Robin DiMaggio - Blue (Favored Nations) - drummer - "EER-MUSIC.com aka Eclectic Earwig Reviews Music and More for You!"
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Robin DiMaggio - Blue (Favored Nations)

    Hmm... this is another album I'd have to put in the 'emptiness of 
virtuosity' category. While I'm not suggesting that everyone who excels at 
playing their instrument makes bad music (I'm a prog-rock fan, after all), it 
seems that too often musicians seem to lose all or most of their taste (Neal 
Schon, anyone?) in the quest to perfect their musicianship. Although nowhere 
near as bad as Neal Schon's last snooze-fest, Robin DiMaggio's album does 
paint a rather sad portrait of a talented musician who, somewhere along the 
way, seems to have lost sight of the idea that musicians are supposed to make 
music that engages the listener on some level.

    One interesting similarity between the aforementioned Schon and DiMaggio 
is that their forays into overproduced easy listening music ultimately do 
little to show off their alleged virtuosity. In fact, I never would have 
thought that DiMaggio is an extremely respected drummer (or at least he seems 
to be in various drummer magazines) simply from listening to this album.
 
    However, most of the songs on this album have a spark of something 
interesting in them, but it seems that through the course of each song the 
interesting factor gets diluted by cheese. In particular, there are several 
songs with interesting Eastern influences ("Child of Bedouin," "La Nuit 
d'Oran") that get ruined by diva-esque posturing by the singer and cheesy 
production, respectively. "Child of the Bedouin" also features some 
embarrassing spoken foreign language passages, as does the Brazilian "Poema 
do Brasil." Don't get me wrong, I don't mind people speaking foreign 
languages (I cringe to think of how ridiculous it would sound with English 
spoken passages), but the passages in question sound like they come from bad 
foreign soap operas, just judging from the melodramatic tone of voice alone.

    The larger problem with all these songs is that none of them seem to go 
anywhere. As a theoretically talented drummer, one would think that DiMaggio 
would know how to infuse his grooves with life,  vitality, and momentum. 
Instead, they just crawl along. Worse still, he often uses a simple 
unchanging percussion loop throughout the whole song, a particularly curious 
choice for a drummer's solo album. It would be laudable, true, if the songs 
really needed such a loop, but it seems like such songs only exist on the 
album to show his modesty. That's just as boring to me, the listener, as him 
showing me his virtuosity.
 
    The album's most interesting aspect is the way it moves through many 
different genres. The more exotic styles of music seem somewhat interesting, 
even with DiMaggio's rather bland approach. But in the styles of music that 
I'm far more familiar with than I want, DiMaggio's utter of lack of common 
musical sense and taste is painfully apparent. Particular offenders are the 
so-lame-it's-funny "poetic rap" remake of Toto's "Africa" (who thought this 
would be a good idea in the first place?) and the dance/pop number "It 
Happened to Me," which features one of the most misplaced guitar solos ever, 
courtesy of, oddly enough, Steve Vai.

    Of all the "emptiness of virtuosity" albums I've heard, this is one of 
the most "empty." It is not, like Neal Schon's last album, so bad that it's 
amusing in a "Plan 9 From Outer Space"-type way, but in a way that's almost 
worse. As a whole, it fails to connect with the listener on any level, not 
even inspiring the listener's contempt. Like most of the grooves, it's simply 
there, seemingly content in it's own mediocrity. Mr. DiMaggio, I'm sure you 
can do better than this.

      ~Jon Murphree~ 

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