(Sunshine Drenchy)

The man who gave Tampa Bay's venerable band The Headlights its English tinge has put out a fine CD. Robinson, a native of northern England, lets his Beatles fetish hang out and flirts with Brit-folk styles on a disc that's altogether charming, if a bit saccharine. Undercurrent is often gorgeously melodic — the ballad "Love is Real" borders on majestic — and Robinson's clear, controlled tenor is the perfect conduit. Not all the tunes are dollops of sunshine — a good thing. The pretty but grim "Road to Ruin" floats over Nick Drake acoustic guitar arpeggios, and the bouncy "Wasted and Waiting" is a cheeky tale of a loser. Recorded at Brian Merrill's Studio B in St. Petersburg. (steverobinsonmusic.com)

This article appears in Jun 27 – Jul 3, 2007.

Eric Snider is the dean of Bay area music critics. He started in the early 1980s as one of the founding members of Music magazine, a free bi-monthly. He was the pop music critic for the then-St. Petersburg...