“Night Parade” sets up the tone of the album, sounding enough like the one before but with some Nola touches. On “Hold Back The Dawn” it’s clear that Robbie has enough confidence in his own voice, but it’s always nice to hear Rick in the mix. The funk picks up for “Go Back To Your Woods”, written with Bruce Hornsby but not overly indicative of his touch. A couple of bona fide Indian chiefs provide something of a closing commentary, to which Robbie’s heritage propels him to moan along. “Soap Box Preacher” is a duet with Neil Young, of all people, Neil softly singing his lines while Robbie rasps his. The mystery returns on “Day Of Reckoning (Burnin’ For You)”, written with the other guy from David + David. (You’re forgiven for punctuating any of the pauses with “Wait—did you hear that?”)
Ivan Neville co-wrote the seductive “What About Now” and helps sing it too, along with dad Aaron, making it all sound almost romantic. “Shake This Town” is an excuse for another parade of sorts, but the highlight for some of us is “Breakin’ The Rules”, Robbie’s version of a Blue Nile heartbreaker, complete with that band performing and Paul Buchanan singing. “Resurrection” sounds mostly like similarly paced songs on the album, but the chorus chord out of left field is a good touch. “Sign Of The Rainbow” seems like a personal song; it builds slowly, gains strength from the drums and vocals, and fades away.
Taken all together, Storyville sounds like a congruous second chapter, even if the stories he’s trying to tell don’t always ring. It’s a long album, too, so some shuffling is required to fit with its brother on a Maxell for convenient looping. (Years later they were paired in an expanded package, this album regaining its lost title track, wisely left off the album the first time, and the moody B-side “The Far, Lonely Cry Of Trains”, which is good until he starts singing.)
Robbie Robertson Storyville (1991)—3
I found this disappointing after his first album. Touting the New Orleans connection, one might hope foe “Robbie Robertson and The Preservation Hall Jazz Band”, but this is hardly the case. The album leans too far to the mellow side. (I even heard “What About Now” once in a grocery store, perhaps indicating that he had now established adult contemporary credibility). At best, the upbeat tunes reach mid-tempo. “Go Back to Your Woods”, “Night Parade” and “Resurrection” are fun, although “Shake This Town” and “Breakin’ the Rules” don’t really do either. Robbie’s voice is not strong enough to liven up these songs. At almost an hour, the album is a bit too long to hold interest over its length. None of the songs are horrible, but the album isn’t a grabber.
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