I guess in Rock circles Mr Marx will always be remembered for his 1987 album ‘Richard Marx’ and the four top five singles it spawned, or maybe the three further top 5 singles that followed with three number 1’s amongst them. For me personally though it’s always been his songwriting for others that really intrigued me like ‘Edge of a Broken Heart’ that he and The Tubes’ Fee Waybill wrote for Vixen’s first album. 2020 sees him release his12th album ‘Limitless’.
Opener ‘Another One Down’ is pure blue sky Pop – its a nice song but the modern-day obsession with adding that computerized texture that has swept through RNB and Pop over the last two decades still sounds unnatural to me and takes away some of the enjoyment for someone who enjoys and paces great emphasis on authenticity. Strip that back from this song and you have a great core.Keep it in and you’re more accessible to the mainstream, so I guess it’s not that tough a choice for an artist still relevant and skilled enough to bother the charts.
The title track that follows allows Marx’ voice to breathe, there’s still that modern Pop but the voice is cleaner and its easier to hear how this could have been dressed up as a rock song thirty years ago, The synth refrain behind the chorus might be a little jarring for some, but it’s a nice song.
But this one seems to turn on a pin…
‘Love Affair That Lasts Forever’ is more like it, and one of the most memorable songs here, It’s simpler less full of floating effects. It’s beautifully written and wonderfully constructed and even though to a degree its still a ‘prisoner of its genre’ texturally its a good enough song to break that mould and crossover.
By the time I got to ‘Let Go’ I was convinced I’d already heard the song before, the verses, the tempo, the smoothing effects, the computerization all sounded so familiar already and I guess in the modern day it’s that familiarity that explains the way the charts are saturated with songs like this.
The best is still to come though: ‘All Along’ is a great Pop song and not as far from Richard’s AOR past as you might imagine. I love the gentle ‘Up All Night,’ again its not a million miles sonically from those opening tracks here but with far more life to it and a timeless quality that maybe those opening numbers eschewed for ‘relevance’ it really feels like a middle order home run.
And it continues: ‘Front Row Seat’ is old school Marx and for fans of yesteryear there’s a real feeling that the core of this album is where the action is after a particularly Poppy opening. It vies for my favourite track here with a couple of others currently. The lightly countrified duet that follows ‘Strong Enough ft. Jana Kramer’ is beautiful in its simplicity and being of a certain age I had no inclination to search the name Jana Kramer.
Better still is the stripped back ‘Not In Love’ a beautiful ballad that underlines in bold (three times) the songwriting genius of this man. The emotion he can squeeze into a note and a piano chord is a magical art that few get close to.
And whilst we close out with ‘Break My Heart Tonight’ that inhabits the same neighborhood as those opening tracks, the final moment ‘This One’ strips it all back again to close with the second real ballad and the type of story-telling Marx is so adept at, a lightly orchestrated song that stars Marx’ voice and acoustic guitar.
There’s a taste here of Marx at his very best.