The Hungry Years, an amiable follow-up to Neil Sedaka‘s successful comeback LP, should further re-establish him as a pop music mainstay. Sparklingly produced, it features 11 strong new songs by Sedaka and his longtime collaborators, Howard Greenfield and Phil Cody. At least half the tunes sound like potential hits.

“Bad Blood” has already scored on the charts, thanks to its addictive hooks and “do run do run” chorus. Backing vocals by the uncredited Elton John are a plus.

Showcasing Sedaka’s equal facility with ballads, “Stephen” eschews over-sentimentality while offering the album’s most emotion-packed vocals. The song has little to do musically with Stephen Foster, the composer to whom its lyrics pay tribute, but Foster’s music is less important here than the singer’s admiration for it. And that comes across loud and clear.

Several of the other songs pack a milder punch. “Crossroads,” for example, misapplies a lighthearted melody to a somber lyric about desperation, and such other numbers as “Tit for Tat” and “Baby Blue” are prosaic. In “Lonely Night (Angel Face)” and “When You Were Lovin’ Me,” however, the singer effectively experiments with gospel elements. Ballads such as “New York City Blues” and “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do” (a completely revamped reading of the Sedaka oldie) also help make this album a success.

The album is available here.