Sexually serious

Review Score: (8/10)
Cover photo notwithstanding (though maybe it looked less silly in 1983), this album made an excellent case for consideration of Rick Springfield as a serious rock artist. "Affair of the Heart" is as powerful as its lyrics are sensual, and "Human Touch" was a progressive (for its time) look at how computers and technology isolated people from one another. For this reviewer's money, though, the best tracks were those on Side 2 (tracks 6-10, for readers who don't remember albums or tapes), particularly "Motel Eyes", one of Rick's best and rawest cuts, and "I Can't Stop Hurting You", wherein Rick (or the song's protagonist, take your pick) cops to mistreating the woman he loves, and laments the fact that he can't seem to stop doing so. "Like Father, Like Son" ends the albums on a somber note, but one that should have listeners thinking about the tradition of families to mindlessly carry on stifling, even cruel traditions in the name of religion. Definitely worth owning, even if Rick was trying a little too hard to be taken seriously at this point. (It worked!)

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