Album Review: Venus In Overdrive by Rick Springfield

Don't get fooled by the title of "What's Victoria's Secret?," the first song and single on Rick Springfield's Venus in Overdrive, his 14th or so studio album (depending if soundtracks to Mission Magic and Hard to Hold are counted). Despite its goofily punning title and tight, pulsating guitars that consciously recall "Jesse's Girl," the song does not herald a return to the power pop heyday of the '80s; once its giddy thrill wears away, it's clear that Venus in Overdrive is every bit the sequel to 2004's heavy-lifting Shock/Denial/Anger/Acceptance, its song cycle of the grief cycle not at all an anomaly among Springfield's post-fame albums. Ever since his father's death in the mid-'80s, Springfield has avoided the frivolous whenever he could, which has as much to do with his slow slide off the charts as it does any changing fashion.

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