Rick Springfield - Success Hasn't Spoiled Me Yet (1982) + Bonus E.P 'Jessie's Girl'

(Australian 1962 - Present)

To the uninitiated, the name Rick Springfield conjures up everything 1980s: Jessie’s Girl, General Hospital , Polo shirts and Converse tennis shoes. Dig a little deeper and you’ll find that Rick Springfield is much more than the mistakenly categorized “actor turned musician”. A songwriter and guitar player to rival the greats, Rick Springfield is an Aussie musician that has stood the test of time and the decades since his surge of fame starting in 1981.

He was a member of the pop rock group Zoot from 1969 to 1971, then started his solo career with his debut single, “Speak to the Sky”, which reached the top 10 in Australia in mid-1972. When he moved to the United States, he had a No. 1 hit with “Jessie’s Girl” in 1981 in both Australia and the US, for which he received the Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance.

Rick recorded his next album, "Success Hasn't Spoiled Me Yet" during his off hours on General Hospital and toured in the same way. "I have never seen anyone work that hard," recalled drummer Jack White on VH-1's Behind the Music. While critics still didn't quite trust a rocker with such a pretty face and huge teen following, many were beginning to come around to see Rick's talent as a rocker.

'Success Hasn’t Spoiled Me Yet' was released by RCA Records in 1982. The album was certified Platinum in the United States, and produced three top 40 singles; “Don’t Talk to Strangers” (#2 – for four weeks), “What Kind of Fool Am I” (#21, not the show tune of the same name) and “I Get Excited” (#32). “Don’t Talk to Strangers” and “Calling All Girls” also received considerable Album Rock airplay, charting at #11 and #4 respectively.

In an interview with Songfacts, Springfield explained that “Don’t Talk to Strangers” was about his paranoia that his girlfriend was being unfaithful when he was away. The song melody is actually from the earlier recording called “Spanish Eyes”, found on Rick’s “Sound City Recordings” from 1978. “Kristina” is a remake of the Bachman–Turner Overdrive song “Jamaica”, using different lyrics, while "I Get Excited" is a reworking of his 1981 Mega hit "Jessie's Girl" which I think is a bit of a cop out and I find myself asking 'why would you do this?'.

The album’s name is a play on the question Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, the name used for a 1955 play and a 1957 film that were mostly unrelated to each other.

In 1982, Rick was awarded a Grammy Award for Best Male Vocal. MTV played his videos in heavy rotation, and Showtime aired a live special, "Live and Kicking." Rick Springfield was here to stay.

Album Review

'Success Hasn’t Spoiled Me Yet', which was slapped together practically a year after the popular 1981 Working Class Dog, is clearly aimed to replicate the success of its predecessor, despite the ironic statement in the title. Besides the short gap between the two albums this goal is also confirmed by the cover: it has the same cute dog that this time has come up in the world from the working class and the grateful driver Springfield who serves it champagne. A very strong sense of repetition follows for the duration of listening to the record. It has the same anthemic wanna be hit songs about girls and relationships with straightforward and measured rhythms, slick guitars, and a generous helping of the then-current studio polish. The feeling of déja vu (or impression that you listen to Side 2 of the 1981 LP) intensifies when one hears "I Get Excited", which recalls the superhit under the same number on the previous album to a fault. And this unabashed exploitation of the same approach continues until the end.

One interesting track on the album is Rick's cover of a 70's classic entitled "Black Is Black". Written and first performed by Los Bravos, "Black Is Black" was also covered by French vocal trio La Belle Epoque and released as a 1976 single, and peaked at number two in the UK, and reached number one in Australia the following year.  His interpretation of this mega hit is interesting and somewhat refreshing.

Certainly there are occasional solid songs, primarily ballads, like "Don’t Talk to Strangers", despite its clear ties to the time period, or "Still Crazy for You", which is surprisingly moving and possessing a somewhat timeless quality. But these instances do not save the LP from sinking in the flow that overtook many musicians and was only getting stronger at the time.

In the end, Rick Springfield managed to step into the same waters again, bringing joy to the fans of the previous album, but failed to add anything worthy to the bank of his artistic legacy. The record is recommended to those with nostalgia for the 80s, since it effectively translates the vibe and the spirit of the time. As for the other music fans, they can either rewind back to the good old rock or try going forward with a hope for a miracle, at one’s own risk. [Review by Batareziz, Sputnik Music - Aug, 2017]

This post consists of FLACs ripped from my vinyl and includes full album artwork for both Vinyl and CD formats, plus label scans.

As as added bonus, I am also including a rip of his 1981 E.P release entitled 'Jessie's Girl', also ripped to FLAC format. Originally released at the same time as his 'Working Class Dog' LP, the E.P is not easy to find, and as such should put icing on the cake for this post. Artwork for the E.P is also included.

Track Listing

01 Don't Talk To Strangers 3:00

02 Calling All Girls 3:19

03 I Get Excited 2:32

04 What Kind Of Fool Am I 3:20

05 Kristina 3:00

06 Tonight 3:16

07 How Do You Talk To Girls 3:18

08 Still Crazy For You     3:46

09 The American Girl 3:10

10 Just One Kiss    3:10

11 Black Is Black   2:52

12 April 24, 1981 1:32

Band Members:

Lead Vocals - Rick Springfield

Backing Vocals – Richard Page, Tom Kelly, Tom Funderburk

Bass – Dennis Belfield

Drums – Mike Baird

Guitar – Charles Sandford, Rick Springfield, Tim Pierce

Keyboards – Alan Pasqua, Gabriel Katona

BONUS: Jessie's Girl E.P 

01 - Jessie's Girl

02 - Carry Me Away

03 - I've Done Everything For You

04 - Everybody's Girl

Rick Springfield LP & EP Link (288Mb)

 

Rick Springfield - Comic Book Heroes (1973)

(Australian 1962 - Present)

Some people think of Rick Springfield as the good looking star of General Hospital who burst onto the music scene in the early 1980's with his chart topping hit "Jessie's Girl". But almost ten years before that break-through, Rick Springfield recorded 'Comic Book Heroes', one of several memorable early albums that established him as a singular musical talent.

Boprn in Sydney, Australia on August 23, 1949, Richard Lewis Springthorpe - later changed to Springfield - was bitten by the music bug at age thirteen, when he receioved his first guitar. Soon he was honing his chops with such bands as The Jordy Boys, MPD, Rock House, Wickedy Wak and Aussie sensations Zoot, a band which also included Beeb Birtles, later a member of The Little River Band. Voted the top guitarist in Australia in 1970, Springfield topped the Aussie charts with the hit "Speak To The Sky" that year.

In 1972, Springfield's debut U.S album 'Beginnings' was released and a re-recorded acoustic version of "Speak To The Sky" went to the Top 15 of the U.S Charts. At about the same time, Springfield landed the role on Mission Magic!, a Saturday morning cartoon show which ran on ABC-TV for one season. Featuring a cache of infectious pop gems culled from his Australian-only Mission Magic! album, Springfield's cartoon image in the show was very similar to the drawing that appears on the cover of Comic Book Heroes.

The next year, he began recording Comic Book Heroes at Morgan Studios in London with producer Robie Porter and orchestrator Del Newman, best known for his work with Cat Stevens. The concept of the album centered on the trials and tribulations of a fictional character similar to such super heroes as Spiderman and Batman. In fact, "I'm Your Superman" ("my Marc Bolan rip-off", confesses Springfield) includes a sampling of the theme from the classic TV show The Adventures Of Superman.

Despite his credentials as a serious songwriter and musician, Springfield had become a mainstay in teen magazines like 'Tiger Beat' and 'Valentine'. At the time of Comic Book Heroes' release, he struggled with being pegged alongside the freshly-scrubbed cherubic teen idols of the day. "They were trying to market me as the new David Cassidy but I wasn't delivering the bubble-gum songs that they needed. It was a real drag," says Springfield.

In fact, the songs on Comic Book Heroes have nothing in common with "white-bread" teen-pop. The album was amature and eclectic collection of quintessential pop. From the baroque harpsichord-majesty of "The Photograph" to the high-octane kick of "the Liar", Comic Book Heroes is a notable attempt at expanding the borders of pop music.

Along with a stellkar cast of seasoned musical pros, Springfield tackled a myriad of instruments including all guitars, electric piano, Hammond organ and moog synth. There is even a nifty Beatlesque backwards guitar solo on one track. "I did some backwards stuff on the end of "Do You Love Your Children". I just love the sound of backwards guitar. It's from my old sixties days." The song, ironically, was inspired by a religious leaflet titled 'Do You Love Your Children' that was placed under the door of Springfield's Hollywood apartment.

The nostalgic epic "Born Out Of Time" is Springfield's favorite song from Comic Book Heroes. "It worked as a song and it has a lot of emotion because I had really found that I was enamored with Greta Garbo at the time and was very caught up in the whole silver screen romance. I had my wall covered with Greta Garbo posters. I got this absolute fan worship thing for her. I'd just sit and watch her movies all day long."

Despite raves from the pop cognoscenti, including Rolling Stone, who compared Springfield toi David Bowie, Comic Book Heroes fizzled on the charts. Bad fortune plagued Springfield throughout the '70's. His 1974 Springfield LP was shelved by Columbia Records, while 1976's Wait For Night was doomed when his record label folded midway through a concerty tour. It would be years of musical mishaps and assorted guest roiles on such TV shows as Battlestar Galactica, The Six-Million Dollar Man and Wonder Woman before he struck gold in 1981 with Working Class Dog. A hit album coupled with his popular role as Dr. Noah Drake on TV's General Hospital, quickly made Rick Springfield a household name.

Since then, Springfield has tallied up a string of seventeen Top 40 hits including "Don't Talk To Strangers", "Love Somebody" and "I've Done Everything For You", as well as multi-platinum albums and sold out tours.

Assessing Comic Book Heroes twenty years later, Springfield is justifiably proud of the record. "The best review I ever got from Rolling Stone was for that record. It was a part of me. I can look back on it and it's like opening a drawer of memories". As a magazine ad for Comic Book Heroes stated way back in 1973, Rick Springfield is much more than another pretty face. (liner notes written by Ken Sharp, August 1993)

Album Release

In 1973, Springfield signed to Columbia Records and recorded his second album, Comic Book Heroes, which was also produced by Porter. In Australia, released on Porter's new label, Wizard Records, the album and its two singles failed to chart. Springfield was promoted as a teeny pop idol similar to David Cassidy and Donny Osmond. Springfield spoke of the teenybopper image in Circus Magazine in 1973. He said he was not sure how it happened. "Someone saw my photo and that was it." He went on to say that someone asked to take a photo of him in a white suit and thought that it was "a bit dull", so he took some crayons and "scrawled an R with a lightning bolt going through it ... which became my emblem."

This post consists of FLACs ripped from my Australian vinyl pressing and includes full artwork and label scans. I recently acquired this album by chance, while out grocery shopping. A nearby house was holding a garage sale and although it was late in the day, I found this album tucked away behind some boxes, and it had clearly been missed by earlier record collectors.  The cover was a little rough but the vinyl is in pristine condition.

I already had the single "I'm Your Superman" so finding this album was magic. I was going to include the B-Side of the single as a Bonus Track (thinking it was a non-album track), until I worked out that it had been lifted from his Beginnings LP.

While researching this album I came across a 'one of a kind' action figure of Rick Springfield (see left), that had been made by a die-hard fan. WTF !  To read more about this, see megomuseum.com 

I also discovered that the Columbia and Wizard releases have slightly different track listings, with the last track on each side swapped. So the Columbia LP finishes with "Do You Love Your Children" while the Wizard LP concludes with "Misty Water Woman"

Australian Track List

A1 Comic Book Heroes 0:42

A2 I'm Your Superman 2:59

A3 Weep No More 3:39

A4 Why Are You Waiting 3:57

A5 Believe In Me 1:47

A6 Do You Love Your Children 6:05

B1 The Liar 3:39

B2 The Photograph 3:23

B3 Bad Boy 3:07

B4 Born Out Of Time 3:47

B5 Misty Water Woman 4:29

The Band:

Rick Springfield - Guitar, Electric Piano, Hammond Organ, Moog Synthesizer, Lead Vocals

Mike Morgan - Piano, Harpsichord

Dave Wintour - Bass

Terry Cox - Drums

Comic Book Heroes Link (203Mb) New Link 25/08/23

Rick Springfield - Living In Oz (1983) plus Bonus Live Tracks

(Australian 1962 - Present)
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Rick Springfield has certainly come a long way from Richard Lewis Springthorpe, born in the Sydney suburb of Guilford on August 23, 1949 and educated at Merrylands High School. Now at a very youthful 34 years of age, he is the most popular male pop performer in America.
In an age when the traditional 'teenage idol' is very much a thing of the past, Rick has managed to cultivate an awesome predominantly-female following who view him in much the same light as the girls of the fifties did Elvis. Actor, singer, songwriter, live hard rocker, pin-up poster hero — Rick covers all bases with style and real talent.
Rick began playing rock'n'roll music when he was 14 and within a few years had through such long-forgotten bands as Moppa Blues, X-Group, Daniel James Ensemble, Jordy Boys, Pete Watson's Rockhouse and a later formation of MPO Ltd. His recording career began with a Brisbane group called Wikedy Wak; he sang lead on the single Billie's Bikie Boys — produced by Molly Meldrum and written by Johnny Young.

Rick Springfield Promo Poster 1972

In 1969, Rick joined the Zoot, replacing guitarist Roger Hicks. He immediately turned the band from bubblegum to tough rock and they scored a gold single with "Eleanor Rigby". Other members of the band included Beeb Birtles (now with LRB) and spunky Darryl Cotton.
When ambitious Rick had represented Australia at the 1972 Tokyo Song Festival he decided to try his luck in America and by September of that year had cracked the U.S. top twenty with "Speak To The Sky". His album Beginnings sold over 300,000 copies.
Over the next decade Rick worked hard in America, making more albums (Comic Book Heroes, Wait For Night), scoring three more moderate hits, undertaking acting roles in television shows, and writing songs. His return to rock prominence came when he landed the role of Dr Noah Drake in the soap opera General Hospital. The show shot to-number one and when Rick put out a new single it did exactly the same thing!
"Jessie's Girl" became one of the biggest hits of 1981, winning Rick a Grammy for Best Rock Performance. When Rick showed up at the glittering event to collect his prize he insisted on performing the song red hot rockin live.

After Jessie's Girl came the hits "I've Done Everything For You" and "Don't Talk To Strangers"; as well as the albums 'Working Class Dog' and 'Success Hasn't Spoiled Me Yet'. When he scheduled a concert at New York's famed Carnegie Hall every ticket was swept up in just three hours! In the words of the New York Post, "Rick Springfield has fashioned a role for himself that Is winning all the way",
Rick is in the studio right now working on a brand new album, to be titled 'Living In Oz'. This time he's working with producer Bill Drescher, rather Keith Dfsen who has been responsible for all his recent hits. The "new sound" will be interesting to hear, Rick has also wrapped up an appearance, in a new film called Travelling Light, directed by Ray Stark.

Rick's only problem at the moment is that people keep confusing his name with that of Bruce Springsteen. In fact, he recorded a funny song about the dilemma, called Bruce. It has only ever appeared on the Australian release of the Working Class Dog album. [Feature article from Countdown Magazine - Vol.1 No.9 March, 1983]
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This post consists of FLACs ripped from my vinyl which I bought in the 80's, following the huge success with "Jessie's Girl" and his 'Working Class Dog' LP.  "Affair of the Heart" was a top 10 single at the time and everything that Rick touched seemed to turn to gold.  Full album artwork and label scans are also included as usual. To add cream to the cake, I'm also including four live bonus tracks that I ripped from YouTube clips.
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Track Listing

01 - Human Touch
02 - Alyson
03 - Affair Of The Heart
04 - Living In Oz
05 - Me & Johnny
06 - Motel Eyes
07 - Tiger By The Tail
08 - Souls
09 - I Can't Stop Hurting You
10 - Like Father, Like Son
Bonus Tracks
11 - Gloria (Live)
12 - Alyson (live)
13 - Affair Of The Heart (Live)
14 - Living In Oz (Live)

Band Members:

Lead Vocals - Rick Springfield
Guitars - Rick Springfield, Tim Pearce
Drums - Mike Baird
Bass - Rick Springfield, Mike Seifrit & Denis Belfield
Keyboards - Mitchell Froom, Alan Pasqua, John Philip Shenale, Brett Tugle & Gabriel Katona
Percussion - Michael Fisher
Electric Drums - Jack White
Saxophone - Richard Elliot
Background Vocals - Rick Springfield, Tom Kelly & Richard Page
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Rick Springfield FLACs  (379Mb)  New Link 29/01/2017
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Zoot - Zoot Locker (1980)

(Australian 1965-71)

Zoot were a pop/rock band formed in Adelaide, South Australia in 1965 as Down the Line. They changed their name to Zoot in 1967 and by 1968 had relocated to Melbourne. They had a top five hit on the Go-Set national singles chart with a heavy rock cover of The Beatles' ballad "Eleanor Rigby" released in 1970; but they disbanded in May 1971. Mainstay bass guitarist, Beeb Birtles, was later a founder of Little River Band in 1975 and guitarist singer-songwriter, Rick Springfield, who moved to the United States in 1972, achieved international fame as a solo artist, songwriter and actor [extract from wikipedia]

.Zoot became one the most popular Australian bands of the second 'pop wave' of the late 'Sixties when they and other acts like The Valentines, the Masters Apprentices, Russell Morris and The New Dream were scoring hits and causing riots. Like so many groups at the time, Zoot were drawn along by the rapid stylistic shifts of that uncertain period and they suffered under some ill-advised management decisions that led to them being tagged as a lightweight 'bubblegum' act — an undeserved reputation which overshadowed their fine musicianship and their genuine desire to be taken seriously..
Ironically, they're probably best remembered these days for the 1970 single that they hoped would scuttle their pop image for good — their classic heavy-metal version of "Eleanor Rigby" — and also for the fact that Zoot was first successful outing for two future stars -- solo performer and soapie heart-throb guitarist Rick Springfield (who went on to have major success in the U.S. in the eighties - see Rick's website for more details) and Little River Band lynch pin Beeb Birtles [extract from milesago.com]
Zoot was one of several significant Aussie bands that emerged from the fertile musical hothouse of Adelaide in the mid-1960s -- the same scene that produced The Masters Apprentices and The Twilights. When the Zoot moved from hometown Adelaide to Melbourne in 1968, the band's management gave it a bubble-gum image, centred on the slogan Think Pink, Think Zoot'. The band dressed entirely in pink outfits. It took Zoot until 1971, just before disbanding, to shake the image and achieve musical credibility.

In 1970, Zoot promoted the release of the single 'Hey Pinky', by taking out an ad in Go-Set magazine that featured a nude rear photograph of the band members. The song was a scathing comment on the band's pink image.
My all time favourite Zoot track would have to be "Eleanor Rigby" (and was infact the first Zoot track I ever heard). Now I know this is going to ruffle a few feathers in the Beatles crowd, but I reckon this Aussie version of the classic track 'beats' the fab fours version by far. The guitar work and vocals are brillant and it is a credit to them to be able to match it with the lads from Liverpool.
The rip included here was taken from CD at 320kps and includes full album artwork + booklet scans.

Note: Zoot Locker is a "Best Of Compilation" that only covers tracks released between 1968-1971.


Track Listing
01 - You Better Get Going Now
02 - 1 x 2 x 3 x 4
03 - Monty and Me
04 - It's About Time
05 - Sailing
06 - Yes I'm Glad
07 - Little Roland Lost
08 - She's Alright
09 - Sha La La
10 - Flying
11 - Mr Songwriter
12 - Strange Things
13 - Hey Pink
14 - The Freak
15 - Evil Child
16 - Eleanor Rigby

Band Members:
Beeb Birtles – bass guitar, vocals (1965–1971)
Darryl Cotton – lead vocals, guitar (1965–1971
Rick Brewer – drums (1968–1971)
Rick Springfield – lead vocals, guitar (1969–1971)
 
Darryl Cotton (1949-2012) RIP
Darryl Cotton, the lead singer and founding member of '60s and '70s band Zoot, died early today (27th July, 2012) in a Melbourne hospital. He was 62 and had recently been diagnosed with liver cancer [Herald Sun]

Zoot Link (96Mb)
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