Saturday, April 2, 2011

B IS FOR ROBIN BECK “LIVIN’ ON A DREAM”




Sometime during the early 1990's, I discovered Robin Beck's "Trouble Or Nothin" CD in the remainder bin at J&R Music World (lower Manhattan, NYC, all music fans should go there on a holy pilgrimage) and thought I'd give it a try. It was well worth whatever deeply discounted price I paid for the disc-several great songs that were sadly ignored by DJ's and absent from radio airplay. I looked for other releases from Robin in the "MISC B" bins for years and never found one.


Fast forward to the new millenium and the internet opens a whole new way of buying music.It turns out Robin has released a few albums over the years (still can't find Sweet Talk-hey Rhino, how's about a little help!). For the summer of 2007 she is offering up "Livin' On A Dream." Released by Frontiers Records, an Italian label that has made a buisiness of keeping melodic rock alive, this is Robin's second effort for the label.

The first thing you notice is that the album comes out of the corner rocking hard, jump-started by the title track. That's to be expected, as it was co-produced by House Of Lords' James Christian (also Robin's husband) and AOR veteran Tommy Denander, and recruits House Of Lords as the backing band. The album is paced well with a nice mix of rockers and ballads. Christian and Denander share many of the writing credits with Beck, and there are several gems (or as Robin's liner notes put it, pearls) on this disc.

The shame is that there is no justice in the world and this record will not get radio airplay or chart in Billboard. In fact, this record will not be heard unless you seek it out, which I encourage you to do. Play it for your friends. Check out Robin's last disc as well, "Do You Miss Me." Both are available at www.nehrecords.com as well as other online retailers who specialize in melodic rock releases.


Video clip for Always

14 comments:

  1. LOL! Are trying to see if people actually read your posts? ;o) Or are you having a laugh and trying to piss Lee off? hahaha. Nice trick there, Buddie. hahahaha. I'll have to check out this Robin Beck!

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  2. I hadn't heard of Robin Beck before reading your post. I'll have to check out her work.

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  3. It took me a few minutes to realize what you meant, Jessica.

    Nope this was a glitch in the auto-post, which is now corrected-thanks for pointing it out!

    Larry

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  4. Greetings. I am always on the lookout for new tunes and artists. I never wanted to be one of those who said music died when Buddy Holly's plane went down; John Bonham died, ending Zeppelin; Freddie Mercury passed away...
    Thanks for sharing. I had never heard of this woman before. I have already checked her out on iTunes and will definitely visit her again.

    -Jimmy

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  5. Jeffrey-thanks for popping in-if you like 80's style melodic rock, you will probably like Robin.

    James-I, too am always on the lookout for (and spend WAY too much money) on new music. A lot of what I post during this month will be older, but I've been trying in 2011 to post regularly on newer releases.

    LC

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  6. Never heard of Robin Beck but Beck is a B word so see what you have for c.

    Yvonne

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  7. Thanks for dropping by, Yvonne!

    I am sorry to say that a lot of the bands I will be posting this month are on the obscure side. Robin Beck is not well known on this side of the Atlantic, either!

    Larry

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  8. Thanks for bringing her to my attention. I will definitely try to find some of her music.

    :-)

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  9. DOCTOR DISCDUDE ~
    I was nearly certain that you couldn't resist making this post: "B" IS FOR "BRIAN & HIS BEACH BOYS".

    But I see that you went with superior talent (Robin Beck) over the obvious and the alliteration.

    That's what I like best about your blog: It's full of...


    ..."surprises".

    ~ D-FensDogg
    'Loyal American Underground'

    POSTSCRIPT: Just yankin' your chain, Buddy. No need to defend your choice or explain yourself.

    [Explain Yerself!]

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  10. you got me interested in Robin Beck. I'll check out nehrecords.com.
    nutschell
    www.thewritingnut.com

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  11. Misha-thanks for coming by! If you find you like Robin's music, I am sure her website (www.robinbeckrocks.com) has recent releases available, in addition to www.nehrecords.com and www.aorheaven.com.

    Stephen-you surfer guys really have a chip on yer shoulder for the BB's.

    Or is that a surboard?

    Well take yer woodie and yer best girl and go surfin' now.

    Ya see, mokes from Philly just can't relate to all that laid back Cali stuff!

    Nutschell-thanks! If you ever have a problem locating something I post about, either comment me or e-mail. The retailers I mention are reputable, and I have been a customer of their since 1998 when I first got an internet connection.

    Larry

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  12. I guess I missed the joke referred to by Jessica.

    I've heard of Jeff Beck and plain ol' Beck--is Robin any relation?

    I like obscure artists, but you're probably going to out-obscure me this month.


    Contrary to my usual practice of subscribing to comments, to save time during challenge I will not be doing so during April. If you want to respond to my comment , please email me directly from your email notification for the comment.
    Thanks.

    Lee
    Tossing It Out
    Twitter hashtag: #atozchallenge

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  13. Lee-

    Somehow the text was posted three times, either through the autopost process (unless I hit paste three times when copying it in).

    Not sure why Jessica thought I'd be doing that to irritate you.

    Besides, I usually only try to irritate McCarthy!

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