OUT OF THE VAULT:
Richard Marx - "Rush Street"
(EMI, 1991) * * * 1/2
Maybe it's the American Idol fan in me, but I just love a big bombastic song, one of those that has all the studio arrangement to back it up, and the kind of lead singer who can turn the final chorus into a raging pot of boiling rock stew. And that, my friends, is exactly what Richard Marx has in his new single, "Ready To Fly", a raging cliche that makes me want to stand up and belt out a loud refrain in the middle of a crowded bus.
Proof positive that even an indie music critic can be lame. I'm damned proud of it.
But there was another byproduct of hearing "Ready To Fly" on WLBC this afternoon. In trying to figure out if it was indeed Richard Marx (and that voice should have been a dead giveaway) I wandered through Napster's catalog, trying to find the new song. I also stumbled on a great acoustic version of what may be the catchiest bombastic pop song of the last fifteen years.
Anyone else here remember the song "Hazard?" It would have to be the most bizarre song to be a hit, and its video has developed a cult following as to who killed the main character's girlfriend Mary. I'll stay out of that debate, I'm not quite that far gone yet. But the second chorus, the pleading way Richard's protagonist begs the town to believe he isn't a murderer, to believe he left Mary by the river and someone else did it, all while that damned calliope line plays in the background (I can't think of a better way to describe it!) still brings chills to my spine:
Man with a badge came knocking next morning
Here was I, surrounded by a thousand fingers suddenly
Pointed right at me
I swear I left her by the river
I swear I left her safe and sound!
Oh, I need to make it to the river
And leave this old Nebraska town!
I remember first hearing that song, then buying the album it came on, Rush Street, and completely reveling in my find. Even though I could tell this was a guy who would be happy singing just about anything as long as it had that level of range that would let him really belt the words out (had I heard Bon Jovi at the time, I might have thought of that comparison first), I also could appreciate the way the songs all caught the ear, from the drawling "lets ... get busy" intro to "Playing With Fire" to the raging chorus of another classic, "Take This Heart" ("Baby / This time / Ain't nothing gonna take this heart way!"), the album just has a ring to it. Even cheesy attempts at metal ("Streets of Pain"), which may be the most derivative song ever crapped out, can't kill the mood of the album!
Either way, I'd urge you all to check out this album ... it is, at the very least, a great flashback to the early nineties, before Marx became a full "adult contemporary" artist. I think Rush Street holds up well as an album not quite eighties or nineties. Instead, it's a triple platinum album that I think most fans of the genre overlook.
Maybe it's the American Idol fan in me, but I just love a big bombastic song, one of those that has all the studio arrangement to back it up, and the kind of lead singer who can turn the final chorus into a raging pot of boiling rock stew. And that, my friends, is exactly what Richard Marx has in his new single, "Ready To Fly", a raging cliche that makes me want to stand up and belt out a loud refrain in the middle of a crowded bus.
Proof positive that even an indie music critic can be lame. I'm damned proud of it.
But there was another byproduct of hearing "Ready To Fly" on WLBC this afternoon. In trying to figure out if it was indeed Richard Marx (and that voice should have been a dead giveaway) I wandered through Napster's catalog, trying to find the new song. I also stumbled on a great acoustic version of what may be the catchiest bombastic pop song of the last fifteen years.
Anyone else here remember the song "Hazard?" It would have to be the most bizarre song to be a hit, and its video has developed a cult following as to who killed the main character's girlfriend Mary. I'll stay out of that debate, I'm not quite that far gone yet. But the second chorus, the pleading way Richard's protagonist begs the town to believe he isn't a murderer, to believe he left Mary by the river and someone else did it, all while that damned calliope line plays in the background (I can't think of a better way to describe it!) still brings chills to my spine:
Man with a badge came knocking next morning
Here was I, surrounded by a thousand fingers suddenly
Pointed right at me
I swear I left her by the river
I swear I left her safe and sound!
Oh, I need to make it to the river
And leave this old Nebraska town!
I remember first hearing that song, then buying the album it came on, Rush Street, and completely reveling in my find. Even though I could tell this was a guy who would be happy singing just about anything as long as it had that level of range that would let him really belt the words out (had I heard Bon Jovi at the time, I might have thought of that comparison first), I also could appreciate the way the songs all caught the ear, from the drawling "lets ... get busy" intro to "Playing With Fire" to the raging chorus of another classic, "Take This Heart" ("Baby / This time / Ain't nothing gonna take this heart way!"), the album just has a ring to it. Even cheesy attempts at metal ("Streets of Pain"), which may be the most derivative song ever crapped out, can't kill the mood of the album!
Either way, I'd urge you all to check out this album ... it is, at the very least, a great flashback to the early nineties, before Marx became a full "adult contemporary" artist. I think Rush Street holds up well as an album not quite eighties or nineties. Instead, it's a triple platinum album that I think most fans of the genre overlook.
posted by Jonathan Sanders @ 6:27 PM
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