Rich Robinson - Paper

In the rock world, family acts are usually remembered more for family feuds than family function. The Black Crowes were no exception to this, often making headlines out of the bickering between founding brothers Chris (vocals) and Rich Robinson (guitar). While most still can’t tell the Gallaghers apart, Chris and Rich’s images were polar opposite – Chris: outspoken and rowdy, Rich: quiet and cool. Despite this contrast in personality, both have stayed pretty close to the Crowes' game plan in their solo releases. Paper could stylistically function as a missing Black Crowes record with its earthy southern charms, but to judge it as such is to cheat brother Rich out of the credit he deserves for delivering a very well-written album. His vocals are very much those of a guitarist gone solo. You can sense a certain lack of confidence, but this is compensated for by vocal layerings and a relatively low placement in the mix (he’s a guitarist producing his own album, figure it out). This serves the content well, as he has always been better at talking with his fingers than lips, and his guitar work here is outstanding. He covers plenty of ground, ranging from simple folk sing-alongs (“When You Will”, “Oh No”), old school country (“Forgiven Song”) complete with pedal steel and fiddle, to near epic-scale prog (“Places”). This helps keep things interesting along the way, but at 14 tracks he would have been wise to tighten things up and trim a little of the gristle. Rich avoids a lot of the pitfalls to which many guitarists-gone-solo fall prey by sticking with what he does best. This isn’t a guy trying to prove his arty-ness by out-weirding himself while alone in the spotlight. In the end, Paper should strike you as a very well conceived album. Any Black Crowes fan (or any fan of southern rock for that matter) should give this equal time with his brother’s solo work. [www.richrobinson.net]