For Rick Astley, life begins at ‘50’

ASTLEY. Returns to the spotlight with his first No. 1 album since 1987.

Twenty-three years after retiring at age 27, Rick Astley returns to the spotlight with the release of “50,” his first No. 1 album on the UK chart since 1987’s “Whenever You Need Somebody.”

For Rick, it’s time to add more radio-friendly songs to his ’80s dance ditties (“Together Forever,” “Never Gonna Give You Up”) and earnestly sung ballads (“Cry for Help”), by way of new tracks that are as thematically absorbing as they are musically engaging.

The British singer, who turned “golden” last February, has a lot of catchy numbers for his followers to groove to. But, more than their pounding hooks and crowd-pleasing instrumentation, the songs benefit  from the masculine heft of Rick’s deeply resonant voice, as well as his peerless vocal technique.

In “Keep Singing,” Rick takes stock of 50 years of trials and blessings as he sings about an indelible memory from his past: “When I was a boy/ I saw my daddy crying at the steering wheel/ It made me feel so scared/ Then, I found religion (and) there was joy/ And I knew that I’d been spared/ Saved from throwing my life away.”

“Keep Singing” and other gospel-tinged numbers like the pounding “Pray With Me,” “Angels On My Side,” “Let It Rain” and the folksy “God Says” may be deeply rooted in Rick’s spirituality, but his thoughts about mortality, redemption and fate are made more appealing by accessible arrangements that breathe palpable life into the singer’s “maturing” convictions.

The dance tracks are no longer as bubbly and frothy as his classic hits, but their rock-garnished melodies (“This Old House,” “Angels On My Side,” “Coming Home Tonight”) prove that he can swing as hard as he did when he was still “Rickrolling” to the tunes of Stock Aitken Waterman.

And, when you listen to his gorgeously rendered ballads (“Wish Away,” “Pieces”), he’ll make you believe in the existence of fairy tales—and lights at the end of the tunnel!