Bryan Adams – Can’t Stop This Thing We Started

Happy tax day to all of you!

I was listening to the Waking Up The Neighbours album from Bryan Adams, yesterday morning, which was really the last great album from BA. It would be the last album for a long time, to feature longtime Adams collaborator Jim Vallance, and it was co-produced by Def Lep producer Mutt Lange…and Valance/Adams/Lange were a brutal force – the album was a great rock record, and the tour was even better. I wasn’t aware (although it makes sense) that Waking Up The Neighbours is right behind Reckless in terms of album success – certified 4 times platinum by the RIAA.

Bryan Adams – One Night Love Affair (live in Tokyo)

So, I was listening to the Reckless album on my way into work yesterday. Something made me think of it, and I finally got it loaded on my Ipod. The Reckless album remains one of the greatest rock albums ever unleashed by an artist. I say “greatest,” not because it’s sitting in the halls of famous Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd albums, but because from a song standpoint, it has 10 tracks in 37 minutes that are all killer, no filler. Reckless is a true “album” back when they used to make albums with a concern on how it all fit together musically, and with a drive to make every song earn its place on the album.

Musta turned the dial for a couple of miles
But I couldn’t find no rock n’ roll
– Kids Wanna Rock

Musta turned the dial for a couple of miles…..talk about nailing a lyric. And to avoid confusion with the next paragraph, yeah, that’s on side two.

Reckless hands down, has one of the greatest “sides” in the history of popular music. Side One is incredible.

Side One:

1. One night love affair
2. She’s only happy when she’s dancin’
3. Run to you
4. Heaven
5. Somebody

Side Two:

1. Summer of 69′
2. Kids Wanna Rock
3. It’s Only Love
4. Long Gone
5. Aint Gonna Cry

Every track on that first side, got some sort of radio play. And most of it, got a LOT of radio play. The last 3 tracks on Side One – all singles – Run To You/Heaven/Somebody – all in a row – you didn’t program it that way on the jukebox….that’s the running order on the album.

And just in case you thought they stacked all of the good on Side One – you get to Side Two, which opens with Summer of ’69

Crazy.

It’s also one of the most well-recorded albums you’ll ever hear, thanks to the magic ears of Bob Clearmountain, who sonically, made every track a knockout. Special mention should also go to Bryan’s band, particularly guitarist Keith Scott, who has always been a secret weapon in the BA operation. It’s great to go see Adams these days, and still see Keith on the guitar – he’s really a key to the Adams sound, in my opinion.

Bryan hasn’t topped Reckless with subsequent albums. Waking Up The Neighbours was the only one that’s come close, and while song for song, the quality is there on WUTN – it’s no Reckless.

I bought Reckless on cassette as a kid and spent hours listening to it on my Walkman. This was back in the day when I would buy an album with my allowance and listen to it for 2-3 months before getting the next one. It was a number of albums like this, that made me want to get into radio, so that I could play great music for a living. Nobody told me that Creed was coming around the bend. *sigh*

I have a real appreciation for that time as a kid growing up. My parents wouldn’t buy me every album I wanted – they taught me to work for the things that I wanted in life, which is something I’ve always appreciated. It started with albums, and as I grew up and needed a car, they let me get a job to get the money I needed to buy my first car. While they have been very generous to me over the years, learning the importance of working for what you want, is such an important thing. I’m grateful that I have been lucky enough to have parents that cared enough to teach me the most important basics of life. I applied that “working for what you want” concept not just in the financial sense, but also to my career, and later, to the game of love. That last one is a good one, because you really have to have faith sometimes with the whole love thing, because man, it can be confusing as hell….but that’s a whole ‘nother subject for a different blog.

My point in bringing all of that up, is that I miss those days when as music fans, we spent that much time soaking in an album. These days, we have so much access to so much different music, that I think for most of us, it’s a lot if we listen to an album for a week, maybe two weeks, before moving on to the next one. I haven’t been a traditional music fan for nearly 20 years. Once I started working at a record store, and had access to free promotional copies of CDs, it was all over – I couldn’t get enough music to feed my growing music habit. By the time I hit the radio side of things, I already had too many CDs from my years at the record store.

Something has been lost, because as music fans, we don’t spend that much time with an individual album, and likewise, the artists don’t spend as much time crafting that album. So when you hear that album that does hit the mark consistently like Adams did with an album like Reckless, it really stands out.

Gary Louris (from the Jayhawks) stands out this year, as an example with his debut solo CD Vagabonds. I’ve written briefly about it here, but it was produced by Chris Robinson from the Black Crowes, and features an all-star ensemble on backing vocals, including Robinson, Susanna Hoffs (Bangles), Jenny from Rilo Kiley, and lots more. They put in the time on that CD, and you can hear it.

But what else sticks out in your mind musically from the 80’s as an album that in your mind was “perfect?”

INXS “Kick” is one, for me. Heck, it starts with the album cover. What about you?