Perhaps it's unfair -- or at least slightly reductive -- to compare
the Chris Robinson Brotherhood to the work of
Rich Robinson, the estranged brother of the band's leader, but listening to their 2016 albums side by side illustrates the divide between the co-leaders of
the Black Crowes.
Flux, the fourth album by
Rich, doubles down on the earthy Southern sounds that always rooted
the Crowes, but
Anyway You Love, We Know How You Feel, the fourth LP by
the CRB, is so light it floats away on its own haze. Apart from the knowing "Leave My Guitar Alone," the rhythms aren't blues-boogie, they're nimble funk-rock colored by a psychedelic sensibility that isn't about chops but rather endless expansion. It's jam music where the playing isn't the point: it's the vibe and, sometimes, the song.
Robinson certainly luxuriates in his winding words, lyrics that conjure fleeting indelible moments, but what impresses is the structure -- he doesn't write hooks, he writes melodies, where the verses slide into the chorus then glide into a bridge -- and how the band underpins these tunes with interplay that feels loose yet tight: the performances often stretch for longer than six minutes but
the CRB aren't aimless, they're simply riding their groove. Such accents as early-'70s analog synths and a couple of pastoral acoustic numbers may give
Anyway You Love, We Know How You Feel a throwback feel but
the Chris Robinson Brotherhood aren't living in the past, they're pushing jam band tradition forward by keeping their expansion focused on funk. [An LP version was also released.] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine