With a month still to go before the Todd album, I needed a distraction, so have reached out to a 59 year old Australian called Springthorpe. Yes folks, Rick Springfield - pop/rock god - has a new album out, and thankfully it make up for the disappointment of his album of covers (inc a Todd cover) and the very average Shock/Denial/Anger/Acceptance.
Lead track and first single "What's Victoria's Secret?" is a return to Jessie's Girl - indeed he seems to nicked his own riff - but it is repackaged into just the kind of delightful pop/rock Springfield was known for in the 80's. This is quickly followed up by: some sly lyric word play on "I'll Miss that Someday" (which I keep singing at the moment); the title track, with its reggae riff and power chord bursts; the pop perfection of "One Passenger", and the film soundtrack end credit type tune, "Oblivious". All of it wonderful. Can he keep it going you start to wonder???
Sadly, no. But whilst the likes of "Warning Shots", "God Blinked" and "MrPc" make you reconsider your opinion, Beatles-influenced tunes like "She" and "Saint Sahara" come up to give the album a mellow floaty finish.
This is an album chock full on potential 'hits', and whilst it is no match for the man at his best: Living in Oz, Tao, Rock of Life, it does at least recapture memories of those and deliver an album every bit as good as 1999's Karma. [ The album has given Rick his highest chart debut position in more than 20 years in the US, cooming in at No. 28 on the Billboard chart ]
Lead track and first single "What's Victoria's Secret?" is a return to Jessie's Girl - indeed he seems to nicked his own riff - but it is repackaged into just the kind of delightful pop/rock Springfield was known for in the 80's. This is quickly followed up by: some sly lyric word play on "I'll Miss that Someday" (which I keep singing at the moment); the title track, with its reggae riff and power chord bursts; the pop perfection of "One Passenger", and the film soundtrack end credit type tune, "Oblivious". All of it wonderful. Can he keep it going you start to wonder???
Sadly, no. But whilst the likes of "Warning Shots", "God Blinked" and "MrPc" make you reconsider your opinion, Beatles-influenced tunes like "She" and "Saint Sahara" come up to give the album a mellow floaty finish.
This is an album chock full on potential 'hits', and whilst it is no match for the man at his best: Living in Oz, Tao, Rock of Life, it does at least recapture memories of those and deliver an album every bit as good as 1999's Karma. [ The album has given Rick his highest chart debut position in more than 20 years in the US, cooming in at No. 28 on the Billboard chart ]
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