Review Summary: Surviving the 80s, Part Five
1984 happened to be a very prolific year for Rick Springfield. Two full-fledged albums were released, though upon closer inspection, one turned out to be a rather nondescript soundtrack and the second one came out without the singer’s involvement. Well, sometimes success and popularity lead to unexpected consequences, when the artistic aim is offset and the contents of yesterday’s waste bin are displayed to the public regardless of the author’s opinion.
Nevertheless, was it because the material from 1978 which Springfield scrapped was so bad that he didn’t want it seeing the light of day? Or were the commercial expectations of the label that rerecorded the LP justified by the quality of the record hidden from the potential audience? The original material was nevertheless released in 2007 as
The Early Sound City Sessions, as if hinting on its “rawness”.
Right from the first seconds,
Beautiful Feelings throws the listener back to the previous decade. It is truly unusual and pleasant to listen to an album released in the mid-80s, which emerged like a daring swimmer on the wrong beach, looking rather dashing at that. It can be compared to a company of friends that got together to bring back the good old days. Here we have a sunny pop-rock number (
Looking for the One,
Brand New Feeling), a classic rock-oriented approach a la
Fleetwood Mac at their height (
Just One Look), ballads dished out in proportion to the main tracks (
Everybody's Cheating,
Beautiful Feelings), a wide palette reminiscent of early
Elton John (from the bucolic folk of
Guenevere to the brisk rock ‘n’ roll of
The Solitary One and
Cold Feet), and even a slice of the
Bee Gees noticeable in
Spanish Eyes.
In the self-deprecating
Bruce, Springfield plays around with the confusion between his name and
Bruce Springsteen’s with put-on insult. The track is also noteworthy for its guitar solo motif, which is strikingly similar to the analogous segment in
If You Can’t Beat Them from
Queen’s
Jazz, released in the same year
Beautiful Feelings was recorded. A coincidence? Or maybe it is Rick hinting that he is inspired by somebody else and not the more famous Bruce?
Be that as it may, having familiarized yourself with the album, it might be fair to reproach Springfield for a certain naivety in his approach (camouflaged as levity) and an excessive interest in others’ successful accomplishments. The latter, though, is not too improper if it goes in hand with respect and quality – and these the album has in spades.
Oh, but there is one more shortcoming we’ve almost forgotten! He shouldn’t have hesitated to release this back in the day – the material presented was better than to end up in the abovementioned waste bin, and it is actually heads above many of the albums Springfield released in the 80s. And “Rick” would have been a more fitting title. After listening to the LP, it is clear he is no Bruce. Which is for the better, actually, since each is good in his own right, and Rick proves this with the forbidden work.
