Playlist: The Very Best Of Rick Springfield | ||||
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Greatest hits album by | ||||
Released | 18 July 2006 (We Are the '80s) 17 June 2008 (Playlist) | |||
Recorded | 1981–1988 | |||
Genre | Rock | |||
Length | 49:47 | |||
Label | RCA Records | |||
Producer | Keith Olsen, Rick Springfield and Bill Drescher | |||
Rick Springfield chronology | ||||
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Playlist: The Very Best Of Rick Springfield is a compilation album by Rick Springfield, released by RCA Records in 2008. This collection was originally released with the title We Are the '80s in 2006 but was re-released with the "Playlist" title in 2008, containing the same songs and running order. Both are essentially an upgrade to Springfield's similar Greatest Hits (1989), adding two additional tracks.
Springfield began his recording career in the late 1960s and had limited success in the United States with his 1972 album Beginnings and its single "Speak to the Sky." He released three more albums through 1976, but his musical career would not take off in earnest until 1981 with the release of his first RCA album Working Class Dog . The single "Jessie's Girl" from that album gave Springfield his first and only number one single in the U.S., and won him a Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male. [1]
Springfield's success continued throughout the 1980s with albums such as Success Hasn't Spoiled Me Yet (1982) that contained the singles "Don't Talk to Strangers" and "What Kind of Fool Am I", and 1983's Living in Oz with the hits "Affair of the Heart" and "Human Touch". Rick Springfield starred in the 1984 film Hard to Hold and the accompanying soundtrack album included his songs "Love Somebody" and "Don't Walk Away." In the mid-1980s, Springfield stated that he started dealing with serious spiritual issues and he began to write more about those in his music. His 1985 release Tao with the singles "State of the Heart" and "Celebrate Youth" saw Rick moving in a more mature and spiritual direction. His 1988 album Rock of Life would be his last album of new material until 1997's Sahara Snow, and contained Springfield's final (of 17) Billboard Top 40 single in the USA. [2]
This compilation contains the majority of Springfield's hit singles from 1981 to 1988, by far his most successful years. The only Billboard Hot 100 charting singles from the 1980s not included are "Souls", "Taxi Dancing," and "Bruce."
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Allmusic | [3] |
Writing for Allmusic, critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine commented on the We Are the '80s release: "As the title suggests, this 14-track compilation focuses entirely on Springfield's '80s work ... and it does a good job of rounding up the biggest singles ... listeners will find this to be a first-rate overview of Springfield's popular peak." [3]
All tracks written by Rick Springfield except as noted.
Greatest Hits | ||||
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Greatest hits album by | ||||
Released | 1989 | |||
Recorded | 1981-1988 | |||
Genre | Rock | |||
Length | 41:38 | |||
Label | RCA Records | |||
Producer | Keith Olsen, Rick Springfield and Bill Drescher | |||
Rick Springfield chronology | ||||
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Rick Springfield's earlier Greatest Hits (1989) is almost identical to Playlist, containing 12 of the 14 songs in the same order, although tracks 2, 6, 7 and 12 are all shorter edits/fades.
Richard Lewis Springthorpe, known professionally as Rick Springfield, is an Australian-American musician and actor. 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. He followed with four more top 10 US hits: "I've Done Everything for You", "Don't Talk to Strangers", "Affair of the Heart" and "Love Somebody". Springfield's two US top 10 albums are Working Class Dog (1981) and Success Hasn't Spoiled Me Yet (1982).
Surrealistic Pillow is the second studio album by the American rock band Jefferson Airplane, released by RCA Victor on February 1, 1967. It is the first album by the band with vocalist Grace Slick and drummer Spencer Dryden. The album peaked at number three on the Billboard 200 and has been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It is considered to be one of the most influential and quintessential works of the early psychedelic rock era and the 1960s counterculture.
Eurythmics were a British pop duo formed in 1980, consisting of Scottish vocalist Annie Lennox and English musician and producer Dave Stewart. They were both previously in the Tourists, a band that broke up in 1980. They released their first studio album, In the Garden, in 1981 to little success, but achieved global acclaim with their second album, Sweet Dreams (1983). The title track became a worldwide hit, reaching number two in the UK Singles Chart, and number one in Canada and the US Billboard Hot 100. Eurythmics went on to release a string of hit singles and albums, including "Love Is a Stranger", "There Must Be an Angel " and "Here Comes the Rain Again", before splitting in 1990.
Working Class Dog is the fifth studio album by Australian rock musician Rick Springfield, released by RCA Records in 1981. The album was certified Platinum in the United States and eventually sold over three million US copies. It produced Springfield's biggest career hit with the #1 million-selling song, "Jessie's Girl". Springfield was awarded the 1982 Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male.
Wooden Nickel Records was an American independent record label started in 1971 by Bill Traut, Jim Golden and Jerry Weintraub as a successor to Dunwich Records. Most of Wooden Nickel's releases were by acts based in the Chicago area, including the Siegel–Schwall Band, James Lee Stanley, Megan McDonough and Styx. The label had a distribution deal with RCA Records. Wooden Nickel ceased operations after its top act, Styx, signed with A&M Records in 1975. The label sued the band for breach of contract, then was formally disbanded in 1977.
Veronica "Randy" Crawford is a retired American jazz and R&B singer. She has been more successful in Europe than in the United States, where she has not entered the Billboard Hot 100 as a solo artist. However, she has appeared on the Hot 100 singles chart twice. The first time was in 1979 as a guest vocalist on the Crusaders' top-40 hit "Street Life". She also dueted with Rick Springfield on the song "Taxi Dancing", which hit number 59 as the B-side of Springfield's hit "Bop Til You Drop". She has had five top-20 hits in the UK, including her 1980 number-two hit, "One Day I'll Fly Away", as well as six UK top-10 albums. Despite her American nationality, she won Best British Female Solo Artist in recognition of her popularity in the UK at the 1982 Brit Awards. In the late 2000s, she received her first two Grammy Award nominations.
Howard Greenfield was an American lyricist and songwriter, who for several years in the 1960s worked out of the famous Brill Building. He is best known for his successful songwriting collaborations, including one with Neil Sedaka from the late 1950s to the mid-1970s, and near-simultaneous songwriting partnerships with Jack Keller and Helen Miller throughout most of the 1960s.
"Jessie's Girl" is a song written and performed by Australian singer Rick Springfield. It was released on the album Working Class Dog, which was released in February 1981. The song is about unrequited love and centres on a young man in love with his best friend's girlfriend.
Success Hasn't Spoiled Me Yet is the sixth studio album by Australian rock musician Rick Springfield, 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", "What Kind of Fool Am I" and "I Get Excited" (No. 32). "Don't Talk to Strangers" and "Calling All Girls" also received considerable album rock airplay, charting at No. 11 and No. 4 respectively.
Living in Oz is the seventh studio album by Australian rock musician Rick Springfield, released on 30 March 1983, by RCA Records. The album was quickly certified Platinum in America.
Taylor Laurence Rhodes is an American songwriter, producer, and musician from Nashville, Tennessee, most notable for his work with hard rock band Aerosmith since 1993.
Tao is the tenth studio album by Australian musician Rick Springfield. It was released on 27 March 1985, by RCA Records.
"It's Gonna Work Out Fine" is a song written by Rose Marie McCoy and Joe Seneca. It was originally released by Ike & Tina Turner in 1961 as a single from their album Dynamite! (1962). The record is noted for being their first Grammy nominated song and their second million-selling single after "A Fool In Love".
Hard to Hold is the eighth studio album by Rick Springfield released in March 1984, by RCA Records as the soundtrack to the film of the same name. The album includes the U.S. Top 5 hit "Love Somebody", Top 40 hits "Don't Walk Away" and "Bop 'Til You Drop", plus minor hit "Taxi Dancing". In addition to Springfield appearing on the soundtrack, there are three tracks from other artists; "When The Lights Go Down" by Graham Parker, "Heart Of A Woman" by Nona Hendryx, and a live version of "I Go Swimming" by Peter Gabriel. The album was later remastered by Steve Hoffman for the Razor and Tie reissue label.
The Singles Collection, Volume 1 is a limited edition CD series compilation box set by the English rock band Queen, released in 2008. The box set contains remastered versions of the first 13 worldwide top-40 charting singles released by Queen, including b-sides.
"I've Done Everything for You" is a song written and performed by Sammy Hagar, and released as a single in 1978. A version by Rick Springfield in 1981 became a top 10 hit in the US. In addition to recorded versions by Hagar and Springfield, the song has been performed and recorded by numerous bands, including Buckcherry.
Francine Vicki Golde, better known as Franne Golde or Frannie Golde, is an American songwriter, musician, singer and writer. Her songs have appeared on more than 100 million records sold worldwide. Golde has received BMI awards for singles with The Pussycat Dolls "Stickwitu", Randy Travis's "A Man Ain't Made of Stone", The Kinleys' "Somebody's Out There Watching" from the Touched by an Angel soundtrack, Selena's "Dreaming of You", Jody Watley's "Don't You Want Me" and "Nightshift" by the Commodores, which also won a Grammy for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group and received a Grammy nomination for Song of the Year. Most recently, Golde was nominated to The Songwriter's Hall Of Fame and Bruce Springsteen covered Nightshift on his Only The Strong Survive album. She started her own clothing line known for creating "The Perfect Black Pant" in August 2016.
The discography of Australian rock musician Rick Springfield consists of 22 studio albums, 12 compilation albums, five live albums, 34 singles and 11 music videos. In 1995, Springfield formed a side-project, Sahara Snow, with Tim Pierce on guitar and Bob Marlette on keyboards and percussion, which released a self-titled studio album in 1997. In 2021, he formed a similar side project with the Red Locusts.
The Singles Collection, Volume 4 is a limited edition CD series compilation box set by the English rock band Queen, the fourth and last set in the collection. The box set contains remastered versions of the next thirteen top-40 charting singles released by Queen that appear subsequent to those in The Singles Collection Volume 3, excluding the Five Live EP and the Small Soldiers Remix of "Another One Bites The Dust", the latter of which was not released by EMI/Parlophone.
"Don't Talk to Strangers" is a song written and performed by Australian musician Rick Springfield. This song was released as a single in 1982, from the album Success Hasn't Spoiled Me Yet. It reached number two on the United States Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks, making it his second biggest hit in the US after the number-one hit, "Jessie's Girl". It was kept off the top spot by "Ebony and Ivory" by Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder. Springfield was nominated for Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance with the song in 1983.