Rick Springfield - Working Class Dog (1981)

Note: the CD I listened to was the 25th anniversary edition with 3 bonus tracks and surprisingly good liner notes.

Yeah, yeah, I know I should have probably purchased this album back in '81 like everybody else. But, due to some typically odd 14-year-old adolescent reasoning, I thought this pretty boy stuff was for the ladies, not wannabe macho guys like me. Never mind that I was buying Manilow and smooth jazz records at the time, I wasn't gonna be eatin' no quiche!

©1982

Naturally, the irony of having such a juvenile mindset was completely lost on my juvenile mind. Sure, I liked the album's three hits when they played on the radio back in '81, but I just couldn't bring my knuckledheaded self to buy an album from a soap star. But somebody I palled around with must have owned the cassette because I remember all the songs from what was side one (tracks 1-5) here, including the two filler tunes. You'll be happy to know I eventually got over myself and bought the follow-up, Success Hasn't Spoiled Me Yet, in spring of 1982 (I keep saying I need to revisit that one). However, if I heard the remaining tracks on Working Class Dog before purchasing this CD, I have no memory of it.

Regardless, this album is full of hook-filled, well-crafted power pop achieved by using a very typical, structured pop formula - as producer Bill Drescher states in the liner notes: "strong intro, strong verse, strong chorus, a good bridge and then back to the chorus." Thought was also given to the song's endings, as 9 of the 10 tracks have definite endings that don't fade out - only the final track falls away and I'm usually done by then anyway.

Jessie's Girl won the Grammy Award for Rock Male Vocalist and the album was nominated for Best Album Package (eventually losing to Tattoo You).

Press of the time:

• Trouser Press: "muscular bubblegum - rock that comes on strong and has a squishy center"
• CashBox: "Crystalline power chords, bracing harmonies and catchy as all get out hooks make this LP a rock n’ roll event."
• Billboard: "Catchy, mainstream rock"
• Stereo Review: "Springfield at last proves himself to be a pop performer of some substance."
• Record World: "Springfield is anything but a dog, but he could appeal to the working class."

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard Top 200: #7
• Billboard Rock: #16
• CashBox: #13
• Rolling Stone: #17

Tracks: Jesse's Girl was the big hit but I think the best tune is the album opener, Love Is Alright Tonight with its most excellent chorus. This album is definitely front-loaded with all three Top 40 hits in the first five tracks and then it falls apart as it ends, finishing with an odd road house blues/boogie woogie pastiche of a track followed by a below-average ballad. But 8 out of 10 ain't bad. However, that would explain why I was only familiar with the first five tracks - I imagine side one of cassette tapes and vinyl saw a lot more playing time than side two.

There's some obvious derivations here: Carry Me Away sounds like it could have been recorded by Kansas, The Light Of Love by The Babys, and so on. But he was looking for a big commercial hit, so who can blame him? I knew that I've Done Everything For You was written by Sammy Hagar, but until I read the liner notes of this CD, I was unaware that producer Keith Olson first tried to get Pat Benatar to record it and she turned it down, but the Springfield version is played and arranged by Benatar's husband Neil Geraldo. So it's essentially a Benatar track with Rick's vocals and now I can't unhear that. Still a great tune, though.

Bonus tracks: we got 3 of 'em - a 70's sounding Kansas/Foreigner ripoff (Easy To Cry), an early version of Taxi Dancing, and the demo of Jesse's Girl. The first two were part of the tape that got Rick a recording deal with RCA. The first is surprisingly good - it wouldn't have fit on the original WCD album, but it's worth a listen. The other two are worth one pass each.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD (lifted from a previous post): One of the older girls I was crushing on around 1981 had a boyfriend with a two-syllable name and I would often sing along to this tune substituting his name for Jessie's. And then outta nowhere she dumped him for me! Just kidding, they've been married for many years.

Ricky Springfield is a buddy of Rahad