Robert Randolph & The Family Band: Unclassified
Published August 07, 2003
The folk singer Greg Brown has the perfect description for most contemporary christian music: "Praise the Lord, let's go to the mall!". I can see what he means. Musically, the stuff is pretty unimaginative and, to be honest, the lyrics aren't anything special either. What bugs me is the complete lack of subtlety. You would think that my being an atheist would be the big issue but really, it's just not all that much fun gettin' hammered over the head with a 'message', whether you agree with it or not. Along the same line of thought, check out Greg Brown's description of his dad's philosophy on 'spreading the word' (from an interview in Dirty Linen)
- "He started reading a lot and reflecting on things," Brown continued, "and I'm sure there were comments. People kind of wanted you to toe that fundamentalist line, and if you were a preacher back then, that meant a very literal interpretation of the Bible and a lot of emphasis on the sin part and the bad part and the angry part. And that wasn't my dad's take on the Bible. He really held to a lot of the little beautiful things that Jesus did. At the end of his career as a minister, he was approaching the Bible as a series of stories or myths that we could learn from, but they were not something to beat each other over the head with or to be used in the way our so-called leaders use it these days. It was nothing like that. It was really a vision of love and forgiveness."
(By the way, Greg's dad was a Pentecostal Minister...which works here as Randolph learned his craft in a Pentecostal church playing "Sacred Steel" music)
The lyrics on Unclassified do have a bit of 'indirectness'. Lots of the tunes are obviously praise-oriented...but they can also be read as optimistic statements on what life has to offer. "Smile", for instance, can be seen as a modern hymn, or a love song.
Mark Saleski is a writer and music obsessive based out of the Monadnock region of New Hampshire. On his best day, he hopes to channel the ghosts of Lester Bangs and Jack Kerouac. He spends the hours of 9:32PM to 1:37AM carving out music reviews and essays for Jazz.com, Blogcritics.org and other publications.
- Robert Randolph & The Family Band: Unclassified
- Published: August 07, 2003
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- Section: Music
- Writer: Mark Saleski
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Comments on this articleComments
wow, you work in a bookstore?
i could never do that....all of my pay would get swallowed up in books.
i don't really like doing it... the job is boring as hell. Ah well.
I listened to The Word a while back and was mildly intrigued, however, it just wasn't the sort of thing to capture... and keep... my attention.
peace.
THE WORD is a fantastic CD! Get The Word!! The well-done liner notes give the church history of the pedal steel guitar. As a student of music history and fan of upbeat rock and gospel I find my hands waving in the air listening to THE WORD.
If you do say so yourself
well Eric, I am listening to this cd for the first time, and if I were him, I'd say so myself too. this CD kicks a lot of ass!
er...Unclassified kicks a lot of ass. I haven't heard The Word.
I saw the video to "I need more love"--I thought the music was fantastic. I love rhythm and blues anyway and it was refreshing to hear something other than grunge or groupie music.
I have seen the group play live on some late night shows and just fell in love with the music. Never heard a pedal guitar sound like that and they give a great live performance. Strangely I don't normally care for anything considered christian due to my atheism but I pay more attention to the music than lyrics which holds my interest most and this music is just nicely arranged and has a nice vibe to it.
I caught Robert Randolph on Austin City Limits a few weeks ago and found his music intoxicating. Maybe it's too early for me to mention him in the same sentence, but I got the same good feeling on the inside as when I listen to Dave Matthews. RRFB's website is bookmarked and my wife and kids love him too. I wish him the best in critical acclaim, staying true to his vision and garnering commercial success.
I saw RRFB today, for the first time, and was BLOWN AWAY! Where did they come from? I love their music. I am a Christian and didn't even realize that their music was Christian too. I know that the lyrics were positive. I like to know more about them and contact info.
Thanks.
Try finding some Freddie Roulette for pedal play. I find RR redundant to a fault. Like some penacostal Allman brothers boring jammin'.
Freddie had a few stock phrasings to bringe his solos together too, but RR is boring. Pedal makes him one of a few, but still not special
Caught RR as the opening act for Clapton, and he was white hot in concert! While his albums are solid stuff and very worthy of a place in my collection, it was the bands live performance that absolutely won me over. Check him out live, and check out his site www.robertrandolph.net
Robert Randolph smokes the steel! Real musicians in the mainstream are becoming harder and harder to find. It's uplifting to see a band like this achieve such commercial success. I'm just hoping they get crackin on another album soon.
I never knew anything about a 'preaching' influence or gospel past, before I bought this album. I saw them on Leno, and thought HOLY CRAP, this group smokes. I sat there just nodding my head along with the music, and thought, "I've gotta get me some of that". Needless to say, I forgot the name of the band, but did an exhaustive search on the internet, until I found out who those guys were. I have since bought the CD and I can't stop playing it. The talent of the musicians really are what got me into it. The pace of the first 3 tracks get me jumpin. I pull up next to another car at a light, and I have "Nobody" cranked up, and I see people look at me and nod their heads. (that doesn't happen much when I have Slayer playing that loud). But this is an absolute MUST HAVE for anyone interested in music. Not songs, but music. In fact, For Musicians Only should be labeled on this CD Case. I have much respect for Robert Randolph. This is funkabluedelic at its best.
This band is sick, off the charts, amazing! I have caught them a bunch live. It started last summer at the Clapton guitar thing in Texas (which was amazing) and after that saw them play a tiny outdoor venue in the rockies just north of Fort Collins (the Mishawaka) and they knocked me out! The band played for somewhere between 4 and 5 hours last time I counted. They can each play about every instrument, came out into the audience a few times, and had the audience on stage with them a few times.
As someone who has seen everyone in rock (from Clapton to Jimmy Page, to David Gilmore to Bob Dylan, Jerry Garcia to James Hetfield)... let me tell you these guys are the real deal.
I am guessing from the comments above that 'the Word' is the new CD from the band. If that is the case, I'll have it this week, and can't wait to see them this summer again (bring more beer money, a four hour show takes up a lot of beer).
I was extremely impressed by the album-- however, I must stress that you MUST go see these guys live. I've been to my fair share of live shows, but I've never seen anything like these guys-- there wasn't a soul in the audience who wasn't dancing and having a good time! When the concert had finally ended some 3 hours later, it sounded like a non-stop echo of people's staggering disbelief and awe. I don't care what style of music you're into-- if you see that RRFB are coming to town: go out and get tickets IMMEDIATELY...even if you have to donate bodily fluids, you won't be sorry.
Sir Saleski, this album is every bit as golden as you say and I am one day going to track down a copy of the now out of print The Word.
Man, don't even get me started on RR. I first heard him and the band on NPR during All Things Considered, and I ran over several small children to get to Best Buy to pick up a copy. Yep, that's how desperate I was to hear it again right away-I went to friggin' Best Buy. Forgive me.
Anyway, even if you're not a blues, gospel or soul, you just have to hear this CD once and you'll be sold. This has got to be one of the densest batch of hooky jams since SRV.
It's sorta like Dream Theater got into a fight with Roomful of Blues and Delbert McClinton, then they made up and formed a band. Just amazing.
dang, i'd love to find MY copy of The Word.
it's around here someplace...
It's sorta like Dream Theater got into a fight with Roomful of Blues and Delbert McClinton, then they made up and formed a band. Just amazing.
Now that's funny! I am now listening to Colorblind. Both of those records are great and so is the live one. These guys are unbelievable and I have to find a copy of The Word.
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interesting... i just got a request for that cd about 10 minutes ago at the bookstore I work at. Odd timing.
peace.