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| Spin |
 A product of the "sacred steel" scene that incorporates steel guitar into Pentecostal church services, Robert Randolph could charm the crankiest of infidels with his irresistible fourth album. Produced by T-Bone Burnett, Randolph brings old-time uplift to driving beats, from "If I Had My Way," a rowdy update of early bluesman Blind Willie Johnson (guest starring Ben Harper on vocals) to his twist on modern R&B ("Back to the Wall"). Throughout, Randolph's playing is joyously flashy, yet never glib or predictable. For more, see the slinky cover of Dylan's "Shot of Love."...full text |
| Nytimes |
| In 1863 Charles Baudelaire suggested a modernity test for painters. It would be in how they depicted courtesans of their time. He said the painters had to be able to record “the carriage, the gaze, the come-hitherishness” of these women. Because therein lives spirit of the age, something that can’t be cribbed off the masters. Charles, meet Terius Nash, also known as The-Dream. He depicts unchaste women for a living. He first got a leg up writing R&B for other people, particularly “Umbrella” for Rihanna. That was three long years ago, and now Mr. Nash is on his third solo album, writing and producing and singing. Lately he has been receiving some criticism for his extraordinary focus or, if you like, his lack of breadth — so much that he recently threatened to quit making records. But there’s something about his persona Baudelaire might have liked: his obsession with surfaces, the endless trysting, the strings of brand names, the way he concentrates his talent in pursuit of casual pleasures, so casual he seems to barely even feel them. Not everything he makes is great, but everything he makes is modern. (Even when he’s copying Prince. Even when he’s copying R. Kelly.) His best work feels quick and intuitive. In “Make Up Bag” you hear finger snaps on the two and four, digital bass tones with Taser voltage, a piano plinking around an A-minor chord. There’s a trite little narrative: He’s been cheating on his girlfriend and actually has lipstick on his collar. But he’s been through this before. The chorus brings his lousy advice: “If you ever get your girlfriend mad/Don’t let your good girl go bad/Drop five stacks on a make up bag.” Gracefully he hammers it in: “The make up bag. The make up bag. The make up bag. The make up bag.” The song’s flaw is that it’s a little confusing. He’s talking about buying a purse, not a cosmetics container, to make up for his indiscretions. Its glory is how complicated a symbol the bag becomes: wealth, treachery, shallowness, his own power and anxiety, his girlfriend’s. Somewhere in there the narrator knows how craven he is. But The-Dream knows that he’s just repeating four syllables that sound good together. That’s it, that’s all. By the time you work this out, there’s a good chance you want to hear it again. There are similar small-scale epiphanies in the title track, on which, over a luxurious, summery beat with a piano bass line rolling upward by half-tones, he catalogs his girlfriends by their preference in footwear, liquor, airlines and data plans. And in parts of “Turnt Out,” on which he sings in falsetto about sexual positions for most of four and a half minutes, he tries to beat Prince at his own game....full text |
| Allmusic |
| Even though Robert Randolph & the Family Band had already become famous for blending gospel, blues, and contemporary styles on their first two albums, they decided to bring that same sort of syncretism to their source material for the third, We Walk This Road. Toward that end, they brought in producer T-Bone Burnett, a man who knows a thing or two about reconciling American roots music with the modern world. The results succeed in extending the group's scope in a way that matches its sound. Randolph, who was only allowed to listen to Christian music growing up, has stated that Burnett's deep knowledge of blues history opened up new worlds for him, and the steel guitar star has reckoned that he ended up spending thousands of dollars "catching up" and buying music from iTunes. Ultimately, though, the process isn't important -- what matters is what Burnett and the band achieved together, and We Walk This Road is a consistently surprising tour de force that moves easily through rock, blues, R&B, gospel, and more, sometimes bringing them all together at the same time. "If I Had My Way," for example, modernizes Blind Willie Johnson's gospel-blues classic with touches of rock, electric blues, and hip-hop, as Randolph trades licks with guest Ben Harper. Musical roots of a comparatively more recent vintage are tapped as well, like on the swampy, funked-up version of John Lennon's "I Don't Wanna Be a Soldier Mama," which features some guest guitar from Doyle Bramhall II, and a groove-conscious, pop-savvy take on Prince's "Walk Don't Walk." Naturally, the most striking sonic thread connecting these winding paths together is the visceral but otherworldly "sacred steel" work of Randolph himself, which remains a wonder to behold no matter the context....full text |
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