Rick Springfield, “Automatic.”

The last song on the new record by Rick Springfield – the last of 20(!) – is called “We Are Eternal.”

He may be right. I speak my truth when I say Rick Springfield is one of the great, underrated power-pop artists of all time. And in 2023, he still is.

Automatic comes just a couple weeks before he turns 74.

It’s 20 flippin’ songs long. Translated for you non-vinyl lovers, Rick Springfield, who was born when Harry Truman was President, just released a double album. And it’s good.

Springfield obviously remembers what side of his generational bread was buttered. Because Automatic is a good ’80s record in all but year.

Are there ’80s lyrical cliches? Yes. Packed with synthesizers? Yes. Enough guitar riffage to qualify as power-pop? Yes. He’s a 74-year-old man pleading for love and sex in the exact same singing voice as he had 40 years ago.

It’s like rolling through a giant vat of Day-Glo. There’s popping bass and electric drums and occasional horns, and the choruses come early and often, like they’re written for what we hairspray-soaked ’80s kids used to call MTV.

Springfield knows what he’s doing. The whole thing is unapologetically and gloriously 1980s, as long as you remember the decade and aren’t some sort of snotty bearded hipster.

They say go with what you know. And he did. The only reason so many guys didn’t like Rick Springfield back in the day was he was a soap opera actor with whom our girlfriends all wanted to sleep. But he shows on Automatic he was a pop-rock musical stud the whole time people were dismissing him for just looking like a stud.

“Automatic” goes back to his ’80s strengths: catchy guitar riffs, good vocal hooks that don’t waste time, a little glossy pop with just enough rock to make the rockers secretly like him.

Opener “Exit Wound” brings it all back from the get-go: catchy guitar riff, hooky vocals from a familiar voice that seemingly hasn’t lost any air over the decades. This song is a statement Springfield makes throughout the whole record. He knows who he is and what he does best and can still pull it off.

“She Walks with Angels,” and much of the rest of the record, show’s Springfield keeps the formula alive without too much overlap. This gets to the chorus nice and fast, like good pop should. The title track also gets right to it, with a little bit of soul.

“This Town” brings back an underrated trick of male-dominated pop: very present female backing vocals, with a little falsetto from Springfield. “Love Ain’t Cool” shows off a bit of underlying funk that is, in fact, kind of cool.

“Come Said the Girl” has a strong pace and hook, showing his identifiable vocal chops still there. “Broke House” has some real dance feeling, despite some semi-serious lyrics. It doesn’t dawdle, which really works. “When God Forgets My Name” is in the same ballpark, telling a story and moving well.

“Heroes” starts off like a “Dr Who” cover to establish some anthem-cred and ends up being one of those songs that should accompany a video of Springfield bopping around a beach with dancing bikini babes (people could say that in the ’80s).

“Works for Me” brings it down a notch. It’s a cool little song on which Rick Springfield still sounds desperate or emotional about love and sex (he was always good at that; see “Jessie’s Girl”).

On “Fake it ‘Til You Make it,” Springfield – who plays all the guitar and keyboard parts on the album – pushes everything out front, especially the vocals. It’s probably the only song on the record worth skipping, but still not bad.

That isn’t the case for “The Cure for Loneliness,” a fun pop dance groove lined with horns and some of that plastic soul that nevertheless works (if you’re in a club with a lot of neon lights). There are more synths on “Invisible World,” which is upbeat and well-constructed. “Make Your Move” is the requisite weepy piano ballad that has some lovely harmonies and generally works. “In Case of Fire Break Glass” is just well-built in a glossy way.

Keyboard-driven “Did I Just Say That Out Loud” shows Springfields’s poppy drama voice at its best. He sounds pop-inspired on “Sometimes I Will Fly,” with lots of energy and sincerity. “Neutron Star” goes back to rocking a bit and, again, launches the hook quickly, even if it’s just some “whoa whoa whoas.” The very ’80s “Feed Your Soul” is song 19 and Springfield still isn’t sucking wind.

Album closer “We Are Eternal” is fitting, uplifting and well done. Like most of the record. Rick Springfield is not only still going, but making good new music and a lot of it. Not many musicians of his generation can say the same.

Follow music critic Tony Hicks at Twitter.com/TonyBaloney1967.