Needless to say, it's been an up and down year for fans of southern rockers The Black Crowes. The downs came early, with the news that drummer Steve Gorman, long considered the "3rd Robinson brother," was leaving the band,
which was quickly followed by news of the band going on hiatus, which to many came to mean that the band was breaking up.

The ups would come later in the year. The band released a 2 CD live set in August, captured during the final two shows they played last year in Boston. It was a set of hits, album tracks, and the sparkling, previously unreleased
Title Song. While that set was just hitting store shelves, Crowes vocalist Chris Robinson was doing his own thing: touring behind his new solo project.

Two months later, after recording sessions in Paris the previous spring, the solo debut of Chris Robinson, titled New Earth Mud, hit store shelves with extremely little fanfare. Of course, these days Robinson is better known as "Mr. Kate Hudson," than he is as a musician. While the Crowes had sold millions of records, and remained a popular live drawing card, their album sales had plummeted in recent years, down to 181,000 or so for 2001's Lions.

These days, Robinson is very much into being independent. In recent interviews, he's criticized other members of his primary band for pushing to have certain singles included on Lions. So perhaps it shouldn't be much of a surprise that he himself does not have much in the line of "radio friendly" songs on his disc.

That is not to say that the music on New Earth Mud isn't of good quality. For the most part it is. All but gone is Robinson's swaggering vocal delivery and the layers of guitars. Instead, he's reinvented himself as a singer/songwriter who depends more on his actual voice than his vocal delivery. There are spots it works, and spots it doesn't.

I personally feel that the opening track, Safe in the Arms of Love, is the best track on the album. Not because it's the most "Crowes-like" song on the record, but because it's just a great song. I like the guitar interplay that takes place throughout the song, and Robinson sounds absolutely awesome on the chorus ("And so it goes, the only trouble is we never know, still looking for a reason but I'm not quite sure, That I'll like the answer, but as long as we're together, we're safe in the arms of love"). It's sweet without being irritating, and there's an awful lot of Elton John vocal inflection in Robinson's voice. Now that I think about it, I'd just about kill to hear Elton John sing this song, but I digress. If Robinson wanted a radio hit (which it sounds like he doesn't unless it's strictly on his own ridiculous terms), this would be the best chance.

Robinson gets some writing help throughout the course of the record. Many times his writing partner is Paul Stacey, who also helped produce the record and played many of the instruments on it. However, there are two tracks here written with Crowes keyboard man "Crazy" Eddie Harsch, former Crowes guitarist Marc Ford, and even Stone Temple Pilots guitarist Dean DeLeo.

The collaborations with DeLeo and Ford are by far the most interesting (although it should be noted that neither of them play on the album, they are just co-writers with Robinson). The DeLeo track, Better Than the Sun is a neo-psychedelic number that fits Robinson to a "T." It will make you nod your head right along, and I'm sure there will be quite a few puffs of smoke going up into the air at Robinson's shows as this one starts.

The Ford song (Sunday Sound) meanwhile, is a nice, strumming bit of countryish pop that recalls the Crowes 1997 place in terms of their development of the band. I like the guitar on it especially, although methinks that if Ford was actually laying down these licks it would sound even better. But Stacey makes up for it with a nice, if all too short, solo.

Perhaps most disappointing is that Robinson's songs with Harsch fail to take off. While both Silver Car and Kids That Ain't Got None are ok songs, they do tend to drag in spots, and both of them suffer from underwhelming lyrics. Talk about words that rhyme being thrown together just for that very reason, my god!

And that, ultimately, is one of the biggest problems with the album is the inconsistency of it. On a song such as Fables, which is one of the stronger lyrical pieces on the record, you're bored to death by the arrangement. This of course is just the opposite of the two songs mentioned above, both of which have nice arrangements and awful lyrics.

And if Robinson felt that including the awful, wretched, not enough words to describe how bad it is Katie Dear was a good decision, then he needs his brother Rich around to kick his a*s more than even I thought. And speaking of Rich, there is one song that recalls some of the worst material on Lions. Ride is almost as bad as Ozone Mama was. It has that same kind of trippy, ridiculous feel to it and it just GRATES on me.

If Robinson is truly hoping to for all intents and purposes bury his past with the Crowes as just scratching the surface of his talents (as he said in a recent interview), then he needs a much more consistent effort. Personally, I'd like to see him collaborate more with Ford, and let Ford play on that material. A Robinson/Ford combination would almost make up for all of Chris' dumb business decisions. But don't you know? Yoko said he could be a solo superstar. And as we all know, Katie Dear knows best. I give this a very hesitant 3 star rating and a recommendation for hardcore Crowes fans.

The Good: Safe in the Arms of Love, Sunday Sound, Better Than the Sun, Could You Really Love Me, Untangle My Mind

The Bad: Barefoot by the Cherry Tree, She's On Her Way

The Ugly: Katie Dear, Ride

The Rest: Silver Car, Kids That Ain't Got None, Fables


Recommended: Yes