Rich Robinson Flies Solo

[Jahfin]

From RollingStone.com:
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/newsar ... ?nid=19589

First post-Crowes record due this summer

More than two years have passed since Rich and Chris Robinson grounded the Black Crowes after six albums and the better part of two decades. Chris was out of the gate first with a solo record in 2002, and out of the gate second too, as his next album, This Magnificent Distance, is due in June. Rich Robinson's next phase has been a bit longer coming, as his band Hookah Brown derailed in May 2003 due to financial disagreements, just months after assembling. But the younger Robinson sib has decided to go it alone and is mixing twenty-two songs at New York's Hit Factory studio, some of which will appear on his own solo debut this summer.

Robinson hasn't settled on a title or even a format yet -- the batch of songs could be whittled down to a single CD, two separate discs or a double -- but the new tunes find Robinson untethered in the realm of epic rock, with some of the Crowesy Seventies-inspired riffing, flourishes of country, a bit of honkin' on the blues and anything else the guitarist sees fit.

With several songs clocking in at over five minutes, Robinson shows no desire to hurry into the verses, letting songs like "Answers" unfold instrumentally with a guitar pattern and cascading strings, before getting to the first verse. "Everybody's in such a f**** rush these days," he says. "It's all about beats-per-minute, this race to get to the chorus. I like to take it a little bit slower."

After the demise of Hookah -- which included drummer Bill Dobrow, bassist Fionn O'Lochlainn and former Moke singer John Hogg -- Robinson opted to make a bandless record, enlisting only drummer Joe Magistro, a decision that put the guitarist in the role of lead vocalist for the first time. "It would just have been a safety net for me to hire a singer," he says. "It's always easier to let someone else take that role. So this was a different recording experience, because I've never really done it. And the more I sang, the more comfortable it became. I always tried to write songs for John's voice and Chris' voice. This time I got to try to write for my own."

Robinson doesn't flash the live-wire set of pipes that his brother did on the Crowes' early recordings, but his Jeff Tweedyish croon puts the verses over just fine, and his use of harmony and gospel-tinged choruses, help add muscle to the hooky choruses.

Robinson also used the opportunity of recording on his own to throw in some playful guitar parts to the trademark big riffs. A dash of reggae strumming peppers "Goodbye," a tempo-shifting cut he describes as "a Who-like approach to making pop music," and a wah-wah guitar that echoes George Harrison's playing colors a tune he wrote for his son. "It's a bit ambient, but still cool with me," he says. "Several of these songs are specifically orchestrated, which I enjoyed the opportunity to do. There's some Pet Sounds influence in there."

Among the bigger tunes is "Places," a Hookah holdover that runs through several changes during its seven minutes. "That's the song that goes nowhere," Robinson says. "It's meant to make people uncomfortable after about four minutes."

Robinson hopes to have the remainder of the songs mixed in the next two weeks, with plans for a June tour and a release in late July or early August. His manner is laid back, so the roundabout route his post-Crowes project has taken towards completion doesn't seem to stir any anxiety or agitation. "With Hookah Brown, we had a lot of these songs ready to go when greed came into play," he says. "For a little while, it was like, 'Well now what the ***** do I do?' But we just went in and put this music live to tape. I've always made records that way. I was used to doing it with six people, but this time I did it with two. It's a good process that works for me."

ANDREW DANSBY
(April 9, 2004)

[12vmanRick]

Have Chris' album. Will look forward to the one from Rich!