BWW Reviews: Force of Nature Lauren Robert Rocks Iridium Again

Cabaret Reviews and Commentary by Stephen Hanks

Four songs into Lauren Robert's show at Iridium this past Tuesday night (her third appearance at the jazz club since last August), she was already producing her usual pulsating, percussive, and passionate presentation of hard-driving blues and soulful pop when the show took a transformative turn and reached a higher ground. The mature, sultry, blue-eyed blonde, whose sound goes beyond blue-eyed soul, put on her Louisiana accent cultivated from years playing down south with her old band, Mojo Hand, and told her audience that the set's fifth song was "inspired by the swamps and sexy action of N'awlins."

Then Robert and her new band, which included three members of the old gang, really got their mojo going, jumped into a musical swamp boat and navigated through a Robert original called "Two Alligators" (from Mojo Hand's 1992 album Zulu Parasol), an intense and rhythmic mix of blues, hard rock n' roll, and Zydeco, and that featured a cool background vocal arrangement and Robert playing a washboard--better known as a fotoi (fo-twa) draped down her chest. Like an alligator, the song stalked and then snapped, and with Noe Matos supplying some frenetic percussion, it was a draw-dropping number that wouldn't let you stop bouncing in your seat.

But then if you're not moving some part of your body when force of nature Lauren Robert is pounding away on a song then you're not alive. She certainly is. Her delivery of songs, whether her own or covers of blues and pop classics, offer the power of Joplin and Tina Turner but without the rough edges. The performances are resoundingly raw and revealing and reflect her passions, her pain, her dreams, and her disappointments through decades as both successful and struggling singer, songwriter, actress, and playwright. At this point in her life and career, Robert is letting it all hang out on stage (as if she ever didn't) and after a show she hugs fans still wearing her sweat-drenched outfit to prove it.

While she may not be raking in the dough--yet--Robert's career is in the midst of a mini-renaissance. In addition to the three Iridium gigs, last summer she released her first solo CD, Listen-I Mean It, featuring her own blues, gospel and pop songs, almost all of which are standouts and is the kind of disc you move to the top of the heap among the car CD choices. "Look Out Love," her rocking blues song from the CD, was recently given a dance-mix makeover and zoomed up the club charts (below).

But here's the thing: As hot and fun as that song may be, "Look Out Love" isn't even the best cut on her CD, nor was it the highlight number in her recent show. Besides "Two Alligators," among the standouts of the night were her opening, "Walkin' the Dog," the 1963 up-tempo blues Rufus Thomas hit that was also covered by The Rolling Stones (Robert whipped out her harmonica for that one), an extended version of the Staple Singers hit "I'll Take You There," (she took us there, alright), a smooth duet with backup singer Keith Fluitt on Peaches & Herb's "Reunited," and a supremely soulful take on Tom Waits' gospel-flavored "Down In the Hole" (featuring solid solos from James Reid on drums and Steve Mascari on bass).

Robert always reveals a surprise and sings against her type in every show and for this one she reached back to the days when she was a teenager, singing and playing a guitar for hospital patients in Massachusetts. "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" might be the last song you'd ever expect to hear a smoky belter like Robert cover, but at Iridium she soared on a lovely and bluesy rendition of the Judy Garland classic. Not as effective was her take on Amanda McBroom's "The Rose," but only because in her generosity Robert performed it as a duet with backup singer Carollee Goodgold on lead. It's not that Carollee wasn't almost as good as gold, but the song would have blossomed even more had Robert delivered it as solo a la Bette Midler. (Please click on Page 2 below to continue.)

That little flaw aside, this show was the strongest of Robert's three Iridium dates so far thanks to a talented, energetic, and supportive band, which also included Matt Baker on piano, Dan Dolan on guitar, and Nate Johnson on sax. Could this be the start of a semi-regular run at the iconic club that has helped re-launch Robert's singing and performing career?

Perhaps, especially considering Robert's finale, The Clark Sisters' gospel blues song "I'm Looking for a Miracle," which includes a lyric that might reflect the singer's current life and career philosophy--because she certainly sings it that way: "I'm looking for a miracle/I expect the impossible/I feel the intangible/I see the invisible . . . The Sky is the limit/To what I can have." If Lauren Robert keeps singing, performing and writing the way she is right now, there shouldn't be any limit to what she can have.

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