What people search:
 | Title : Live at the Wetlands
Author : Robert Randolph & Family Band
Release Date : 20020917
Binding : Audio CD
Regular Price : $18.98
Amazon.com Price : $13.99
(26
%)
VISIT AMAZON.COM'S PAGE |
Editorial Reviews :
This album's all about the blazing virtuosity of Robert Randolph. The pop-music arrival of the young pedal-steel guitarist from the Pentecostal church was shepherded last year by the North Mississippi Allstars and groove organist John Medeski in a brilliant album and group called The Word. With his own Family Band and just one spiritual, the lovely 'Pressing My Way,' on the set list, Randolph sends lightning bolts through the audience in this August 2001 recording at a now-shuttered Manhattan club. He blends the showmanship of his blues inspiration, Stevie Ray Vaughan, with his own unique instrumental mastery, transforming his steel guitar into something more like a lead vocalist. Randolph constantly makes his 13-string guitar play call-and-response with his own singing, and he breathes fire into Slim Harpo's chestnut 'Shake Your Hips' by making it a field day for his stabbing splashes of notes and chords, inventing a different melody for his long solos that's more western swing than swamp blues. Although the shout-and-stomp-along original, 'I Don't Know What You Come to Do,' raises the crowd, it's the 11-minute finale, 'Tears of Joy,' that is Randolph's showstopper. The tune's a crafty summation of all his gifts: slow, sliding, rich-toned notes and low-buzzing chords; rhythms that pull from the stately qualities of gospel (enhanced by the way Randolph's steel blends with John Ginty's Hammond organ) and the pure exhilaration of rock improvisation; and beautiful tones that echo from honky-tonk to Hendrix. It's the musical equivalent of a white-water thrill ride.
Buyer Reviews :
When Robert Randolph emerged onto the jamband scene in 2001, everyone was going wild, and no one had anything negative to say. I first heard him with the Word on 8/8/01, and I've been a fan ever since. The Word's CD quickly became one of my favorites. Enter Robert Randolph and the Family Band- they're faster, cooler, funkier, and more energetic than the Word, their songs are repetetive and highly danceable, and everyone loves them, perhaps even more than the Word. Every new person who sees the band raves about how amazing the show was. They're constantly playing bigger venues, headlining more and more. But now, about a year and a half has passed by, and the hype is kind of dying.
This CD represents very well what RR sounds like EVERY night. And so, it sounds great at first, but then, the more and more listen to it, the more and more it gets boring. There isn't anything new to discover on this disk on repeated listenings; the songs are infectious, but they aren't good songs. Rather it's just a repetetive bass line, a really fast, repetetive pedal steel guitar, and repetetive singing. After a while, it all sounds the same.
If you want some good Robert Randolph, check out The Word (RR, John Medeski, and the North Mississippi Allstars) or Higher Ground by the Blind Boys of Alabama with RR and the Family Band as a backup band. These CDs have well-written songs, and thus RR sounds good each time the album is put on. You'll think I'm an idiot for slamming this CD at first, but give it a year and see if you're still listening to it all the time.
(by A music fan)
back
What people search:
|
|
