Regular Columnists

Artist: Robin Frederick
Album: Blue Flame
CD Review: Had I realized that Robin's music sounds so much different than her cd package would indicate, this review would've been done weeks ago. She blends a beautiful song that is never hidden in electronic devices, and she puts it up against a modern rhythm, in much the same way that Enya, Enigma and Andrew Lloyd Webber's wife spiraled into chart toppers.

1. Feel Your Way (Rev. 2.0)
2. Black Is The Color
3. This Is The Story
4. Been Smoking Too Long
5. Night Blooming Thing
6. Written In Sand
7. Sleeping In Byron's Bed
8. Catch These Wings
9. Blue Flame

The first two are especially gracefully hip. 'Feel Your Way 2.0' is not overproduced, but it could easily handle itself against any cool dance tunes currently playing. Not wild, but romantic. In fact, that's the catchphrase of this release. If there's anything more romantic than the blues-inspired 'Been Smoking Too Long' or the intro groove to 'Night Blooming Thing,' let me know, you idiot.

Robin has written and produced over 500 songs for every arm of entertainment and used to be a director of A&R for Rhino Records and oversaw, among other things, the Schoolhouse Rock box set, which should be in every home in America. So, this lady knows how to make songs that appeal to the masses and that are appealing.

Her cover of the Celtic classic 'Black Is the Color of My True Love's Hair' is the most entertaining version I've heard. It is like a cobra's stare, it captures you with the simpliest of measures. A voice and a lovely arrangement.

I'll leave you with the beginning words to 'Feel Your Way 2.0,' an arresting opening to what I hope will become a popular indie album.

Feel your way, feel your way
Put your hands out before you
And feel your way

Take a train of thought to the border
through cities that burst at the seams
Listen to the sound of the motor
that powers the entine of dreams



www.robinfrederick.com