Maybe It's Live finds blue-eyed soul singer Robert Palmer in a holding pattern. Six of the ten tracks were recorded at the Dominion Theatre in London a year and a half ago, while the remaining four are recent studio recordings in the electrosoul vein of Palmer's last LP, Clues. It's a strange mix, but it works.

The live material is drawn from the grab bag of genres that Palmer has explored over the...

Britisher Robert Palmer is another marcher in the growing column of white folks who prefer playing it greasy and getting down (notable recent examples: Bowie, Cate Bros., Frankie Miller, Little Feat). A talented chameleon, he knows what he wants and gets it.

One of the things he wants is to sound like Little Feat and he accomplishes this by having Lowell George and company play all over this album...

Robert Palmer's blond good looks, British hauteur and stylistic eclecticism make him a critical sitting duck, and he's often dismissed as a dandy and a dilettante. Though he may be both (so's Mick Jagger), Palmer is also a strong but not devastating vocalist, a versatile songwriter and a capable producer. An intelligent student of American R&B, this artist has never imitated American black singers...

Though Robert Palmer's taste in source material remains as impeccable as his taste in clothes, the jarring juxtapositions on Don't Explain sound more like the work of a man who would mix stripes, checks and plaids. An eighteensong sprawl, the album presents three separate exercises in style, and Palmer makes little attempt to weave the divergent strands into a coherent pattern.

Don't...

Robert Palmer's career and third album reflect the latter's title. With a seasoned group of L.A. session players supplementing his band and Steve Smith's slick production, he moves from rock to reggae-funk with professional agility. And yet while Palmer is undeniably a tasteful interpreter in the blue-eyed soul school, his music too often lacks the vision, and his voice the individuality, to...