''Karma'' is the twelfth studio album by Australian singer-songwriter

Rick Springfield Richard Lewis Springthorpe (born 23 August 1949), known professionally as Rick Springfield, is an Australian-American musician and actor. He was a member of the pop rock group Zoot from 1969 to 1971, then started his solo career with his debut ...

. Following about a decade without a new album from Springfield, its 1999 release took place amid a resumption of

tour Tour or Tours may refer to: Travel * Tourism, travel for pleasure * Tour of duty, a period of time spent in military service * Campus tour, a journey through a college or university's campus * Guided tour, a journey through a location, directed ...

ing as well. The album peaked at No. 189 spot on the ''Billboard'' 200. "It's Always Something" peaked at No. 34 on Canada's ''RPM'' Adult Contemporary chart.

Background and reception

The album followed a period of about ten years without a new album. After his last work, the 1988 LP '' Rock of Life'', Springfield ceased with his music (releases as well as touring) to spend more time with his two boys and his wife. He released ''Karma'' during a popular resurgence of interest in 1980s society/culture (particularly among

Generation X Generation X (or Gen X for short) is the Western world, Western demographic Cohort (statistics), cohort following the baby boomers and preceding the millennials. Researchers and popular media use the mid-to-late 1960s as starting birth years a ...

), which Springfield noticed.

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reported that "There's relatively high interest in Springfield's return. Platinum Entertainment says advance orders for Karma have reached 100,000 copies." Karma was initially released Japan and then an American release took place a few months later. The two versions differ in respect to three songs. Springfield made the first single, "It's Always Something", as a tribute to his father who died just before his release of ''

Working Class Dog ''Working Class Dog'' is the fifth studio album by Australian rock musician Rick Springfield, released by RCA Records in 1981. The album was Platinum certification, certified Platinum in the United States and eventually sold over three million US ...

'' and breakout commercial success. He said that "My dad is a very strong figure in my life and certainly in death he's become even more meaningful" as well as that "there's still a lot of things going on in me that pertain to him and my relationship with him". After the release of ''Karma'', Springfield resumed his

ing. The album hit the No. 189 spot on the ''Billboard'' 200, and none of its singles managed to chart. The album represented a continuation of Springfield's same

pop rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre with an emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than rock music. Originating in the late 1950s as an alternative to normal rock and roll, earl ...

style in his 80s albums.

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, occ ...

wrote a mostly positive review for the

All Music Guide AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, stating that "Karma is certainly the work of a more mature artist... a thinking man's AOR". A

reviewer commented that the album has "a vanilla mix of 80s redolent pop tunes."

Background and reception

Track listing

Charts

References