RICK SPRINGFIELD: Automatic (POP,Rock): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

At the age of 74, Rick Springfield's shape commands respect. On the occasion of the release of his twenty-second album, he seems to have drawn inspiration from his friend Richard Marx, who offered around twenty tracks for his "Songwriter", released in 2022. That's exactly the same number of tracks on 'Automatic', for which the Australian says his aim was to "write solid three-minute songs with the biggest choruses he could find". This is quite a departure from his American compatriot's concept, especially as the author claims that "the songs came out of themselves" and that he recorded most of them himself.

However, once you've listened to what is announced as a return to power-pop in a style somewhere between "Working Class Dog" (1981) and "Tao" (1985), the fact is that there is reason to remain sceptical. Indeed, if pop seems to be the only guiding thread of this opus, we are far from the power and inventiveness of those peaks of the man's discography. It's true that the whole thing sounds very 80s, but that's mainly due to the overuse of drum machines and other electronic arrangements which end up bordering on indigestion. As for the promised big choruses, we're still looking for them after several listens. If they are often immediate, they are most of the time also quickly forgotten.

The eponymous track, which also serves as a single, comes through thanks to its energy and pleasant soul tones. The melancholy mid-tempo of 'This Town' is probably the most interesting moment. There's also the classic but movingly delicate ballad 'Make Your Move', the catchy 'In Case Of Fire Break Glass', and the positive, unifying 'We Are Eternal', which ends on an optimistic note. Other than that, the album veers between the uninteresting ('Fake It 'Til You Make It'), the falsely angry ('Works For Me') and the downright dispensable ('Someday I Will Fly').

Rick Springfield seems to have betrayed himself and his fans by trying to play the old playboy, offering what is probably his weakest work. His questions about God, life, sex and male-female relationships fade into the background of a whole that lacks any real coherence or artistic depth. This is a pity when you still possess all the physical and vocal capacities of this artist. Now we just have to hope that he will offer us a rematch so as not to end such a fine career on such a distressing disappointment. - Official website

RICK SPRINGFIELD

AUTOMATIC

SONGVEST RECORDS

POP