I always kind of feel sorry for Richard Marx. The man is plainly
talented at writing good, solid, pop songs with hooks you could
land a blue whale with, but because he’s got a pretty face he can’t
buy respect, and never
could. To me, there’s always a parallel with Rick
Springfield, also a pretty decent pop singer who was too cute to be
considered good.
Rush Street, Marx’s 1991 CD, was the closest he ever got to
breaking out of his “cute boy” mode and proving he could put
together a tight, close, adult CD. And while it has its weak
moments, there are times when this is as good as pop music
gets.
The CD starts with “Playing With Fire”, kicking out the stops
right off the bat with a hard rocker, and that sets the tone for
the rest of the CD. Whatever Marx
does, he throws himself into, and it shows on other harder
songs like “Hands In Your Pocket”, “Streets Of Pain”, and the Billy
Joel-reminiscent piano line of “I Get No Sleep”, where he hits his
mark. Of course, trying that hard means he misses: I’m still not
sure what “Love Unemotional” is supposed to be, exactly, but it’s
not very good at it, and “Superstar” is a trite throwaway that
would have been best left off
Rush Street (which is a bit long, anyway).
Marx’s reputation, such as it is, was made with love songs,
however, and
Rush Street is no exception. Interestingly enough, almost
all of them are excellent, especially “Your World”, “Chains Around
My Heart”, “Calling You”, and “Take This Heart”. The only weak
point, oddly, is what was the second single off the CD, “Keep
Coming Back”. It drags badly,.meandering like a bad come on line in
a cheap bar.
What is most interesting, and makes one wonder about what might
have been, is the song that was the first single released,
“Hazard”, a story in song about a man who might have been framed
for a murder. In it, Marx shows the genesis of what might have
become a Harry Chapin-like ability to create musical narratives;
sadly, this promise was never fulfilled.
Rush Street is a documentation of a career that might have
been, an attempt to reach beyond boundaries that ultimately failed.
Still, as a pop album, it’s a solid, almost brilliant piece of work
that’s worth a listen or two.
