Standing on the Edge [Import]

"Standing On The Edge" is yet another example of the raw vocal power that Frankie displayed so effortlessly on earlier albums. This is a fine return to soulful hard rock, rather than the polished pop sound of it's predecessor, "Easy Money". Miller's two biggest assets, his big gravel voice and the ability to put a song across, are here in abundance. The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section guys, plus guitarists like Chris Spedding and Wayne Perkins, remain unrivaled for sheer talent. They're so good they actually sound like Frankie's band, instead of elite session musicians.
4 of the songs were co-written with Andy Fraser, a long time Miller writing companion, with Frankie writing everything else except "Firing Line", a chugging pop-rocker. It's rewarding to hear Miller and Fraser writing again and the resulting tunes are all solid.
If there's any downside it lies in several tunes that run at the same tempo. They could've been done differently, allowing for a bit more diversity of sound. But, the upside is BIG, with some of Frankie's best writing to date. Needless to say, the vocals are superb as always. How he's able to coax the little squeaks, cracks, moans and graoans out of his vocal chords is beyond words. "Jealousy" is a slow smoldering blues and is guaranteed to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up almost instantly. The ballad "To Dream The Dream" has beautiful wordplay going on thru the entire song. "Angels With Dirty Faces", a bit of mid tempo pop/rock, also has Frankie selecting his words very carefully to good results. "Danger Danger", "Don't Stop", "Zap Zap", and "Standing On The Edge" all rock hard and wouldn't sound out of place on other Miller albums, especially "Double Trouble" or "Full House".
There are only a handful of Frankie Miller albums available. It took a long time for his catalog to be put on CD. I wouldn't recommend this one as a starting point, (try "The Rock" or "High Life") but if you owned any of his albums and were moved by the great vocal ability he had, you should but this disc now.

Frankie Miller has a great soulful voice along the lines of America's Bob Seger. I'll tell you right now, if you like Bob Seger and Paul Rodgers, you'll probably dig him. And he actually writes his own songs, and does it quite well. He's from Scotland for those who are knew to him. For me, I was really impressed with some of his other releases, but this one left a bad taste in my mouth. It's not that it's a bad record, but I felt the blues element in the music became weaker. Although the first couple of tracks are quite catchy, it just seemed like he drifted away from those rougher classic rock n roll roots, and settled for something, as I already said, less bluesy, and less soulful as well. I'm more into something that's deeper in blues and soul or old-fashion rock n roll. Someone with different expectations may be quite impressed with this record. For me, personally, I'd rather listen to his other records. Also, although this has nothing to do with his music, but the album cover annoys. It looks like he's too focused on drawing attention than writing songs from his heart. Still, its entertaining and still beats a lot of the other stuff out there.

I Love Frankie , in 1980 he finally started going for the rock sound I always invisioned he was capable of, unfortunetly the writing is a little thin. But his big voice is always a pleasure to hear sonds like paul rodgers meets robert palmer meets otis redding Full House is the best I';ve heard to date