Never figured my first thread in my quasi/pseudo return to this place would be about this guy.

Forget all about his troubled past and the fact this record may have been a commercial flop,

it is probably the most interesting and unique record I'd picked up since I was crazy in love with Prince's music way back when.

Multi-talented as he is, the majority of people found about Robert's musical talents during his time on the Fox series "Ally McBeal."

Few know that he had been playing and songwriting for a long time, but turning 40 in April of 2005 made for a good excuse to put something out there. To boldly go to new territory he had never dared to tread before.

Aside from two covers, "Your Move" by Yes (which is a medley of a couple Lennon/McCartney songs) and "Smile" by the great Charlie Chaplin.

Which I believe had to have been part of this record. He DID play the man, watched nearly all of his films and was nominated for a best acting Oscar (which went to Al Pacino for "Scent of a Woman").

I have heard a couple versions of the song before, including a segment from Charlie's original recording, and I say he did it amazing justice. The better of the two covers by a mile (I have yet to determine why/how "Your Move" fits into this record).

But aside from those two, all of the songs were written/co-written by him and he played piano and keyboards as well.

If I were to compare the vibe to any Prince album, I guess something like One Night Alone, because it's very jazz oriented with a nice mix of soul, pop and rock.

I love nearly all the tracks with the except of the one cover and the title track is somewhat sleepy, but Man like me, Broken, Little Clownz and 5:30 are definitely worth a look into.

There are some creative allusions to his troubled past, times of hopelessness followed by moments of triumph and joy. The lyrics are sometimes hard to decipher as in they aren't always grammatically correct or plain don't make sense to me. Although I try to do so, it's not my greatest concern.

Perhaps the greatest musical combinations here are that between piano and string arrangements which bring with them an accompanying vibe of sorrow or triumph.

It might not be the greatest record in the world, but it was a breath of fresh air for me. By all means, I'd recommend ordering it from Amazon.com (good luck finding it in stores, which goes to show it might have been a flop commerically).

And let the record show that yes, I am a huge fan of Robert and his movies and it's great that he got his life back on track. Or I might not have had the pleasure of seeing him in the likes of Iron-Man, Sherlock Holmes or even underground favorites like Charlie Bartlett and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang that I'm surprised didn't do well in the box office.

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

Never figured my first thread in my quasi/pseudo return to this place would be about this guy.

Forget all about his troubled past and the fact this record may have been a commercial flop,

it is probably the most interesting and unique record I'd picked up since I was crazy in love with Prince's music way back when.

Multi-talented as he is, the majority of people found about Robert's musical talents during his time on the Fox series "Ally McBeal."

Few know that he had been playing and songwriting for a long time, but turning 40 in April of 2005 made for a good excuse to put something out there. To boldly go to new territory he had never dared to tread before.

Aside from two covers, "Your Move" by Yes (which is a medley of a couple Lennon/McCartney songs) and "Smile" by the great Charlie Chaplin.

Which I believe had to have been part of this record. He DID play the man, watched nearly all of his films and was nominated for a best acting Oscar (which went to Al Pacino for "Scent of a Woman").

I have heard a couple versions of the song before, including a segment from Charlie's original recording, and I say he did it amazing justice. The better of the two covers by a mile (I have yet to determine why/how "Your Move" fits into this record).

But aside from those two, all of the songs were written/co-written by him and he played piano and keyboards as well.

If I were to compare the vibe to any Prince album, I guess something like One Night Alone, because it's very jazz oriented with a nice mix of soul, pop and rock.

I love nearly all the tracks with the except of the one cover and the title track is somewhat sleepy, but Man like me, Broken, Little Clownz and 5:30 are definitely worth a look into.

There are some creative allusions to his troubled past, times of hopelessness followed by moments of triumph and joy. The lyrics are sometimes hard to decipher as in they aren't always grammatically correct or plain don't make sense to me. Although I try to do so, it's not my greatest concern.

Perhaps the greatest musical combinations here are that between piano and string arrangements which bring with them an accompanying vibe of sorrow or triumph.

It might not be the greatest record in the world, but it was a breath of fresh air for me. By all means, I'd recommend ordering it from Amazon.com (good luck finding it in stores, which goes to show it might have been a flop commerically).

And let the record show that yes, I am a huge fan of Robert and his movies and it's great that he got his life back on track. Or I might not have had the pleasure of seeing him in the likes of Iron-Man, Sherlock Holmes or even underground favorites like Charlie Bartlett and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang that I'm surprised didn't do well in the box office.

Robert is a genius, a good player a great actor (one of the best ever) and i think its fair to say this album wasnt a flop, it was a number one classical record, classical records dont get "play" i dont think Robert and his singing was ever aimed at a "ringtone" audience, he's an adult, save that stuff for the Kim Kardashian and Jamie Foxx albums.

As for finding this in stores, good luck finding anything in stores that date back more than a year, or were on a classical label like this was, Best Buy employees and target employees dont even know new releases from Rashaan Patterson or who Hall and Oates are, u think they know Robert Downey for anything BUT Iron Man/

I purchased this album a few years back, and I consider it one of my all time favourites now. It's a beautiful album - very sophisticated, mature, haunting. I played it half thinking I'd be bored of it, but I just fell in love with it. Even writing this thread has made me want to go and throw it on my CD player. Gorgeous!

I love this record. I forget about it for a few months or a year or two and then I pull it out and it floors me. It's shocking how good this is.

DPR, thank you for recommending this, he actually does a great job singing. If there are contemporaries to compare with, David Gray, Jack Johnson and Amos Lee come to mind. I'm glad to have bought his CD, this is the great part of the org's influence.