“The Macchiato” is the Kool Kat label debut for ex-pat Robin Schell (now living in the UK), a person who’s been around for a while, but has managed to keep a relatively low profile – until now!
Some say he’s the latest Earthbound incarnation of Zaphod Beeblebrox who once associated with the tactical use of the vintage dinner jacket and weapons-grade fedora. A dimensional shapeshifter from the 70’s perhaps.
What we do know is that he sings and plays keyboards a bit, and has been known to write hooky pop songs. In the mid-80’s he worked in the studio and on the road with Leon Russell, formed the band Midnight Under Glass in LA in the 90’s, fronted a prog recording project called Blue Shift who released an album (“Not the Future I Ordered”), and in 1997 created the very cool lo-fi, Brit-pop influenced album with The Marshmellows (“Mad Sense Of Alice”)! More recently, he’s been a collaborator on albums by Life-In-Digital and Iconic Sky.
As a singer, he can be heard on “Yesterday and Today, a 50th Anniversary Tribute to Yes”.
An ill-fated version of “The Macchiato” was released in 2018. It did not include the songs “Past the Age of Miracles” and “South for the Winter”. Along with those songs, and total from-the-ground-up new mixes of the others, the album is finally fully realized.
Written in 2020, opener “Time to be Electric” is the newest song, while some songs go back as far as the mid 90’s. “Boxing Kangaroo” and “Can’t Win for Losing, both written in ‘08, were overtly influenced by, and meant as a tribute, to Leon Russell. The catchy “Eleven” was written around 1999 as almost a send-up of 70’s AOR, but with the obvious lyrical reference to Spinal Tap.
So, as one might imagine, “The Macchiato” certainly has its fair share of Prog (albeit light)-leanings, but is definitely pop!
“The attention to detail in the production is first-class, the vocals on display are fabulous and the instrumental backing is superb, providing just the right elements needed for each song. A record like this has to be listened to a few times to allow for the unpeeling of layers of the complexity of the songs, but once you do, you’ll realize it’s a sophista-pop masterpiece!!” – Cesar Milan
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