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Panorama View (RCA 1983)
Vanishing Point Two (RCA 1984)
Mere Mortals (Atco 1988)
The Family Pets : Circus Maximus (XRT 1993)
One day my good friend Carl Noonan rang me up raving about a discovery he’d made in a
bargain bin. Baxter Robertson, he had decided, was not the crap Scottish comedian of a
similar name but a musician whose album might be worth risking 49p on. High praise indeed
from a man whose aversion to risking his 49p is such that he once left Visitor’s
‘Take It’ LP in the same bin, on the grounds that he wasn’t quite sure,
only for yours truly to pick it up the next day. Anyway, not only was the LP bought but he
was now giving me a blow-by-blow account of its melodic qualities. That album, ‘Mere
Mortals’ and the two that preceded it, swiftly found their way into my collection and
‘MM’ in particular has seen continued service on my turntable. What with
internet access and everything, I was lucky enough to be able to find Baxter at the other
end of a modem and he answered my questions, revealed his hitherto unknown? 4th album and
a pre-RCA history nobody knew about, as well as his close connection with my favourite
band of all-time!
The mini-LP ‘Panorama View’ was the introduction to Baxter the solo artist and
is, I guess, in what the Americans might call a pop-wave style. There are hints of Gerard
McMahon, a little bit of Donnie Iris maybe in the first track ‘Silver Strand’
where some arpeggiated guitars and a production that still sounds full are the stand outs.
The next two tracks are the best on this LP. ‘Panorama’ has a more stereotypical
AOR chorus, with stabbing piano match against pumping bass. This one has hints of Martin
Briley, perhaps John Hunter although more close to true AOR, certainly than Hunter. And
first up on side two, ‘Face to Face’ reminds me of Stealer (MCA) in the
songwriting and the vocals a little of Colin James Hay. As with all his work, there are
twists in the melody line that are enough to demand your attention while not distracting
from the song. These are the keepers from this LP, the last 2 wandering off slightly and
failing to grab your ears.
Vanishing Point Two is a more textured, more mature affair altogether. The good songs are
better, unfortunately Baxter was still writing in too wide a variety of styles and with a
few too many non-rock influences for me to be completely convinced of its top-ranking
status. The title track has nifty pompy intro, but comes over all a bit Sting-like for my
tastes, a definite reggae influence bouncing around there. There are two very good tracks
on side one, one being ‘The Rich get Richer’, where the darker textures that
engulf this LP are well and truly trailed with some lovely organ on the chorus. The other
is ‘Firewalk’ as echoing guitars reverberate into a delicate bass, guitar and
keyboard intro. The vocals on this track remind me of Richie Wermerling of Let Loose and
this track would grace any Ian Thomas LP. There’s a great chorus, with good backing
vocals and, unusually for Baxter, a guitar solo that takes pride of place.
The best track on the album, however is side 2 opener, ‘Green Light’, a clean
guitar sequence gives way to a looping bass line that runs through the song, this is
really the first time Baxter found the style that would run through his 3rd and most
musically satisfying album. A moody, bluesy tune with a memorable chorus and fine
instrumentation, isn’t the sort of thing a classic song should have? As always, the
lyrics are worth listening to, Baxter doesn’t write too many cliched love songs, but
the later tracks on the LP have a sort of homogeneity to them that doesn’t make them
so listenable, apart from his trademark vocals which are always slightly understated, and
a few Peter Gabriel or Sting comparisons there’s not that much to write home about.
One record company later, a move to Atco and ‘Mere Mortals’ appeared in
‘88. Now here was the classic that he had threatened in previous releases. There are
no weak songs on this LP, and there two or three that are very special indeed. ‘Turn
of the Tide’ is pop-rock at its best, the slightly breathy vocals hit the spot
exactly how you’d want and ‘Time and Again’ is a straightforward amalgam of
pop and AOR but it’s with ‘No Simple Cure’ that we get the top track.
Staccato guitar patterns and a swathe of symphonic keyboards, a la World Trade (which is
the overriding comparison for this album) all overlaid by vocal lines which go weave
together well, particularly on the chorus. There is no ‘lead guitar’ on this LP
and so those instrumental sections that do feature guitar are not a few screaming notes
but rather some guitar patterns and it works very well. ‘Love Equation’ is riff
based, unusual for Baxter, but that’s not to say it’s particularly heavy,
it’s got another good chorus with the backing vocals to the fore if that doesn’t
sound daft! The side ends with ‘Secret is Safe’, a mostly acoustic ballad with a
delicate melody line that might fall apart if not treated as gently as it is.
Side 2 is just as good, the pick being the title track wherein an atmospheric chunky bass
line leads th etrack along and a nice pompy instrumental section spices things up. The
whole of this side has keyboards to the front, with solos in most tracks, the Yes-like (c.
90125) ‘Landmarks’ being of particular note. All in all a totally classic album
in a classic style, it’s difficult to be continualy amazed by how many great AOR LPs
didn’t have commercial success, but this is another in that category. There was a
single (‘No Simple Cure’) and even a video for it, but I guess MTV must have had
Michael Jackson or Bon Jovi or some other rubbish on their minds at the time.
That was it from Baxter Robertson, or so it seemed but when I caught up with him he kindly
sent me a copy of the 1994 Family Pets CD which was basically another B.R. album. The
conditions, caveats and strings under which it was recorded are set out in the interview
that follows, but suffice it to say it represents a lost opportunity in my opinion: if
somebody was going to persuade an artist this talented to record an album worth of
material, I’m not sure why they would ask them to write it in any other than their
own style. Nonetheless, this is far from the worst LP I’ve ever heard.
The CD starts with ‘Circus Maximus’, a more melodic ‘Kashmir’-style
chord sequence moves into what would have been an excellent song on ‘Mere
Mortals’. The ‘indy’ influences are just too apparent for my tastes and
I’m afraid that’s a pattern repeated throughout the album. There are a few
upsides to the album, the main one being some pretty good guitar work courtesy of lead
guitarist John Truitt. ‘April Girls’ might appeal to anyone who likes stuff like
Deep Blue Something, but the better tracks are hidden towards the back end of the CD.
‘Pets on Parade’ shows some of the 60s influences Baxter claims as early
inspirations, and ‘Mindreader’ and ‘Campus Clown’ have more of the
same influences, with maybe a hint of the Yardbirds or Zombies at times. The most
straightforward AOR song on the thing is ‘My Little Vandal’ and either that or
the Genesis meets Beatles vibe of ‘Behind the Green Wall’ is the best song on
the album.
Check out
the latest interview with Baxter on our Interviews page!
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