By: Robert Randolph & Family Band Average Rating: Binding: Audio CD Format: Live, Original recording reissued Label: Warner Bros / Wea Number of Discs: 1 Release Date: September 17, 2002
Album Description: Robert Randolph is one of the most talented pedal steel guitarists of his generation, picking up comparisons to Stevie Ray Vaughan, Duane Allman and Jimi Hendrix. Live At The Wetlands is the debut from Randolph and The Family Band. Dare Records. 2002.
Amazon.com: 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. --Ted Drozdowski
awesome performance This is one of the great jam performances I know of!! As I was being blown away by it I was thinking "not blues but who else jams live like this"----Little Feat was the only answer but even better, maybe. High energy, flawless, fun, great road music. Need something to get you from Denver to K.C. and beyond, this works!! R.R. & F. is a force to be reconded with. This is a great cd to have in your catalogue, pull it out when things are in your face!!!
ROBERT RULES! I first saw Robert and The Family Band on Eric Clapton's Crossroad's DVD (the one in Texas) and he flat wowed me! This is unusual for me now. You see, I'm an old hippie guy and most things new suck (to me). This kid is playing slide like Duane Allman and he's doing it on a George Jones backup pedal steel country friggin' guitar. I buy everything he releases now. I actually had an opportunity to see him locally in a VERY small venue and he and the bass player were walking around in the crowd getting folks to repeat a "hook" in the song he was singing. Very high energy live and he won't disappoint you with this CD either!
Loud, Live, and doesn't care who knows it!!!! The Robert Randolph & Family Band's first effort is a portion of their road show, its too bad they didn't give us the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Thats what this CD leaves me feeling. Kind of like the Asian massage place on the edge of town, "your stopping now, I was just getting started". That is this CD's only but semi-fatal flaw. I have seen this band perform on late night TV, and Austin City Limits, but would like to see them live, have they made a central west sweep, (Colorado)? Robert Randolf & Family Band would be one of the few acts I would go to see live. Not many of them left anymore, having two brothers and, I've heard), a cousin in the same band, with possible family members as the rythm section is always a plus. I would suggest you listen to this CD, if not purchase it out right. This band is not only something different, but it is the real McCoy. Even live, the band is tight, right, and polite. The music is infectous, the beat, the beat, the beat will cure what ails you, if it is at all possible.
Good music I first saw Robert Randolph & the Family Band on our PBS station & you just can't sit still when playing his music. It is "feel good" music & I intend to buy all his CD's. There is great energy & enthusiasm in this CD - you can feel it.
High-Energy Electric Blues Though I am the owner of many of the recordings listed on the amazon list of "Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought...", I was blissfully unaware of Robert Randolph and the Family Band until a friend recently loaned me Live At The Wetlands. After a couple of listens, I was hooked. What an album! I was initially skeptical of how the pedal steel guitar was going to work with the blues, but Randolph has me convinced that it can. Live At The Wetlands brings you over an hour of high-energy electric blues with a dollop of soul worked in for good measure. There are five originals and one cover of a Slim Harpo classic. I like the entire CD but unless you are in constant need of a musical jolt, I'd say its not for everyday listening. I'm thinking it would work best at your next outdoor pool party/barbecue and would make a great substitute for a live band. Give it a listen and hear what I mean!
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
Not Available Comics
Trevor
