ALBUM OF THE WEEK #3 RICK SPRINGFIELD - LIVING IN OZ/TAO

[RJhog (Admin)]

Living in Oz

 

Vital Statistics:

 

Released - 1983

Producer - Bill Drescher

Label - RCA

Chart Position - #12 Billboard

RIAA Certification - Platinum

Singles - Affair Of The Heart #9 US, Human Touch #18 US, Souls # 23 US

 

Track Listing:

 

1. Human Touch

2. Alyson

3. Affair Of The Heart

4. Living In Oz

5. Me & Johnny

6. Motel Eyes

7. Tiger By The Tail

8. Souls

9. I Can't Stop Hurting You

10. Like Father, Like Son 

 

 

Tao

 

Vital Statistics:

 

Released - 1985

Producer - Rick Springfield/Bill Drescher

Label - RCA

Chart Position - #21 Billboard

RIAA Certification - Gold

Singles - Celebrate Youth #26 US, State Of The Heart #22 US

 

Track List:

 

1. Dance This World Away

2. Celebrate Youth

3. State Of The Heart

4. Written In Rock

5. The Power Of Love

6. Walking On The Edge

7. Walk Like A Man

8. The Tao Of Heaven

9. Stranger In The House

10. My Father's Chair

 

As promised last week, we have a "two-for-1" special this week.  Both albums are by Rick Springfield, the singer turned actor turned singer turned actor turned singer who starred as Dr. Noah Drake on
General Hospital (an American Soap Opera) in the early eighties.  The
first album is Living In Oz (1983), followed by Tao (1985).  These two
albums were sandwiched around his 1984 release, which was a movie
soundtrack (Hard To Hold).  Although both albums did reasonably well in
sales,  I really think most folks thought of Rick as a teen artist or
something like that.  But not me, I've always liked his music.  To me,
you could hear quite a maturity from Working Class Dog (1981) and
Success Hasn't Spoiled Me Yet (1982), both very good albums as well, to
these two releases.

 

So, I'll start with Living In Oz.  This album spawned 3 very decent hits.  Those were Affair Of The Heart, Human Touch and Souls.  If you listened to pop radio (back when pop radio played pretty good music) in
the early to mid-eighties, you probably heard all 3 of these.  I like
them all.  However, the magic of this album to me is everything else
(Tiger By The Tail excluded, it's not a particularly good soong). 
Alyson and Motel Eyes especially.  These two songs are brilliant, and
sound much more grown up to me.  I don't know the guys name, but whoever
does those high backing vocals should get some credit (reminds me a
little of Michael Anthony's high backing vocals).  Living In Oz, Me
& Johnny, I Can't Stop Hurting You and Like Father, Like Son are
outstanding as well.  Me & Johnny could easily have been done by Bon
Jovi.

 

Overall, my favorite RS album.  Easily availble on Amazon, brand new for 7 dollars.

 

Next up is Tao.  I think this album is very underrated.  Again, two decent hits, Celebrate Youth and State Of The Heart.  In my opinion, State of The Heart is much better.  Stranger In The House, Written In
Rock, My Father's Chair and Walk Like A Man (in that order) are simply
must hear songs.  Chances are, unless you are a big RS fan, you've never
heard any of the four.  The remaining four songs are also good, but not
necessarily as "must hear" as the previous four.

 

Overall, again, a very good album that gets no attention.  This one is a little more expensive at 10 dollars used, but I think it's well worth the money.