Label: Melodicrock Records 2012
Review by Kimmo Toivonen
Now this is a fun tribute album! The "Working Class Dogs" in question include both modern rock bands like Waltham, Fig and Handsome Devil and more traditional melodic rockers like James Christian, Mitch Malloy and Steve Newman all celebrating the very fine music of Rick Springfield. What's noteworthy is that while the artists put their own stamp to the songs, in the end these versions are very faithful to the originals. No-one has tried to be too clever with these classic songs. Also, it's particulary interesting to notice how well these songs suit the slightly punky vibe of some of the "younger" acts on the album.
The production quality of the songs varies quite a bit, from the pristine sound of "Souls" (Eric Martin, Eric Ragno and Vic Rivera) to the demo-like quality of "Calling All Girls" (Brand New Machine) and "Beautiful You" (Clay Howard). With 20 songs on the album, there's still enough quality material to keep any Rick Springfield quite happy.
If one of the goals of a tribute album is to generate interest towards the artist that's being honoured, I must say that this album has served its' purpose: I think I will dig up my Rick Springfield CDs now, and put together a seriously mindblowing "Best Of Rick Rock" compilation. "I feel the big beat..."
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