British blue-eyed soul man
Frankie Miller had a great voice, a strong knack as a songwriter, and some pretty unfortunate luck with producers and arrangers. While he cut some solid sides with
Brinsley Schwarz as his backing band and did even better work in the company of the legendary
Allen Toussaint, the sad truth is there are as many duds as gems in his catalog, usually due to mismatched assistance in the studio. 1985's
Dancing in the Rain paired
Miller with producer and engineer
John Jansen, who tricked him up with a morass of hard rock guitars, high-mixed drums, and periodic sax honks that suggest
Jansen was hoping to turn
Miller into the next
Robert Palmer, since on the surface this album resembles
Palmer's "Addicted to Love" era and
Power Station hits more than anything else. The production dates
Dancing in the Rain more effectively than anything
Miller cut in the 1970s, but
Miller manages to survive the onslaught without embarrassing himself --
Miller sounds tough, committed, and in control on these sides, especially the mournful "Gladly Go Blind," the swaggering "I'd Lie to You for Your Love," and the passionate "You're a Puzzle I Can't Put Down."
Miller wrote or co-wrote all ten songs on the album (his collaborators include Brill Building legend
Jeff Barry and
Parliament-
Funkadelic guitarist
Eddie Hazel), and while "The Boys and Girls Are Doing It" and "Do It Till We Drop" are obvious throwaways, most of the other tunes are solid and give him plenty of room to show off his vocal chops.
Dancing in the Rain was
Frankie Miller's last album before a severe brain hemorrhage sidelined his performing career in 1994; he certainly deserved to go out with a better record, but for the most part the album's flaws have little to do with him.