Futurist CD

Guests:Charlie Haden, Jon Anderson (Yes)

Personnel: Robert Downey, Jr. (vocals, piano, Wurlitzer organ, keyboards, percussion, background vocals); Robert Downey, Jr.; Jon Anderson (vocals, background vocals); Steve Dudas (acoustic guitar, electric guitar, balalaika); Jimmy Haun (electric guitar); Charlie Bisharat (violin); Jim Cox (piano, Hammond b-3 organ); Alan Broadbent (piano); Tom Canning (Hammond b-3 organ); Armand Sabal-Lecco (bass instrument); Charlie Haden (bass guitar); Alec Puro (drums); Sarah Hudson (background vocals); Mark Hudson (acoustic guitar, electric guitar, percussion, background vocals); Cameron Stone (cello); Jeff Bunnell (flugelhorn); Gregg Bissonette, Chad Wackerman, Vinnie Colaiuta (drums).
Audio Mixers: Dave Way; Lior Goldenberg.
Recording information: Elias Arts, Santa Monica, CA; The Village Recorder, Los Angeles, CA; Whatinthewhatthe?, Los Angeles, CA.
Photographers: Jonathan Elias; Robert Downey, Jr.; Mark Hudson; Jimmy "Sprünge" LaRiccio; Vicenzo LoRusso; Amy Galland.
Unknown Contributor Role: Russell Nachman.
Often praised, long troubled actor Robert Downey Jr. makes his solo vocal debut with The Futurist. Having sang in various film and TV projects, it was often rumored that Downey wanted to make a move to the music business. Well, the rumors were true and the results are largely laudable. Vocally, Downey has a unique sound that falls somewhere between the melancholy twang of Bruce Hornsby and the soulful grit of Joe Cocker -- think Bruce Springsteen doing a cabaret night. Musically, he lands squarely in the adult contemporary vein with songs that recall So-era Peter Gabriel and post-Soul Cages Sting -- synthesizers abound. Respectably, Downey wrote many of the songs on The Futurist as well as collaborated with journeyman pop scribe Mark Hudson -- who also shares production credits here with one-time Yes producer Jonathan Elias. That said, Downey's ear tends toward the languid and his lyrics, while heartfelt, are obtuse and often seem to dance around deep issues without revealing much. For example, on the title track he sings, "They'll take the walk/We'll sage the world/Sounds like October/A Futurist nose/Our furious, curious, fantasist code" -- code indeed. Not surprisingly, though, Downey the actor turns out to be a great interpreter of other musicians' work. His duet with Jon Anderson on the classic Yes track "Your Move" sounds absurd in theory, but the rub between Downey's throaty croon and Anderson's angelic background vocals is truly invigorating. Similarly, he seems to bring all the highs and lows of his life and career to bear on his trio version of Charlie Chaplin's "Smile," featuring legendary jazz bassist Charlie Haden. While the album may not hold any clues to the future of Downey's music career, in the moment The Futurist is as unpredictably moving as the best of Downey's film work. ~ Matt Collar
Robert Downey Jr.'s debut album features a star-studded cast of musicians, not the least of whom is Yes's lead singer Jon Anderson (who performs backing vocals on his own "Your Move"). This is a confident step for an actor whose drug problems were making lurid headlines just a few years before this record's 2004 release. Allusions to these tribulations form the bulk of the material on THE FUTURIST, from the opening "Man Like Me" with its "This is a habit I'm breaking now forever" lyric, to the 12-step program reference in "Broken." Downey's voice sounds suitably lived-in, displaying more than a passing acquaintance with the oeuvre of Elton John, and the arrangements are played as impeccably as you'd expect by the outstanding roster of Los Angeles session musicians. Lyrically, Downey can be quite dark, as his macabre role as the corpse in the album's artwork (a tribute to Rembrandt's "The Anatomy Lesson") implies. However, the inclusion of Charlie Chaplin's "Smile" (Downey played Chaplin in the eponymous 1992 biopic) is perhaps an indication of a brighter future for the