seemingly tireless worker who loves to perform and has been guided by his own convictions.
Reckless he is not. But calling his album Work Ethic wouldn’t fly.
Instead, Reckless does allude to a rebellious image Adams had been nurturing since leaving Sweeney Todd in the late 1970s. It aligned him to rock and roll, classic rock and roll, and helped to define him. As well, it set him apart.
So, if Bryan Adams wasn’t reckless, he was going to do things his way. In the remarkably conservative area of music business, that’s a kind of recklessness. Such an assertion can be perceived as a threat.
However, success in the music business shouts louder.
Reckless yielded six hit singles and other songs that are still staples of the Adams repertoire, sold 12 million copies and was the first album by a Canadian to sell a million copies domestically. By that unprecedented standard, it was a landmark that also was the apex of his songwriting relationship with Jim Vallance.
The two had met at Long And McQuade’s 4th Avenue branch. As Rodney Higgs, drummer Vallance already had enjoyed success as the primary writer on Prism’s first album while Adams was just starting out. Both had songs on the last BTO album, Rock ‘n’ Roll Nights (Valance four, Adams one, but nothing as a team). Bryan recognized in Jim experience, knowledge and an order Adams’ life had lacked, while Jim saw in Bryan the hunger.
They merged and quickly established themselves; their songs covered by Prism, Loverboy, Roger Daltrey, Bonnie Raitt, Ted Nugent, 38 Special and many others.
That success led to a solo career for Adams, with Vallance stepping into the background, free to expand his range as a producer.
By 1983’s Cuts Like A Knife album, Adams was ascending, his style established, the signs pointing to Reckless, the fourth album.
He wanted to improve as a songwriter with stronger middle eights or bridges, as a singer (despite the immediate appeal and honesty in his voice) and as a performer.
A hallmark of Adams’ shows is how he has continued to peel back his presentation until nothing stands in the way of him and his songs.
So came Run To You, Heaven and Summer Of ‘69, not forgetting One Night Love Affair, Somebody, Kids Wanna Rock or It’s Only Love.
Reckless spoke directly to “the kids.” The messages were by no means profound but Adams had found his audience and he and Vallance didn’t aim above heads nor did they patronize. They created a bond that ‘s lasted and which makes a 30th anniversary issue of Reckless viable.
Though it has bounced back to health in recent years, inevitably perhaps, his own bond with Vallance deteriorated. Adams sought out new collaborators, producers, concepts, ways of presenting his songs, places to present his songs.
In that regard, a better title for Reckless might have been Restless.