Show l ENT J I J Rick Springfield Success Hasn't Spoiled Me Yet t r by Fred Duran iII PW Staff Staf f UT Writer t f 4 9 t Im I'm one of those guys who picture Dr Noah Drake seducing cent girls with a leather sweater and anda a silver phallic symbol of a guitar The sad thing is he can Y You see wh when n it comes to Rick Springfield Im I'm impressed When it comes to saying saying saying say say- ing it out loud I hesitate I feel bad when I buy a Rick Springfield album standing in line behind three giggling giggling giggling gig gig- gling 13 year olds wearing matching baseball shirts that says I Love Rick Im I'm not proud of enjoying Rick but face it hes he's good With his first album Working Class Dog he played TV idol to the hilt Sure he was good but he was after the mega-bucks mega being Dr Noah Drake brought with it He never sold out he just never committed himself musically With his latest record Success Hasn't Spoiled Me Yet Rick comes out of the closet and becomes one of the few true rockers we have left You see Micks Mick's getting too old and McCartney McCartney McCartney Mc Mc- Cartney will soon run out of minorities minorities minorities minori minori- ties to sing with That leaves Rick to join the likes of of- John Cougar Mel- Mel Elvis Costello Joe Jackson and Cats as the new breed of of p reformers who combine rock rock and and pop to make good records The most impressive thing about the two new albums is reading the songwriting credits Rick Springfield pens all his hits and I didn't expect that He plays the guitar you hear and andI I didn't expect that either He combines combines combines com com- bines them to make the best music around and that I didn't expect Success Hasn't Spoiled Me Yet could easily be released re-released as a greatest greatest greatest grea grea- test hits package and be close to true Six of the songs have been released as singles and they all have reached the top 30 Hes He's running out of flip sides Actually the album has no bad cuts If we are going to compare what Rick does on vinyl with what the BeatIes Beatles Beatles Bea Bea- tIes did there is no comparison In the same vein we dont don't take Ricks Rick's acting and place it on the same plane as Brandos Hes He's on a different level What Rick does with music is exact- exact ally what every school hi-school garage band tries to do Make music nothing fancy just good old fashion rock and roll Rick Springfield has fun playing and shows it So I have fun listening That's what mu music ic is suppose to do l And I do Rick Springfield approaches music seriously and every little while he tries to let some art escape Unfortunately he knows his fans wouldn't accept that Maybe its it's a good thing Hes He's perfect at what he does They say Do what you do do well Who says The new Springfield What he tried to do in the early as asan an Australian Gees Gee's clone really doesn't count That's another story counts on one theme to make records young love What Gary Puckett and The Union Gap did for the sixties Eric Carmans Carman's Carmans Carmans Carman's Car Car- mans man's Raspberries did for the early seventies and the Knack tried to do to the late seventies Rick conquers for forthe forthe forthe the eighties The album begins She was insatiable insatiable 7 you know the type but she was vas young but she was ripe this is the theme a concept she was young Yeh No matter what music we listen to we all went through the ages when we saw girls like this Rick brings them to life and our memories and fantasies fantasies fantasies fanta fanta- sies are returned t Throughout both side we side side we we hear hear 12 12 stories The words are like reading a dime novel And the music gets our blood to boil Its It's just great Even w when hen Ricks back in the past and pulls out an old song Los Broa- Broa vos vo's Black is Black it works just right for Rick It becomes his song There are so so many good songs here hereit's hereit's hereit's its it's hard to pick the best But one stands out What Kind Of Fool Am I is already a lovers lover's anthem The lyrics are poetry and Rick actually cries them out I thought wed we'd be together when the world went down When the curtain fell and the lights came up But the gods or what ever make this world go around shuffled when they should ld have cut This This' album is one you need in your collection In a few years you'll look back at this time and Ri Rick k Springfield Springfield Springfield Spring Spring- field will bring back bring bring- back all your memo memo- I ries That's what hes he's good at Oh by bythe bythe bythe the way you'll need this album if you try to seduce girls Whichever Whichever Whichever Which Which- ever this is right with ith music today Have fun and get all you can |