Drive
Titre : Drive
Date de publication : 2003
Label : UMTV (UE) / Compendia (US)
Type : Album
Classement : US#10 Blues
Morceaux :
1. Mama Talk To Your Daughter
2. Why Get Up?
3. Who's Fooling Who?
4. Am I Wrong?
5. TV Dinners
6. Lucky
7. Stella
9. Ain't That Just Like A Woman
10. Hound Dog
11. Crazy Cajun Cake Walk Band
12. I Need Your Love So Bad
Une toute première édition en format vinyle est annoncée pour février 2025 via BFD.
Sorti en Europe sur le label Universal, l'album comporte 4 morceaux bonus :
13. 29 Ways (To My Baby's Door)
14. It Hurts Me Too
15. Stupid Cupid
16. Milk Cow's Calf Blues
Au moins 5 autres titres ont été enregistrés mais ne figurent pas sur la version définitive de l'album :
Keep It To Yourself
Hello Josephine
You Call It Jogging
Hungry Country Girl
I Like It
Simples :
- TV Dinners (promo CD single)
- Dr. Zhivago's Train (promo CD single)
- Stella (promo CD single)
Critiques / Reviews :
- "People expecting the smooth crooning that's afflicted his recent crowd-pleasers will be frankly startled by the opening bars of 'Mama Talk To Your Daughter'. His voice hasn't sounded this invigorating since his early years when he was hanging around with the Meters and Little Feat. A wonderfully stripped-back production allows all of his great inflections and grunts to shine. On 'Hound Dog' he screams fit to bust, while his version of Little Willie John's 'I Need Your Love So Bad' puts paid to the notion that Peter Green's version was the ONE. He emotes, he urges and, above all, he convinces." (BBC) Read complete review
- "Inspired by his contribution to the 2001 tribute album 'Hellhound On My Trail: The Songs Of Robert Johnson', this is Palmer's full-blown blues album, which he describes as 'the first record I've made which I play for my own pleasure'. (...) The playing is exemplary throughout. It's Palmer's arrangements, however, that really make the project work, with 'Why Get Up?' especially noteworthy for its blend of country-blues mandolin and National steel guitar with New Orleans-style piano and marching-band tuba. 'Drive' is an inspired, enjoyable work from an artist at ease with himself: if you let yourself be swayed by past antipathies, you'll miss out on one of the year's more unexpected successes." Rating : Four stars (The Independent) Read complete review
- "'Drive' finds Palmer sounding grittier and gutsier than you might have imagined possible. There's one Palmer original, 'Lucky', among a batch of blues and R&B standards, but he's had the good sense to hire a small squad of no-bullshit musicians and keep the playing rough and loose." Rating : Three stars (The Guardian) Read complete review
- "'Drive' is (largely) an exploration of the line that runs from the blues of Robert johnson through R&B into early rock 'n' roll, and it's material that brings the gritty best in Palmer's voice. The passion of these performances deserves a wider audience (the Sunday Times) Read complete review
- "Instrumentation is a major attraction across all of 'Drive'. Palmer found a number of quality musicians such as Carl Carlton, Franco Limido Dr Gabbs, and his own son Jim and he let them do their thing. It is a pleasure to hear some classic arrangements played skilfully and produced to a modern level of clarity and quality, while still keeping the essence of that ‘bluesy’ feeling. No crackling records or white noise here! A key instrument in this sort of music is of course the voice, and believe it or not Robert Palmer can sing the Blues. Right from the start, where his gutsy voice rips its way through 'Mama Talk To Your Daughter', it is clear that Palmer is not holding back on going for the full Blues vocal. And he pretty much pulls it off, with other great performances on 'TV Dinners', 'Hound Dog' and 'Crazy Cajun Cake Walk Band'." (MusicOMH) Read complete review
- "Palmer's contribution to the recent Robert Johnson tribute disc 'Hellhound On My Trail' inspired this stripped-down, spontaneous album completely at odds with the extravagantly produced material which brought him such fame in the mid-'80s. Akin to his eclectic earlier albums such as 1974's New Orleans-inflected 'Sneakin' Sally Through The Alley' or 1980's Gary Numan team-up 'Clues', here he mixes up R&B, funk, cajun and rock with this mixture of self-penned new songs and covers (including 'It Hurts Me Too', 'Mama Talk To Your Daughter', 'Hound Dog' and bizarrely ZZ Top's 'TV Dinners'). Self-produced and with Palmer on bass throughout, this is more like it." (Uncut)
Lire aussi :
- le livret du disque écrit par Robert Palmer
- une interview pour le magazine Blues Matters!