Rick Astley Album: “Whenever You Need Somebody”

Rick Astley stormed onto the pop scene in 1987 with Whenever You Need Somebody. Even 13 years later, "Never Gonna Give You Up" and "Together Forever" are light rock radio station standards. However, if all you know are those two songs from this release, you are missing out on some fantastic music.

You probably are familiar with "Never Gonna Give You Up" - it's a pre-requisite if you're actually looking up Rick Astley here - so I won't analyze it. The title track "Whenever You Need Somebody" is just as up beat, fast paced and catchy and could have easily been another hit. If you loved NGGYU and TF, you will go crazy for this song. Next is "Together Forever" - again needing no analysis. "It Would Take a Strong Strong Man" was also released as a single, but it didn't quite have the success of the other two. That's a shame, because the song is incredibly strong and shows Rick's depth and sensitive side. "The Love Has Gone" is a groovin' song with an r&b feel that continues the momentum that has been building the entire album. "Don't Say Goodbye" goes back to the fun pop style so typical of this Stock Aitken Waterman production. While fun, "Slipping Away," to me, is the weakest song on the album. It lacks depth and direction; it doesn't know if it wants to be a pop song or an r&b song. Fabulous hooks and backup singing make "No More Looking for Love" another pop favorite that could have been a hit. Another good yet slightly below par song is "You Move Me." The song has fabulous orchestration, and the refrain is good, but the actual story of the song is a bit, well, strange (his boss at work firing him because he's infatuated?). The last song, "When I Fall In Love," I will leave to the listener to decide. This was the first time I'd heard the song, and Rick basically taught me this song (I've sung it twice on cruise ships, thanks to Rick's "training"). But this is a standard, and people don't like artists messing with standards. At least IMHO, Rick does Nat King Cole justice.

This release easily deserves a 5 star rating, and it places among my top 20 releases of all time. There are always arguments that the content is a bit trite and hackneyed and that the Stock Aitken Waterman orchestration is over produced. But the bottom line is that this is a fun, catchy, classic album. I hadn't listened to this release for years. But as soon as I popped it in for this review, I remembered every lyric and nuance, singing happily along. What pulls it all together, as has been echoed by fellow reviewers, is Rick's talented voice that works so well with the material. This release defined Rick Astley at the beginning of his career and solidified his position as an 80s pop icon.

So if you never bought a Rick Astley album, but you love listening to "Never Gonna Give You Up" and "Together Forever" on your favorite light rock station, Whenever You Need Somebody is a must buy for your listening enjoyment that will be worth every penny.

Since the first time I heard Rick's "Never gonna give you up", I knew that this guy had something different. Who would think that behind that powerful voice there was a 21's red-haired english? Following the great production of "Never gonna give you up", Rick rocks the house with Together Forever, Whenever you need somebody and Don't say goodbye. Rick shows all his talent singing It would take a strong, strong man, and the classic "When I fall in love"(In my opinion, better than the original Nat King Cole's song). Rick still has time to write some other songs and keep the great average of this album. That's why it sold over 8 million copies around the world. Simply one of the best singers and one of the best albuns in Pop music.

There are a lot of reasons why I consider the way Rick Astley burst on the music scene in 1988 with his debut album "Whenever You Need Somebody". The 1980s music landscape had undergone a major change. The early 1980s pop music sound started out as a Synth-Pop sound, but by the late 1980s transformed to a more "natural" guitar-laden sound. It was during this time that even Heavy Metal music was becoming mainstream. As the 1980s started, the Disco craze had already subsided and the backlash on Disco had begun. In reality, Disco really morphed into Dance Club music and there always was a niche for Dance Club music in the 1980s. However, by 1988 even Dance Music was beginning to take a secondary role on the pop-music scene to the more "natural guitar-laden" sound. But along comes a British Baritone named Rick Astley - who would take the music world by storm with a string of chart topping hits. The thing is - his chart toppers were defying a lot of what was happening on the music scene. For the most part, it was a Synth-Pop sound - and on the charts it was the closest thing that had been seen to classic 1970s Disco. Overall, Astley would give the British Invasion one last push in the U.S. Being that Astley's sound and style was a bit like a fish out of water back in 1988, it's no surprise that his burst on the music scene would be short-lived. While Astley's sound can be considered to be manufactured and to a large extent this is true - there are some clear signs on "Whenever You Need Somebody" that Astley is able to reach beyond the manufactured walls that were created for him.

For the most part, there is a clear dividing line on the songs on this album. Four of the songs are songs that Rick Astley wrote or co-wrote. There are five songs written by the combination of Stock, Aitken and Waterman. There also is a cover of Edward Hayman and Victor Young's "When I Fall in Love". It was the songs written by Stock, Aitken, and Waterman that made up the Rick Astley sound that took the music world by storm. In other words - much of this was the sound that seemed to give Disco one last push. For the most part, this is embedded in the hits "Never Gonna Give You Up", "Together Forever", and "It's Gonna Take a Strong, Strong Man". This was also found in the songs "Whenever You Need Somebody" and "Don't Say Goodbye". While these are all catchy songs, the only thing I found of substance to these songs was Astley's terrific baritones. For the most part - the music in these songs was what I consider "manufactured". The music in these songs was heavily synthesizer-laden - and it consisted of a drum machine. If you extracted Astley's voice off of these songs - you wouldn't hear much more than what I would term "filler music". While "Never Gonna Give You Up" and "Together Forever" were the two #1 hits in the U.S. - I felt that "It's Gonna Take a Strong, Strong Man" and "Don't Say Goodbye" were the two songs that took much better advantage of Astley's vocals.

What clearly surprised me on this album was "the other side of the fence" - the songs that were written by Astley. While these songs were not as catchy as the Stock, Aitken & Waterman numbers, the Astley songs were better songs from a musical perspective. These songs don't abandon the synthesizer-laden sound at all - but I think they are clearly better in both the music and the lyrics. The first of the Astley penned songs is "The Love Has Gone". This song has a clear Rhythm and Blues sound to it. I can't say Astley was able to pull off the R&B vocals perfectly - but he does have his moments in the song. He does a very good job at penning an R&B sound - so he deserves credit for that. Astley does a far superior job with the both the R&B sound and vocals on "Slipping Away". This is a song that was penned by Astley alone. While again Astley relies on a Synthesizer-laden sound, he does bring in some horns and this supplements the song beautifully. There is a terrific trumpet solo midway through the song. There are also some nice background vocals on this song. On "You Move Me", Astley again reaches for the Rhythm and Blues sound. This song almost has a Luther Vandross feel to it. Once again, I can't say that Astley pulls the R&B vocals off perfectly, but somehow he finds a way to make it work. This also seems to be the best song from a lyrical standpoint on the collection. There are some nice background vocals that provide the perfect compliment to Astley. On "No More Looking for Love", this is probably the one Astley penned song that sounds like the Stock, Aitken, and Waterman sound. This was probably the weakest of the Astley penned tracks, but again Astley uses his baritones to make this song work.

It's the last song that really made me realize that Astley is well-rounded musician. On Hayman and Young's "When I Fall in Love", we see a new side to the Astley baritones - crooning! Astley sounds completely different, but to me it was no surprise Astley was able to pull this off. His vocals are what dominated many of the songs on this album - and this is a necessary ingredient as a crooner.

After this album, Astley would begin to take his career in different directions and look at things a bit more artistically. Whether you like what he did after this album or not, this album shows the signs that Astley could do this. It might not be the strongest album, but still is worth checking out.

This is the new deluxe edition which encludes bonus tracks and on cd 2 The remixes.

Many never released to the public. The remixes are worth the price alone!! You can't get these any where else. An inside look/listen into remixing and how much

differance musical changes can make. A must for any Rick Astley fan and well

worth the imported price. Rick and Edsel records have out done themselves!!!!

"In the '80s and '90s, England's dance-music team Stock, Aitken & Waterman was often accused of being too slick for its own good, and favoring style over substance. But the producers/songwriters (also known for their work with Dead or Alive and Samantha Fox) should definitely be proud of their work on fellow Briton Rick Astley's often captivating debut album, Whenever You Need Somebody. While the high-tech production is very '80s, Astley's soul/pop/dance music approach is very much a production of the '70s -- sort of the Average White Band meets Philly soul/disco meets Tom Jones. The best dance music works both on and off the dance floor, and this certainly holds true on such slick yet gritty fare as 'Together Forever,' 'Never Gonna Give You Up,' and 'Don't Say Goodbye.' There are a few weak moments -- the lackluster 'No More Looking for Love' being a glaring example -- but overall, this CD proved Astley to be a welcome addition to the British R&B scene. ~ Alex Henderson, All Music Guide" [refers to 1987 Album Release Date, RCA Label]