Beautiful Goodbye

Unlike several of Richard Marx’s more recent releases, where his voice and acoustic guitars did much of the work, 2014’s Beautiful Goodbye is a lushly recorded album of beguiling soft rock and adult pop. It's produced by Marx and the consummate hit producer Walter Afanasieff, best known for his work with Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, Luther Vandross, and Babyface. Marx was a late-‘80s pop star who's still in miraculous voice, and he brings much of himself to this album. (It's suggested that it’s his gentle farewell to his 25-year marriage to actress Cynthia Rhodes.) “Have a Little Faith,” “To My Senses,” and “Suddenly” appeared in different forms on Marx’s Sundown album, while “Forgot to Remember” is cowritten with Vertical Horizon’s Matt Scannell and singer/songwriter Chris Mann, a contestant from The Voice. “Turn Off the Night” is cowritten with Evanescence’s David Hodges, while coproducer Afanasieff cowrote the lively “Getaway.” However, ultra-personal songs such as “Like the World Is Ending” and “To My Senses” are solely from Marx’s pen.