REMEMBER MANHATTAN IF YOU HAPPEN TO REMEMBER RICHARD MARX

 

Never been ashamed to admit that I like heaps of Richard Marx songs, to me his best albums are his debut smash in 1987 and his fourth installment, PAID VACATION from 1993. 

In between those two albums he recorded his most commercially successful but arguably most formulic material in his career, REPEAT OFFENDER from 1989 and RUSH STREET in 1991. 

The one criticism you could have of his second and third albums is that they drifted off slightly into safer more AOR territory, like Foreigner or Journey, whereas his debut, PAID VACATION and the brilliantly experimental FLESH AND BONE from 1996, which only sold 250000 copies in the US, were a bit more influenced by soul and funk. 

Marx was always a huge fan of Toto, Rick Springfield, Bryan Adams, even Bruce Springsteen, a lot more than he was of AOR stadium acts like Foreigner, Journey and REO Speedwagon. 

Born in 1963, his first big career break came when he provided backing vocals on Lionel Richie's 1983 album ALL NIGHT LONG. 

His solo debut in 1987 of course as a complete album is not a lost treasure, it has sold millions of copies worldwide on the back of mega-successful singles such as SHOULD'VE KNOWN BETTER and ENDLESS SUMMER NIGHTS. 

But there is one totally fantastic funky jazzed up B-side pop rocker off the album which I think qualifies as a lost treasure, I have never heard it on the radio, only 7000 or so people have viewed this You Tube clip worldwide, it's called REMEMBER MANHATTAN. 

Featuring Fee Waybill on backing vocals, it really is a very underated 80`s song which swings a mean hook.