I've got to say I own his first 4 albums, and the first 3 at least, each have a bunch of great pop/AOR songs on them. They are consistant and catchy, and Richard always had the best session men, and production behind him.




So even hearing them today, despite the obvious 80's overtones, the production, I feel, holds up very well. Especially next to other similar acts of the time like Bon Jovi, Kenny Loggins, Starship.

He was pop, like Bryan Adams, but he definately had a AOR vibe to hs music. Crossover AOR/rock or whatever. "Rush street" was heavier, but I dont think its quite as strong as his first 2 albums. Rock fans snub him, but I know some hair metal fans of the time would of loved his music probably, as he did have obvious rock influences in his songs.

Anyway, good songwriter, and someone who started as a co-writer first for other acts/singer, and not an out of the box star. He grafted LOL and I respect that. He does seem to take himself abit too seriously though.

"Children of the night" (my fav Richard Marx song).

I always liked Richard Marx. He reminds me of a mix of Barry Manilow and Michael Bolton.

OLDHATJ said:

Thats a cool comparison I never thought of. And I love both those artists.

i like his cousin
Karl Marx

baroque said:

I never forget a face, but in this case I'll make an exception.

I prefer Groucho:

love him!!! very talented.

To me, Richard is a very under rated song writer. As cheesy as they were, "Right Here Waiting" and "Endless Summer Nights", were great ballads of the 80's. "Dance With My Father", will always be one of my favorite Luther songs. Richard, is all of those writers put together, with a splash of Lionel Ritchie for soul.

shorttrini said:

People dont really give him the credit deserved, he was a writer and session vocalist long before getting a deal, he was friends and working with people like Lionel, Barry White and Luther, and of course we do know that he was a big part of the writing for "dance with my father" the song is also about Richard's father too. Believe it or not, Richard is one of the top songwriters of this generation, 13 number ones, half of them his, the others for others, and 40 top 40 penned singles just by him alone, for himself and others. He currently has 3 cds out on his own label that are really good, One is a CD with the guy from Vertical Horizon which is an all acoustic cd of new stuff and some old, a CD called SUNDOWN which has a few originals but is some obscure covers and it features duets with Vince Gill and also Toni Braxton, and the third is his own all new CD called "Emotional Remains" which is one of his best albums, included possibly he best ever ballad called "Through My veins" a kick ass 6 minute ballad the way ballads were went to be done.

And Richard is a pretty cool guy too, people should check out his official site and random You Tube interviews, some funny shit. So easily one of the most under-rated artists of the last 25 years.

He was one of my first favorite artists. My favorite song used to be "Satisfied", and although I no longer listen to him, I still have fond memories. My faves would be "Satisfied", "Angelia" and "Hazard".

shorttrini said:

I still love "endless summer nights". Dave Koz did a neat version aswell

Moonbeam said:

I love Richard Marx...

Hazard is my favorite,

They don't make beautiful songs like THIS anymore.

TonyVanDam said:

This was in the era where you had lots of rock acts singing love songs/power ballads, but "right here waiting" does have a great melody. Mainstream rock these days try and sound quirky (at least Brit ones do) and would be way too embarrassed to sing a song like "right here waiting". Not one of my fav Richard Marx songs though.

I enjoy his music.

Right Here Waiting was one of the first songs I taught myself to play on piano.

He is a very talented songwriter. His voice is good too. I'm not a huge fan, but I can respect the talent he has.

crazy songwriter.

beautiful voice

Excellent songwriter. I'm not a huge fan, but as far as MOR artists go, he's definitely worth his salt.

Talented songwriter. I was talking with J.P. DeLaire yesterday and he played in Marx's band day back when he was 19.

My Richard Marx story. I was living in Taipei, Taiwan back in the late 80s. My friend and I were supposed to go see Marx in concert. We stopped for a dinner in a Japanese restaurant and had some tuna sashimi. Tasted good but as we were walking to the gig, I got a severe allergic reaction from the raw fish. My friend got me into a taxi and rushed me to the hospital. While in the cab and stuck in rush hour, my breathing started to fail. Fortunately, we made to the hospital and they gave me a shot and I was fine a couple hours later.

The gig was cancelled though due to a lighning storm.

Strange, but true.

Peace
Joe
[Edited 3/10/09 16:53pm]

JoeKelley said:

Glad you're still around.