Streetlight Records

Reviews:

“Lucy Pearl lost its girl,” sings Dawn Robinson on “You WillNever,” the final song on her first solo album. She sounds triumphant,and we’re supposed to go along with it: at long last, she’s free todo what she wants. Well, not so fast there, lady. The thing about Lucy Pearl,which teamed Robinson with former Tony! Toni! Tonontman RaphaelSaadiq and ex-A Tribe Called Quest DJ Ali Shaheed Muhammad for one the bestR&B albums of recent years—as well as En Vogue, the group with whichshe got her start—was that it provided her a structure to embellish. Robinson’snever been a particularly original stylist; she’s a journeywoman with anOK voice and a penchant for glamour. But within those groups, whether gettingattitudinal or coming lovely, her singing could mean something. On Dawn,her singing means exactly as much as the songs do—and with a couple ofexceptions, what that means is not very much at all.

The mid-tempo “Set It Off” begins the album promisingly, its feelreminiscent of late-‘70s Michael Jackson in ballad mode. But even thatsong feels somewhat generic, and afterward, about the only time Robinson getsyour attention is when by declaring, “I don’t care if you’rea ballin’ cat/ Or you work at Mickey D’s” on “Party, Party,”and reprising En Vogue’s “Hold On” on “How Long.” Inboth cases, the effect is like advertising—using familiar brand names tojolt our attention from the blandness of their surroundings.