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JOE ROBINSON
JOE ROBINSON
Dreamscape Advance CD
Produced by: Joe Robinson
Released: TBA
GENRE: AOR
OVERALL: 45%

  1. On The Line
  2. Gamble With Your Heart
  3. Heartache
  4. I'm Not Giving Up
  5. Cold Hearted Woman
  6. Tell Me Why
  7. No Boundary
  8. Missing You
  9. House Of Cards
  10. Lonely Street
  11. Trail Of Tears
  12. Make No Mistake
  13. Loner
  14. These Days

Joe Robinson's debut album sees the singer/songwriter showcase his talent as a multi-instrumentalist as well as a catchy AOR song writer.
While the songs certainly are catchy and somewhat memorable, the general delivery of these songs leaves a fair bit to be desired.
This is an album of perfectly good 80's AOR in the singer / songwriter mold, with both guitars and keyboards playing their part.
But the production is demo quality at best and is far behind what fans have come to demand and expect in recent years.
The sound is muddy and varied at times with the general feel of a home recording.
The high pitch tone of Joe's vocals also tend to grind on your ears in places, impairing any enjoyment value being squeezed from the songs - which are every bit as good as many other tracks out there in the 80's AOR mould.
That is most likely another fault of the production quality, as there are plenty of great higher pitched vocalists around.
The guitar playing is solid and the solo's enjoyable, but again, the impact is lost in the delivery.
BOTTOM LINE: Basically this is for die hard 80's AOR fans that have bought everything else.
Hopefully Joe will get a shot at a bigger budget, as the songs are of good AOR quality. Using this album as a showcase rather than a general release would be a much preferable alternative.
PRODUCTION: 20% SONGS: 65% VIBE: 30%ATTITUDE: 45%
ESSENTIAL FOR: AOR completists only.



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