Album review: BRYAN ADAMS – Reckless (reissue)

Bryan Adams - Reckless

Universal [Release date 10.11.14]

Bryan Adams fourth album, Reckless, was a career defining release. It was the album he’d worked towards through his previous three releases – a multi-million selling record that established him as a worldwide draw and produced seven hit singles – ‘Run To You’, ‘Kids Want To Rock’,'Somebody’, ‘Heaven’, ‘Summer of ’69′, ‘One Night Love Affair’, and ‘It’s Only Love’ (with Tina Turner).

30 years on, Reckless gets the ‘deluxe’ treatment, a format that stands or falls on the quality of the ‘bonus’ material. And in the case of Reckless they’ve done the album proud with all formats including seven top notch numbers that didn’t make the final running order, including the title track. None would have been out of place or diminished the album in any way.

Re-mastering comes as standard, naturally, and the album’s never sounded better, but consumer options don’t end there. The ‘deluxe’ version includes a bonus disc of the BBC In Concert Hammersmith Odeon gig from April 1985, and the ‘super deluxe’ – which comes in a DVD sized hardback book – a DVD of Reckless, The Movie featuring the videos from the album plus interlinking footage, and a Bluray with a 5.1 mix (although I’m not sure such straight ahead pop/rock really merits such treatment). And it comes with a very hefty price tag.

Personally, I’d go for the basic re-master plus bonus tracks. As Adams himself says ‘it was the right album, at the right time. It was unstoppable’. And it’s still rollin’ on down the years. ****1/2

Review by Pete Whalley

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Power Plays w/c 9 December 2024

In this sequence we play ‘The Best of 2024′ GRTR! reviewer selections

Featured Albums w/c 9 December 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2024 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2024 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2024 (Singer Songwriter)