Search - Robert Palmer :: Drive

Palmer's joyful parting statement

Nicolas S. Martin | Indianapolis, IN United States | 11/10/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It's hard not to write with a bit of sentiment given Robert Palmer's recent death, but this album stands as a fine, if inadvertant, tribute to one of the great popular music artists of the past 40 years.More than anything, Palmer was one of modern music's best arrangers, a talent that is little recognized in the restrictive world of rock music. He put his inimitable stamp on whatever he touched, and never more distinctly than on Drive. He does rock, but it isn't a rock album. He does blues, but it isnt a blues album. Drive is Palmer mining his seemingly bottomless reservoir of joyfully idiosyncratic musical ideas. From his vocal phrasing to the way he refreshes old rhythms, Palmer excites the senses. It is apt that his youthful influences were the likes of Basie and Ellington, because, like them, he didn't succumb to the idiotic predictability that quickly afflicts almost all "rock stars," and especially those who had huge hits. Palmer was still making exciting music in his fourth decade in the rock business! Who else can that be said about? Only Ry Cooder comes to mind. Of course, neither has allowed himself to be confined within the suffocating boundary of rock.Drive very much deserves a listen, and I cannot do justice to what you will hear. I will say that anyone who can not only equal but best Big Mama Thornton's version of Hound Dog has accomplished something special.The U.S. release of Drive is missing some songs that are on the U.K. CD. It is worth a few extra dollars to buy the U.K. disc from Amazon UK."

Robert Palmer Returns To His Musical Roots

Jef Fazekas | Newport Beach, California United States | 09/01/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I'm surprised how many people are dismissing DRIVE as just another off-the-wall release from Robert Palmer. True, it's no RIPTIDE or HEAVY NOVA, his two top-selling pop releases but, at the same time, it's no vanity project like RIDIN' HIGH, his foray into jazzy standards. No, DRIVE is just a return to roots for Palmer, akin to his first three or four releases, and smacking of his bar band blues beginnings. In fact, throughout much of the CD you can just picture Palmer belting these tunes out in a pub somewhere! The disc opens with the driving (no pun intended!) "Mama Talk To Your Daughter." With it pounding arrangement (love the horns and harmonica!) and forceful lead vocal, Palmer comes across large and in charge, more earthy and grounded than he's sounded in years. His vocals snake thru "Why Get Up?" in a way that allows him to showcase just what an incredible singer he really is (a fact that's been overshadowed and/or forgotten over the years). The instrumentation is minimal at best (there are still nice touches, though, like the boogie woogie piano bridge), allowing this to basically be a vocal-driven track. Cool...VERY cool! Palmer next touches on his R&B roots, with the silky "Who's Fooling Who?" Once again, the arrangement is tight and the vocal just soars. The true beauty, though, of "Who's Fooling Who?", a clever tune about infidelity and two - and three! - timing ("Last Saturday evening you stayed out all night long/You said with your best friend/Doing nothin' wrong/I knew you were lying/'Cause any fool could see/You couldn't have been with her/When she spent the night with me"), is the fact that it could have fit on RIPTIDE just as easily as it could have on SNEAKIN' SALLY THROUGH THE ALLEY, Palmer's debut album. In other words, a timeless classic! "Am I Wrong?" is a bit too mannered for my tastes, but things rebound on an up note with a remake of ZZ Top's "TV Dinners." Palmer takes the Taxas boogie band's song and makes it his own, delivering it with a smile and a smirk. And, once more, Palmer is in fine voice. "Lucky" is also a unique cut; on this spritely track, Palmer seems to touch upon all of his major influences - pop, blues, reggae, new wave and world beat - and wraps them all up into one nice little vibe. "Stella" provides a dash of reggae, a genre that has appealed to Palmer for years. At first I thought the cut stood out like a sore thumb but, hey, he seems to be having so much fun performing it that you HAVE to enjoy it! "Dr. Zhivago's Train" floats along on a romantic wave of sleepy-eyed beauty. Palmer wraps his velvet-and-iron pipes around the lyrics in a way few men can. Things are kicked up a notch or ten with the next two tracks, "Ain't That Just Like A Woman" and "Hound Dog." "...Woman" barrels along with such conviction and energy that you can almost picture everyone bopping out to it in some back-alley underground dive. A TOTAL groovefest! "Hound Dog" is grittier, grungier and a whole lot guttsier than any Elvis Presley version, and believe me, that's saying a lot! "Crazy Cajun Cake Walk Band" is also a pure joy. Palmer wears the slippery bayou grooves well, sort of like a musical tails and top hat. Once again his voice is at the forefront, and it just sparkles! It's like being transported to New Orleans! Another gem! DRIVE ends with one last vocal workout, Little Willie John's "I Need Your Love So Bad." Backed only by a bare bones combo, Palmer's vocals are authoritative, passionate and from the heart. This kind of passion is what's lacking from so much of today's music. So pick up DRIVE...it may not be what you're expecting if his RIPTIDE-era material is all you know about Robert Palmer, but believe me, this disc is a brilliant example of both the singer's roots and his remarkable voice."

Drive is Palmer's master work

K. G. Anderson | SEATTLE, WA USA | 12/10/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Drive, recorded for an indie label shortly before Palmer's untimely death, is clearly a work of passion by one of the great blues artists. Palmer is in a category with Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Eric Burdon, and Stevie Ray Vaughn when it comes to reinventing the bluesÑand he may well be the finest white blues vocalist to record since Elvis' early days. Drive is essentially a sample of his favorites from every blues subgenre, Delta, Caribbean, juke joint, Chicago, R&B, rock, and alt-blues. Different songs will appeal to you at different times, depending on your mood, but each one will at some time thrill or charm you. Palmer also does blues aficionados the favor of turning us on to new materialÑthere is only one chestnut in the collection, and, amazingly, Palmer carries off the nearly impossible challenge of recording a "Hound Dog" as memorable as Big Mama Thornton's and, I'd argue, more nuanced than Koko Taylor's version. The first time I heard this album, I cried because I knew that Palmer wasn't able to devote the best years of his career to blues. But this album pretty much makes up for it. At the top of my top 10 for 2003."