Karma is the eleventh studio album by Australian singer-songwriter Rick Springfield. Following about a decade without a new album from Springfield, its 1999 release took place amid a resumption of touring as well. The album hit the No. 189 spot on the Billboard 200, and none of its singles managed to 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 to spend more time with his two boys and his wife. He released Karma during a popular resurgence of interest in 1980s society/culture, which Springfield noticed. CNNreported 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 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 touring. 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 style in his 80s albums. Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote a mostly positive review for the All Music Guide, stating that "Karma is certainly the work of a more mature artist... a thinking man's AOR". A CNN reviewer commented that the album has "a vanilla mix of 80s redolent pop tunes."
The final song is a hidden track. On the Canadian version of the album, the remix of the title cut is replaced with the previously unreleased 'Hey Maria.' All songs written by Rick Springfield except where noted.
