Rick Springfield released one of the greatest power pop records ever.  No, it’s not his new album Songs for the End of the World, though there are echoes worth hearing.

With his 1981 album Working Class Dog, and the song  “Jessie’s Girl”, he found the formula to make one of rock’s best-ever power pop records, right up there with the stuff of Cheap Trick, The Romantics, Matttew Sweet and The Cars.  The guitars, the sugary background vocals and three-minute pop/rock songs about girls and boys and more girls made the album a surprise hit record.

He would never match that sound or vibe again.

He’s given his new album a “take-a-dip-from-past” wash of his previous records, splashing guitar-driven, hook-laden, layered background vocals on the  pop/rock.  While not a truly great record, it is his best since returning to recording a little more than ten years ago. Continue reading “Album Review – Rick Springfield – “Songs for the End of the World””