Robert Palmer - Drive
"I've learned from experience that the best records are the ones that make themselves, without me having to try too hard to knock them into shape," says Robert Palmer. "Drive, for me, is one of those records."
Indeed, Drive, Palmer finds the English singer/songwriter/producer/multi-instrumentalist making some of the grittiest, most soulful music of his three-and-a-half-decade career. Palmer describes the dozen-song album as "the first record I've made which I play for my own pleasure, and donžt think to myself 'Oh No, if only I'd done this or that..."
The self-produced Drive is truly a labor of love for the veteran artist, setting his unmistakable voice against spare, stripped-down arrangements that draw upon Palmer's abiding affinity for classic rhythm-and-blues traditions while adding some new exciting twists of his own.
Although Palmer co-wrote the snaky, lilting "Lucky," the remainder of Drive features bracing interpretations of a typically eclectic assortment of old and new tunes, which serve as dynamic vehicles for his gritty, supple singing. Palmer delivers emotion-charged performances of such diverse numbers as J.B. Lenoir's blues standard "Mama Talk to Your Daughter," Little Willie John's vintage R&B nugget "I Need Your Love So Bad," Keb' Mo's funky delta-style blues tune "Am I Wrong?," ZZ Top's sly '80s hit "TV Dinners," young cult troubadour Nicolai Dunger's "Dr. Zhivago's Train" and the iconic Elvis Presley classic "Hound Dog."
Drive's seeds were sown when guitarist Carl Carlton, who had played on Palmer's 1999 album Rhythm and Blues, invited him to contribute to the 2001 Robert Johnson tribute disc Hellhound on My Trail: Songs of Robert Johnson. Palmer enthusiastically embraced the Johnson project, inspiring him to undertake a spare, stripped-down recording project that would apply the raw sonic immediacy of classic blues sides with Palmer's own far-ranging vision.
Towards that end, Drive's recording sessions were conducted in an intimate, organic setting, with Palmer building grooves and cutting tracks at his home studio in Lugano, Switzerland, with help from an eclectic group of players that included his son James Palmer on drums, the aforementioned Carl Carlton and a colorful international battery of players, including harmonica player Franco Limido, drummer Mauro Spina and Congolese keyboardist Dr. Gabs. Palmer himself played bass on most of the tracks. With some additional recording done in Milan and London, the end result is one of the most impressive, accomplished albums of Palmer's long and prolific career.
The timelessly vibrant Drive attests to the wisdom of Robert Palmer's musical philosophy, making it clear that he's far more interested in making music than he is being a pop star.
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