{"id":56627,"date":"2018-01-24T22:15:04","date_gmt":"2018-01-25T03:15:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=56627"},"modified":"2018-01-28T20:15:25","modified_gmt":"2018-01-29T01:15:25","slug":"rick-springfield-the-snake-king-music-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2018\/rick-springfield-the-snake-king-music-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Rick Springfield | The Snake King"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Derric Miller<\/span>
\n\u2014 Managing Editor\u2014<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"Jesus Was an Atheist. God Don’t Care. Suicide Manifesto. That’s right \u2026 Rick Springfield is back with a brand new studio release and it’s darker than black, in the best way possible\u2014it’s the blues. Quite obviously known for having upwards of 17 Top 40 hits, the multi-faceted talents of Springfield roam from music to acting to writing. He’s also been haunted by demons since his teen years when he tried to end that pain at the end of a noose, but luckily, that’s one of the few things he’s failed at. His new album, The Snake King<\/em>, highlights his guitar playing and lyricism more so than his pop sensibilities; in fact, you wouldn’t guess outright this is Rick Springfield at all if you heard it apropos of nothing.<\/p>\n

But The Snake King<\/em> isn’t apropos of nothing, it’s Rick Springfield peeling back the flesh to lay bare his bones, and it’s already making its claim as 2018’s best album.<\/p>\n

\u201cLand of the Blind\u201d begins the journey, and this is one of the more commercial offerings on the release, a mid-tempo acoustic-driven hit. \u201cCyclops in the white house understands it, keeps everyone snowblind from the great west wing. He knows the rules don’t apply here in the snake pit \u2026 it’s the land of the blind and the one-eyed man is king.\u201d Now, sure, this could be about the current president\u2014OK it surely is\u2014but it’s not ONLY about that. This are all sonic metaphors for society, for mankind, for trying to understand that \u201cin the land of the dead, the dying man is king.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Blues aspect of the album runs you over by the second track, \u201cThe Devil That You Know.\u201d There’s a huge R&B vibe, Springfield sings with a lot more soul than you’ve ever heard, and while the beat and rhythms are danceable, the lyrics are a bit damnable, with slices of apostasy like, \u201cI had a talk with Jesus, I said man, you just part of the machine. He unfriended me on Facebook, I said oh no you don’t, I’m the devil that you know baby I know what you want.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJudas Tree\u201d is about as textbook Blues as you can get. It’s so comfortable, and familiar, with the repetition of first lines \u2026 yet the imagery is severe. \u201cThey say when you die hanging, you get hard as you go down. I think I’ll cut poor Judas from the tree \u2026 and I’ll take him on the ground.\u201d While a superior vocalist, it’s the despair, it’s the acceptance of bleakness in his voice that really takes this all home.<\/p>\n

Again, a song with the title, \u201cJesus Was an Atheist\u201d isn’t what anyone expects from Springfield. The sheer storytelling capacity of these compositions is rare. Again, listening to these songs is as comfortable as putting on an old well-used baseball mitt, with oil stains and dirt rubbed in for good measure, and they are somehow as soft and yielding as they are cutting, highlighted by lines like, \u201cI know you all believe that Jesus was divine, but Jesus was an atheist, he was a friend of mine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Slide guitar rules the roost on the title track, \u201cThe Snake King.\u201d It’s a song that, while mostly acoustic, really sounds like it could be one of those anthem-rocking full-on electric songs. Maybe like something Tesla would create, except, well, Tesla doesn’t write words like, \u201cBut if you’re trying to find salvation, I’m not your destination \u2026 but I sure am in the bed you’re sleeping in!\u201d<\/p>\n

As mentioned, Springfield has and does fight depression. His battle springs forth in the song, \u201cSuicide Manifesto,\u201d and the dichotomy of a rockin’ sing-along Blues tune and lyrics you know echo in his head every day makes you wonder if you should bop along or pray. \u201cI used to be a fighter, now just the victim of the ebb and flow. Looking forward to the silence when I cut my radio …\u201d<\/p>\n

It’s rare to be able to listen to an album all the way through and not need or want to skip a song. You just can’t on The<\/em> Snake King<\/em>. And to end it with \u201cOrpheus in the Underworld\u201d is that testament to saving the best for last. It’s everything. If you can give a song an IQ, this one earned its Mensa membership. True, if you don’t like political songs\u2014especially if you lean too far to the right\u2014this one might not resonate \u2026 but that’s not Springfield’s fault. He’s singing his truth. \u201cKoch Brothers, Goldman Sachs all run the world as they see fit, as they turn the planet into dust, and your children’s lives to shit.\u201d If you remember Orpheus from your Greek mythology classes, he braved Hell to save his beloved Eurydice from the Land of the Dead, only to fail to follow his instructions exactly, losing her forever. Describing the mastery here doesn’t do it justice, but when it fades with Springfield’s final lyrics, \u201cAs time runs out for Orpheus, in the underworld,\u201d it’s not a leap to think he’s not just talking about Orpheus \u2026<\/p>\n

The Snake King<\/em> is going to surprise fans, the critics, pretty much everyone. It’s dangerous when you don’t know what you don’t know, but if you listen close enough, Rick Springfield just might let you know what that is.<\/p>\n

Genre: Rock, Blues<\/p>\n

Band:
\nRick Springfield (lead vocals, guitar)
\nGeorge Nastos (guitar)
\nSiggy Sjursen (bass)
\nJorge Palacios (drums)
\nTim Gross (keyboards)<\/p>\n

Tracklisting:
\n1. In The Land Of The Blind
\n2. The Devil That You Know
\n3. Little Demon
\n4. Judas Tree
\n5. Jesus Was An Atheist
\n6. The Snake King
\n7. God Don\u2019t Care
\n8. The Voodoo House
\n9. Suicide Manifesto
\n10. Blues For The Disillusioned
\n11. Santa Is An Anagram
\n12. Orpheus In The Underworld<\/p>\n

Label: Frontiers Records<\/p>\n

Web:
\nwww.rickspringfield.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: [usr 9.2 size=20]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Derric Miller \u2014 Managing Editor\u2014 Jesus Was an Atheist. God Don’t Care. Suicide Manifesto. That’s right \u2026 Rick Springfield is back with a brand new studio release and it’s darker than black, in the […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":56629,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15129],"tags":[374,14136,14138,12354,14134,14137,14135,14139],"class_list":{"0":"post-56627","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2018","8":"tag-frontiers-records","9":"tag-george-nastos","10":"tag-jorge-palacios","11":"tag-music-review","12":"tag-rick-springfield","13":"tag-siggy-sjursen","14":"tag-the-snake-king","15":"tag-tim-gross"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56627\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}