Rick Springfield

Rick Springfield was one of the first artists I became a big fan of, back in the early 80's when all I listened to was top 40 radio. His music stuck in my mind far longer than other power-pop musicians of those days, and in fact I always felt a little embarrassed to admit to myself that I still liked his music...thankfully, VH1's "Behind the Music" episode made it cool to like Rick Springfield again. :)

"Behind the Music: The Rick Springfield Collection"

  1. "Jessie's Girl" (3:15)
  2. "I've Done Everything for You" (3:17)
  3. "Love is Alright Tonite" (3:21)
  4. "Don't Talk to Strangers" (2:58)
  5. "What Kind of Fool Am I" (3:21)
  6. "I Get Excited" (2:33)
  7. "Calling All Girls" (3:25)
  8. "Affair of the Heart" (3:49)
  9. "Human Touch" (7:15)
  10. "Souls" (4:02)
  11. "Living in Oz" (3:51)
  12. "Love Somebody" (3:35)
  13. "Don't Walk Away" (3:41)
  14. "Bop 'til You Drop" (4:20)
  15. "Celebrate Youth" (3:54)
  16. "Lio" (3:10)
  17. "State of the Heart" (3:52)
  18. "Rock of Life" (3:51)

Rick Springfield compilations are so totally annoying. There have been like 20 released, and NONE of them got it right! And as much as I like Springfield's music, it's really not worth buying anything more than a greatest hits collection...well, this "Behind the Music" release is about as good as it gets, so let's see how it scores:

Tracks 1-3, from Working Class Dog, are the only worthwhile songs from that album, and just about every greatest hits compilation has them, so no problem there. Oh, did you know that "I've Done Everything for You" is a Sammy Hagar song? I didn't know that for a long time...(well, not til I was 15, at least...)

Tracks 4-7, from Success Hasn't Spoiled Me Yet, represent the best music from that album, although it's a nostalgic favorite so I might buy that one someday. Most collections only have 2 or 3 songs from that album, so another plus for this CD.

Tracks 8-11, from Living in Oz, are where it gets annoying. So far, NO collection I've found has the full-length version of "Affair of the Heart"!! All right, so all they edited out was the loud BOOM at the start, but man, you'd be amazed how much that adds to the song. Also, they somehow felt obligated to use the extended version of "Human Touch", which really isn't so bad since all they do is repeat the final chorus and extend the instrumental flourish a bit. "Souls" at least is untarnished, and this collection adds "Living in Oz", which isn't on most compilations. Still, I'm rather pissed at the songs edits, and not including "Like Father, Like Son" means I'm gonna have to buy that CD as well...bah, fuck it, I'll just download the songs from Napster...

Tracks 12-18 come from the time period where I realized Rick Springfield was far too wimpy for my taste, so there's no point in discussing them. Except that "Lio" is exclusive to this collection. Whoopty-doo.

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