Rick Astley can do whatever he wants: depression is not his thing. His new album offers casual, feel-good pop.
When Rick Astley opened up the Glastonbury Festival this year by covering all of The Smiths’ biggest hits, accompanied by the band Blossoms, many people could hardly believe their ears and eyes. Astley exuberantly snatched the songs from the clutches of the politically dubious Morrissey and gave them back to everyone to whom the songs also belong: the people in the audience and himself. Acting with grand gestures, singing melancholically and aggressively, he spread pure happiness on stage and to everyone who was present.
Astley’s appearance was unexpected for many, as for a long time he was seen, especially in Germany, in the Billo Stock/Aitken/Waterman producer corner, from which Kylie Minogue once had to struggle to claw her way out. In Great Britain he is valued as a continuously and solidly working artist. Now his ninth album is being released, it sounds like a person who knows what he can and can’t do. For someone who genuinely enjoys music, is influenced by the Sixties Motowon sound, and who can transform his love into something he personally enjoys.
We listen to pop music. Very suitable for radio, very mood-enhancing, up-tempo but never pandering. Not everyone has to like that, I don’t think he expects it, but you can respect the fact that he’s not fooling anyone. “Waterfall” has a gospel-like feel, “Dippin My Feet” is a real fun hit: With ARE WE THERE YET? give a gift of music in a loving way. You can safely accept it.