MUSICIAN & SONGWRITER
Rob Freeman has spent a lifetime making music. A self-taught pianist, he entertained with an accordion as a young boy and was writing songs prolifically by his early teens. In the ‘60s and ‘70s, Rob was keyboardist/writer with several bands. Over the years his original songs have been featured in movie and television soundtracks and covered by a variety of artists. Today his studio walls are lined with gold and platinum record awards which he earned during successful years as a record producer/recording engineer working with such artists as KISS, Ramones, Blondie, and The Go-Go’s. Recognized for his work with others’ music, Rob is not widely known as an artist himself. Hopefully that’s about to change.
VIGNETTES
VIGNETTES is a collection of original songs mostly written summer 2019, with two late entries: “Aliens Come Down,” arrived (rather unexpectedly) in spring 2020, and “2020,” written in December in an attempt to sum up a horrific year of global pandemic, personal isolation, and so many other tragedies. The album's songs emerged as mini-portraits, each one highlighting some aspect of my life or some thing of special significance to me. They became my vignettes, which in turn inspired the title song.
GRAND POP MUSIC (JOHN AUSTIN & ROB FREEMAN)
GRAND POP MUSIC set out upon a musical journey spanning a continent (LA to Miami…and back again). Sights and sounds they encountered along the way inspired Grand Pop Music, the soundtrack to the journey.
ME, MY SELFIE, & EYE
ME, MY SELFIE, & EYE is a collection of original songs written over a period of three and a half decades, 1979-2015. Do the songs on the album contain carefully interwoven themes, or were they randomly conceived and simply placed together? I suppose that’s for you to decide. For myself, when I listen through the album, I am transported to many wondrous and unsettling corners of my life experience, as seen and heard through my eyes and ears…my selfie.
BLINDERMAN & FREEMAN (BARRY BLINDERMAN & ROB FREEMAN)
Two close and enduring life-long friends, musical partners since the sixties, reunite to create contemporary versions of some of their classic songs.
RMI-TMI
Rob, along with Martin Balk and Paul Jost, was a founding member of RMI-TMI (pronounced "rummy tummy"), a band that enjoyed a highly creative and progressive, if all too short-lived, musical experience together. There's a lot of history here—with many incredible musicians gracing the band with their talents: Michael Barbiero, John Markel, Jared Melson, Jim Avey, Dave Link, and others—but I'll save all that for another day and another webpage. Instead, let the music speak for itself. Here is USKATURE TO AN OVUS, RMI-TMI's album recorded (twice!) in 1972 at MediaSound Studios, NYC, by the inimitable production team of Harvey Goldberg and Al Varner.
Michael Barbiero declaring, "A uskus is muskus!" at Central Park Bandshell, NYC (circa 1972)
