Robert Randolph

I just picked up the CD "Unclassifed" this weekend...

I was very impressed...after listening through the CD about 8-9 times, my first impressions:

-The lyrics are simple and straightforward...the album's strength isn't the lyrics, although they do a decent enough job...
-Of the 11 songs, 4 of them are without lyrics...those songs are still interesting, and have plenty of energy...
-As mentioned in my first post, their sound is like a blend of soul, blues, funk, rock & roll, and gospel...
-The album does a great job of featuring Randolph's playing of the sacred steel...it's is featured prominently on every track, which adds a lot to the songs...also, the organ is used in nearly every song...
-The band does a good job of keeping all the songs interesting all the way through...they may use a tempo-change, or go off on a jam session for awhile, letting Randolph show his stuff with the sacred steel...
-The bass player really lays down some nice grooves...Particularly notable is "I Need More Love"...it has a sweet bassline throughout the song...

The two main drawbacks to the album: If you are a person who has to have lyrics that really make you think, or have ambiguous meaning, or are just confusing...this band won't offer that...Also, a couple songs seem to end too soon...this is a band that really excells at jamming out, and a studio album doesn't give them that luxery as much...

Otherwise, it was refreshing for me to get an album like this. It's unlike anything in the mainstream today, (although it has some similarities to bands that were in the mainstream in the 70's), and they really make great music...If nothing else, catching them live somewhere would be a great experience, as I'm sure they are even better when performing live...