Reckless is the fourth studio album by Canadian rock recording artist Bryan Adams. The album was co-produced by Adams and Bob Clearmountain, and it was one of Adams’ most successful solo albums. Released on 5 November 1984 through A&M Records, the album was a huge international hit, selling over 5 million units in the United States alone. It was the first Canadian album to sell more than one million units within Canada. The album peaked at number 1 on the Billboard 200 and reached high positions in the charts worldwide. In total the album has sold more than 12 million copies worldwide.
Six singles were released from the album: “Run to You”, “Somebody”, “Heaven”, “Summer of ’69”, “One Night Love Affair”, and “It’s Only Love”. All six singles made the top 15 on the US Billboard Hot 100, a feature that at the time had been accomplished previously only by Michael Jackson’s Thriller and Bruce Springsteen’s Born In The USA. The album was ranked No. 49 on Kerrang!s “100 Greatest Heavy Metal Albums of All Time”, and 99th Greatest Rock Album of All Time by Classic rock and was also named the #12 Greatest Canadian Album of All Time by Bob Mersereau in his book The Top 100 Canadian Albums. The album was recorded at Little Mountain Sound Studios, Vancouver, Canada. On 12 December 2009 the syndicated radio program In the Studio celebrated the 25th anniversary of the album.
In April 2014, it was announced that a 30th Anniversary edition of the album, featuring previously unreleased material, will be released on 10 November 2014 as a 4 disc edition. The Reckless 30th Anniversary Tour is also to take place in November 2014, consisting of eleven exclusive arena shows in the United Kingdom.
In March 1984, recording for Reckless began after extensive touring for the support of Cuts Like a Knife. However, unhappy with the recording process, Adams decided to take a month off. In August Adams headed back to the studio with Tina Turner for the track “It’s Only Love”; he also returned with more new songs and started re-recording songs which would lead to the development of such tracks as “Run to You”, Summer of ’69”, and “Heaven”.
“Run to You” was recorded after a tour in Asia.[4] The recording for “Run to You” started on 27 March 1984 and went through the summer at Little Mountain Sound Studios, Vancouver. It was mixed in New York by Bob Clearmountain, with mixing of the song completed on 21 September. The recording of “Heaven”, co-written by Adams and Jim Vallance, started on 6 June and lasted only two days, ending on 7 June. The song was recorded for the film A Night in Heaven, and was mixed by Bob Clearmountain on 16 June 1984 . “Summer of ’69” was written on 25 January 1984 with Jim Vallance. The recording took place at Little Mountain Sound Studios where the song was recorded three times over the winter. It was mixed in New York by Bob Clearmountain on 22 November 1984.
Tracklisting:
- One Night Love Affair (4:34)
- She’s Only Happy When She’s Dancin’ (3:13)
- Run to You (3:53)
- Heaven (4:03)
- Somebody (4:43)
- Summer of ’69 (3:36)
- Kids Wanna Rock (2:35)
- It’s Only Love (3:14)
- met Tina Turner
- Long Gone (3:58)
- Ain’t Gonna Cry (4:06)