Tom Robinson
By All Music Guide
By All Music Guide
However, by the release of the second album, the Todd Rundgren-produced TRB Two, the songs were getting weaker and Robinson began sounding like a boring ideologue. Similarly, the band, even terrific guitarist Danny Kustow, sounds as if on automatic pilot. By the end of the 70s, Robinson had been dropped by EMI and signed to maverick-major IRS as a solo act. In a wise move, he ditched the hard rock polemics of TRB for a more sophisticated pop/rock sound, but found his audience dwindling. A brief period of silence ended with him, somewhat surprisingly, signing with Geffen and releasing Hope and Glory. It was a politically tinged, but mostly mainstream rock record that featured a cover of that decidedly non-punk song, Steely Dans Rikki Dont Lose That Number, with Robinson deftly exploring the songs homoerotic subtext. Still, it wasnt enough to resuscitate his career and for the remainder of the decade Robinson released England-only albums that tried the patience of even longtime fans.
As to his current whereabouts, Robinson is (amazingly) rumored to be married to a woman and raising a family in England. Hes still writing songs and occasionally performing, but it can be safely assumed that whatever hes doing, its light years away from the radical energy and excitement of Power in the Darkness.
