Chris Robinson - New Earth Mud
Label: Redline Entertainment
Rating: 
 

Today's rock and roll lesson: �tis better to have loved and lost and written a record about it than to have just loved and written a record about it. Such is the pitfall into which Black Crowes frontman Chris Robinson's debut solo album falls. The voice of the self-proclaimed "most rock �n' roll rock �n' roll band in the world" has penned an album full of soul-sopped ballads, stopping only once to savor the funk of the black music he has made his living imitating.

In lay terms, the guy who's filled our radios with come-hither-and-do-me anthems like "Hard to Handle" and "Blackberry" has turned into a pussy. Marriage to Almost Famous girl Kate Hudson may have done his soul good, but not his soul singing. Half the song titles on New Earth Mud either contain love, reference love, or just flat our mention that he's doing Kate Hudson, e.g. "Safe in the Arms of Love," "Could You Really Love Me?" and "Katie Dear."

"Safe in the Arms," the album's lead track, introduces the slow jam mood that permeates the rest of the album, with Robinson building upon the soul-bordering-on-gospel mood he introduced on the last Crowes' album's "Soul Singing." On "Kids That Ain't Got None," the emphasized piano finds Robinson searching for his inner Elton, while "Untangle My Mind," much like "Katie Dear," attempts to lullaby the listener into a coma.

If there's one ray of untainted rock sunshine on this album, it's "Ride," a funk-laden Sly and the Family-esque number that lifts the back half of the album out of the doldrums, even if it's just for a few minutes. However, one song cannot excuse an entire album.

VERDICT: Part of what made the Crowes great is the back and forth between the Robinson brothers, both offstage and in the interplay between Chris' vocals and Rich's guitar. Having no other egos to clash with should allow Chris to run wild, but instead he runs to the arms of his wife. If this album teaches the listener anything, it's to run out and buy Beck's Sea Change, and learn why albums about heartbreak will always appeal to critics and rock fans more than songs about love. That's why God made Michael Bolton.