Janice Robinson

This debut album is fresh and invigorating. Robinsons’ skills as a singer / songwriter are well demonstrated. The album is comprised of ten personal songs. They socially aware and presented in Robinsons’ own personal style that mixes rock, funk and gospel.

The album opens with an edgy "Nothing I Would Change," a brief autobiographical piece set to a rock beat with a touch of funk. The album continues to unfold with stories from Robinsons’ life, touching upon themes of love, race and self-reliance. Robinson uses a wide range of vocal talents from the melodic "Search For Love" and " Color Within Me" to the faster paced, gospel influenced "It Really Don’t Matter." The lyrics are as gripping and the music they are set to.

The sonics of the album are surprisingly good. Robinsons’ vocals are clean, and have a strong presence. The imaging is much better than average, the recording captures the soundstage fairly well. On "It Really Don’t Matter" the gospel choir is presented well as it backs up Robinsons’ fiery vocals. I recommend this album and I will be keeping my eyes open for the next one from Janice Robinson.
- Brian Kahn

Best known for her vocals on the 1994 Livin’ Joy house anthem "Dreamer," New Jersey native Janice Robinson has moved toward straightforward pop-rock for her debut, The Color Within Me. With its mostly upbeat lyrics and funky rhythms, Robinson’s music is as sunny as, say, Tori’s is dark. But that’s not to say she doesn’t have an edge. Robinson’s no victim, and even the songs with darker topics, like "Search for Love" with its drug-addiction theme, manage to embrace a coda of self-reliance and resilience. The album’s centerpiece, "Nothing I Would Change," is a rundown of Robinson’s own life experiences, with a focus on her ever-changing musical tastes. An anthem to self, the song rises to a fever pitch over snappy percussion and urgent guitars. - Nicole Pensiero

Perhaps because she played with various groups for years before making her mark in Europe with Livin' Joy's "Dreamer" in 1994-95, Janice Robinson is not your standard R&B singer. In fact, it would be more accurate to think of her as a rock singer-songwriter. She has assembled a backup band that includes rock veterans like Jim Keltner and Waddy Wachtel and even gotten a wonderful slide guitar performance from Ry Cooder on "Sleeping In The Playground." "Nothing I Would Change" is the autobiographical statement that leads things off, and Robinson remains self-referential in her lyrics. She doesn't really have much to say beyond telling her own, brief story, but she is passionate about that, from the bittersweet hometown reunion of "Dead End Girl" to the memory of racial slurs in "Gracefully Gliding." "Who cares if I'm black or white," she asks on the title track, and she explores miscegenation with an integrationist's fervor in the album closer, "It Really Don't Matter." Those are nervy sentiments at a time when popular music remains as polarized as society at large, and they may make her album difficult to market. But this is an auspicious debut by a talented singer who is also a promising writer. - William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide

Clearly among the most beautifully composed and intensely emotional dance tracks ever written. Livin' Joy's "Dreamer" tells the story of a woman who's just beginning to realize her inner-beauty and magic, but is hesitant to share it with a world that may reject her. She is, as the song unveils, a dreamer. The hook, coupled with the incredibly soulful and at times heart-breaking vocals, make the track a must-have for anyone who feels happy... but ultimately isolated among the masses. A wonderful, wonderful song that's provided so much joy to my life... and hopefully your's too.
- Amazon.com