Reckless

by

Bryan Adams

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I darn near shredded my tender vocal cords trying to sound like the protagonist of "Summer of '69." That was the epic summer of '85. Nineteen years later, I'm still happy when this song comes on the radio. Of course I get a lump in my throat over that final "and now the times are changin'/look at everything that's come and gone" stanza...this coming of age masterpiece is made all the better by the fact that Bryan Adams still had his baby teeth in 1969, putting "Summer" smack in the middle of the nowhere rock geography shared by Journey's "south Detroit" and Kim Wylde's "east California."

At this point, the tracks are imprinted on my DNA. "Heaven" is an evergreen, "One Night Love Affair" is a tasty opener, "Run To You" is a dark ode to having a l'il teen something something on the side. Yep, Reckless is prime sanitized Telecaster flannel rock. I love every song on this record. And anyone who loves Reckless as much as I do tends to keep it to herself. But you're gonna buy this CD, even though you already have it on vinyl and cassette, so you're equally busted.

This collection certainly empitomizes the AOR sound of the 80's. This may not be my favorite collection from that period. However, there are several hook laden singles that are quite catchy. The best of the lot is the spirited Summer of 69 which is loaded with pleasant harmonies and some solid rock n roll guitars. Run To You is another strong single with good guitar passages and the right amount of synthesizer. One Night Love Affair has a super good hook around the chorus and is filled with emotion. Heaven is pretty ballad which changes the pace in a good way. The last two tracks are a little weak as Brian's vocals on these tracks are quite grating. Brian's overall style is somewhat limited as well. None the less, this is a good collection for those fans who grew up on 1980's rock/pop.