CHRIS ROBINSON BROTHERHOOD
''BETTY'S S.F. BLENDS VOLUME ONE, DISC TWO''
NOVEMBER 24 2013
137:34
DISC ONE (68:15)
1 Crash On the Levee (Bob Dylan) 06:04
2 Star or Stone (Chris Robinson) 10:09
3 Do Right Woman (Dan Penn, Lincoln Wayne Moman) 04:40
4 Badlands Here We Come (Chris Robinson, Neal Casal) 05:55
5 Tornado (Chris Robinson) 05:10
6 Try Rock & Roll (Dave Bartholomew, Pearl King) 04:37
7 Jump the Turnstile (Chris Robinson) 06:00
8 Someday Past the Sunset (Chris Robinson) 07:00
9 Barefoot By the Cherry Tree (Chris Robinson) 06:52
10 Poor Elijah; R. Johnson (Bonnie Bramlett, Delaney Bramlett, Jim Ford) 11:43
DISC TWO (69:19)
1 Reflections On a Broken Mirror (Chris Robinson) 07:23
2 100 Days of Rain (Chris Robinson, Neal Casal) 08:04
3 Saturday Night in S.F. (Tony Joe White) 03:49
4 Girl On the Mountain (Chris Robinson) 11:44
5 Roll Old Jeremiah (Chris Robinson) 09:13
6 Tulsa Yesterday (Chris Robinson, Neal Casal) 11:01
7 Meanwhile in the Gods (Chris Robinson, Neal Casal) 05:33
8 Train Robbers (Chris Robinson) 07:41
9 Hello L.A. Bye Bye Birmingham (Delaney Bramlett, Mac Davis) 04:47
Mark Dutton - Bass Guitar, Backing Vocals
George Sluppick - Drums
Adam MacDougall - Keyboards, Backing Vocals
Neal Casal - Lead Guitar, Backing Vocals
Chris Robinson - Lead Vocals, Guitar
REVIEW
By Richard B. Simon (Relix)
It’s a shame that the vinyl-only Betty’s S.F. Blends, Volume One is limited to 2,000 copies because it’s damn good. The quadruple-LP, live set is culled from a five-night run in 2012, recorded by Grateful Dead engineer Betty Cantor-Jackson. (Her recordings of all five shows are downloadable.) It captures the Chris Robinson Brotherhood peaking, in their third year, as a satisfying hybrid of Bakersfield country and laid-back California psychedelia. Neal Casal’s lead guitar is often reminiscent of Jerry Garcia’s—his tone and melodic choices are familiar, his notes are shaped similarly. Adam MacDougall’s keys, purposefully limited to the weirdo tones of the Fender Rhodes, the Moog and the clavinet, give this band and these tunes a signature sound, akin to the Burrito Brothers’ B-bent Telecaster foghorn and pedal steel. Check out Robinson’s guitar in the right channel—he’s doing interesting stuff here. Among many standouts: live versions of the slack psychedelic anthem “Tulsa Yesterday” and “Reflections on a Broken Mirror.” “Tornado,” a Black Crowes tune, sounds like a long-lost Garcia Band classic. “Meanwhile in the Gods” has a big football stadium beat and riff and a super-hooky synth line. There are some other guit-rockin’ smokers here, too. (Note Robinson’s vocal phrasing on “Saturday Night in S.F.”) But “Train Robbers” is the crystalline entity. Muddy Dutton’s dirigible-like bassline and George Sluppick’s whip-tight snare rolls cast the tune as a theatrical number, and Robinson’s supernaturally excellent singing is laid bare, as a bandit pondering one last heist. This, friends, is music.
BIOGRAPHY (CHRIS ROBINSON BROTHERHOOD)/AMG
by Bradley Torreano
Founded in 2011 by Chris Robinson, the Black Crowes frontman, the Chris Robinson Brotherhood came together around guitarist Neal Casal, drummer George Sluppick, bassist Mark Dutton, and Black Crowes keyboard player Adam MacDougall. The group's studio debut, Big Moon Ritual, arrived in June the following year, with its sequel, The Magic Door, appearing just three months later. The single "Older Guys" was released at the end of 2012, followed by a live album entitled Betty's S.F. Blends, Vol. 1 a year later. In February of 2014, the CRB dropped the preview track "Shore Power" as a teaser for its next studio full-length Phosphorescent Harvest, which was released in April.
BIOGRAPHY (CHRIS ROBINSON)/AMG
by Bradley Torreano
Although his band may have slowly disappeared from the mainstream after making a grand splash, Chris Robinson and the Black Crowes cultivated a dedicated audience that ensured they would go down as one of the most respected and well-liked roots rockers of the '90s. By going back to a classic sound in the mold of Humble Pie and the Faces, the Black Crowes were one of the few truly popular bands to continue making rock music that wasn't rooted in a particular decade during the era of hair metal and (later) grunge. Furthermore, Robinson's celebrity status afforded him a platform to support political causes and fiercely champion bands like the Jayhawks before the mainstream took notice of their efforts.
Before all of that, he was simply Christopher Mark Robinson, born to an Atlanta musician in 1966. Along with his brother Rich, he was exposed to a variety of musical genres throughout his youth, eventually discovering a love for most kinds of rock. Absorbing tremendous amounts of everything from Big Star to Led Zeppelin, he eventually teamed with Rich to start a band in the early '80s. Going under the name Mr. Crowe's Garden, the group started in 1984 and performed a jangly kind of college rock that wasn't getting them noticed. A terribly unstable lineup haunted the group for several years, but when representatives from American Records spotted the group performing in a club, they were enamored with Robinson's on-stage presence and soulful voice. Signing the band in 1989, a hilarious debate over a name change (label owner Rick Rubin wanted to rechristen the group "the Kobb Kounty Krows") eventually led to the simplified Black Crowes moniker.
Working with producer George Drakoulias, the band learned to shape their sound into a blues-based assault that brought to mind the loose, shambling glory of Exile on Main St.-era Stones. Debuting in 1990, the band's Shake Your Money Maker was an enormous success and led to several hit singles. Launched into the mainstream, the band immediately took issue with several of the bands it toured with over corporate sponsorship, and became political spokespeople as well as a solid live unit.
Their constant touring also helped the band as their albums began to lose steam commercially. But fans were impressed by their shows and they drew bigger and bigger crowds as the Crowes remained on the road for almost all the time between their debut and 2001. In that time they had toured with Jimmy Page and helped usher in the new generation of touring-based rock acts that included other live attractions like Phish and Widespread Panic. But burnout and a career filled with internal struggles put the band on hold, and Robinson started working on more intimate material to combat boredom.
By 2002, he had hooked up with producer/guitarist Paul Stacey and was hammering out his solo debut in the studio. Titled New Earth Mud, the album was a step toward Robinson's poppier side, which was often overshadowed by the technical prowess of his bandmates. Freed from the constraints of the band, Robinson still remained relatively close to the Southern rock sound he was known for. The darker-tinged This Magnificent Distance and the live show Brothers of a Feather featuring his brother Rich Robinson, followed in 2004 and 2007, respectively. In 2011, Robinson formed a new project called the Chris Robinson Brotherhood with guitarist Neal Casal, drummer George Sluppick, bassist Mark Dutton, and Black Crowes' keyboard player Adam MacDougall. The group's studio debut, Big Moon Ritual, arrived in June the following year, with its sequel, The Magic Door, appearing just three months later.
The single "Older Guys" was released at the end of 2012, followed by a live album entitled Betty's S.F. Blends, Vol. 1 a year later. In February of 2014, the CRB dropped the preview track "Shore Power" as a teaser for its next studio full-length Phosphorescent Harvest, which was released in April.
WEBSITE
TO THE TOP
''BETTY'S S.F. BLENDS VOLUME ONE, DISC TWO''
NOVEMBER 24 2013
137:34
DISC ONE (68:15)
1 Crash On the Levee (Bob Dylan) 06:04
2 Star or Stone (Chris Robinson) 10:09
3 Do Right Woman (Dan Penn, Lincoln Wayne Moman) 04:40
4 Badlands Here We Come (Chris Robinson, Neal Casal) 05:55
5 Tornado (Chris Robinson) 05:10
6 Try Rock & Roll (Dave Bartholomew, Pearl King) 04:37
7 Jump the Turnstile (Chris Robinson) 06:00
8 Someday Past the Sunset (Chris Robinson) 07:00
9 Barefoot By the Cherry Tree (Chris Robinson) 06:52
10 Poor Elijah; R. Johnson (Bonnie Bramlett, Delaney Bramlett, Jim Ford) 11:43
DISC TWO (69:19)
1 Reflections On a Broken Mirror (Chris Robinson) 07:23
2 100 Days of Rain (Chris Robinson, Neal Casal) 08:04
3 Saturday Night in S.F. (Tony Joe White) 03:49
4 Girl On the Mountain (Chris Robinson) 11:44
5 Roll Old Jeremiah (Chris Robinson) 09:13
6 Tulsa Yesterday (Chris Robinson, Neal Casal) 11:01
7 Meanwhile in the Gods (Chris Robinson, Neal Casal) 05:33
8 Train Robbers (Chris Robinson) 07:41
9 Hello L.A. Bye Bye Birmingham (Delaney Bramlett, Mac Davis) 04:47
Mark Dutton - Bass Guitar, Backing Vocals
George Sluppick - Drums
Adam MacDougall - Keyboards, Backing Vocals
Neal Casal - Lead Guitar, Backing Vocals
Chris Robinson - Lead Vocals, Guitar
REVIEW
By Richard B. Simon (Relix)
It’s a shame that the vinyl-only Betty’s S.F. Blends, Volume One is limited to 2,000 copies because it’s damn good. The quadruple-LP, live set is culled from a five-night run in 2012, recorded by Grateful Dead engineer Betty Cantor-Jackson. (Her recordings of all five shows are downloadable.) It captures the Chris Robinson Brotherhood peaking, in their third year, as a satisfying hybrid of Bakersfield country and laid-back California psychedelia. Neal Casal’s lead guitar is often reminiscent of Jerry Garcia’s—his tone and melodic choices are familiar, his notes are shaped similarly. Adam MacDougall’s keys, purposefully limited to the weirdo tones of the Fender Rhodes, the Moog and the clavinet, give this band and these tunes a signature sound, akin to the Burrito Brothers’ B-bent Telecaster foghorn and pedal steel. Check out Robinson’s guitar in the right channel—he’s doing interesting stuff here. Among many standouts: live versions of the slack psychedelic anthem “Tulsa Yesterday” and “Reflections on a Broken Mirror.” “Tornado,” a Black Crowes tune, sounds like a long-lost Garcia Band classic. “Meanwhile in the Gods” has a big football stadium beat and riff and a super-hooky synth line. There are some other guit-rockin’ smokers here, too. (Note Robinson’s vocal phrasing on “Saturday Night in S.F.”) But “Train Robbers” is the crystalline entity. Muddy Dutton’s dirigible-like bassline and George Sluppick’s whip-tight snare rolls cast the tune as a theatrical number, and Robinson’s supernaturally excellent singing is laid bare, as a bandit pondering one last heist. This, friends, is music.
BIOGRAPHY (CHRIS ROBINSON BROTHERHOOD)/AMG
by Bradley Torreano
Founded in 2011 by Chris Robinson, the Black Crowes frontman, the Chris Robinson Brotherhood came together around guitarist Neal Casal, drummer George Sluppick, bassist Mark Dutton, and Black Crowes keyboard player Adam MacDougall. The group's studio debut, Big Moon Ritual, arrived in June the following year, with its sequel, The Magic Door, appearing just three months later. The single "Older Guys" was released at the end of 2012, followed by a live album entitled Betty's S.F. Blends, Vol. 1 a year later. In February of 2014, the CRB dropped the preview track "Shore Power" as a teaser for its next studio full-length Phosphorescent Harvest, which was released in April.
BIOGRAPHY (CHRIS ROBINSON)/AMG
by Bradley Torreano
Although his band may have slowly disappeared from the mainstream after making a grand splash, Chris Robinson and the Black Crowes cultivated a dedicated audience that ensured they would go down as one of the most respected and well-liked roots rockers of the '90s. By going back to a classic sound in the mold of Humble Pie and the Faces, the Black Crowes were one of the few truly popular bands to continue making rock music that wasn't rooted in a particular decade during the era of hair metal and (later) grunge. Furthermore, Robinson's celebrity status afforded him a platform to support political causes and fiercely champion bands like the Jayhawks before the mainstream took notice of their efforts.
Before all of that, he was simply Christopher Mark Robinson, born to an Atlanta musician in 1966. Along with his brother Rich, he was exposed to a variety of musical genres throughout his youth, eventually discovering a love for most kinds of rock. Absorbing tremendous amounts of everything from Big Star to Led Zeppelin, he eventually teamed with Rich to start a band in the early '80s. Going under the name Mr. Crowe's Garden, the group started in 1984 and performed a jangly kind of college rock that wasn't getting them noticed. A terribly unstable lineup haunted the group for several years, but when representatives from American Records spotted the group performing in a club, they were enamored with Robinson's on-stage presence and soulful voice. Signing the band in 1989, a hilarious debate over a name change (label owner Rick Rubin wanted to rechristen the group "the Kobb Kounty Krows") eventually led to the simplified Black Crowes moniker.
Working with producer George Drakoulias, the band learned to shape their sound into a blues-based assault that brought to mind the loose, shambling glory of Exile on Main St.-era Stones. Debuting in 1990, the band's Shake Your Money Maker was an enormous success and led to several hit singles. Launched into the mainstream, the band immediately took issue with several of the bands it toured with over corporate sponsorship, and became political spokespeople as well as a solid live unit.
Their constant touring also helped the band as their albums began to lose steam commercially. But fans were impressed by their shows and they drew bigger and bigger crowds as the Crowes remained on the road for almost all the time between their debut and 2001. In that time they had toured with Jimmy Page and helped usher in the new generation of touring-based rock acts that included other live attractions like Phish and Widespread Panic. But burnout and a career filled with internal struggles put the band on hold, and Robinson started working on more intimate material to combat boredom.
By 2002, he had hooked up with producer/guitarist Paul Stacey and was hammering out his solo debut in the studio. Titled New Earth Mud, the album was a step toward Robinson's poppier side, which was often overshadowed by the technical prowess of his bandmates. Freed from the constraints of the band, Robinson still remained relatively close to the Southern rock sound he was known for. The darker-tinged This Magnificent Distance and the live show Brothers of a Feather featuring his brother Rich Robinson, followed in 2004 and 2007, respectively. In 2011, Robinson formed a new project called the Chris Robinson Brotherhood with guitarist Neal Casal, drummer George Sluppick, bassist Mark Dutton, and Black Crowes' keyboard player Adam MacDougall. The group's studio debut, Big Moon Ritual, arrived in June the following year, with its sequel, The Magic Door, appearing just three months later.
The single "Older Guys" was released at the end of 2012, followed by a live album entitled Betty's S.F. Blends, Vol. 1 a year later. In February of 2014, the CRB dropped the preview track "Shore Power" as a teaser for its next studio full-length Phosphorescent Harvest, which was released in April.
WEBSITE
TO THE TOP
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