Chris Robinson Brotherhood - The Magic Door (07/08/2013)
Listening to The Magic Door is a strange experience. It’s almost like a mash up between Led Zeppelin, Johnny Cash and Marvin Gaye.
Chris Robinson Brotherhood should pride themselves on being totally unique in modern music and their ability to conjure quite real feelings of nostalgia for the golden days of music.
However, listening to the hour-long album of which a single track can go for a grand total of 14 minutes is somewhat tedious. The mixture of classical rock, country, blues and pop seems rather misplaced and instead of seeing yourself dancing around your bedroom or rocking out at your local music hall, you get the feeling your at a daggy hoedown your parents dragged you to.
It’s moments like ‘Someday Past the Sunset’ that are The Magic Door’s saving graces. You get a blues-house blend, which actually feels real and special. If the album skewed in this direction more often it’d be more of a pleasure to listen to.
In fact one of the most enjoyable tracks on the album is a groovy cover of Elvis Presley’s ‘Blue Suede Shoes’, which is a track that highlights the band’s ability to bare proper creativity.
Throughout the album there are lots of musical lines that vary across many musical instruments and prove that Chris Robinson Brotherhood can hold their own against even the most talented of bands.
Most importantly though, they have the rare ability to transfer proper emotion into their tracks. You can respect their musical styling but it’s difficult to look past the fact that one day you’d be in a car on the way to a family gathering and Chris Robinson Brotherhood would begin on the radio to which a parent beside you would say “I remember them” and you would groan as the song played on and on.
If anything The Magic Door is a little bit of a relic. It feels like it belongs in an attic rather than your CD rack for so, so many obvious and drawn out reasons.
Jack White
Chris Robinson Brotherhood should pride themselves on being totally unique in modern music and their ability to conjure quite real feelings of nostalgia for the golden days of music.
However, listening to the hour-long album of which a single track can go for a grand total of 14 minutes is somewhat tedious. The mixture of classical rock, country, blues and pop seems rather misplaced and instead of seeing yourself dancing around your bedroom or rocking out at your local music hall, you get the feeling your at a daggy hoedown your parents dragged you to.
It’s moments like ‘Someday Past the Sunset’ that are The Magic Door’s saving graces. You get a blues-house blend, which actually feels real and special. If the album skewed in this direction more often it’d be more of a pleasure to listen to.
In fact one of the most enjoyable tracks on the album is a groovy cover of Elvis Presley’s ‘Blue Suede Shoes’, which is a track that highlights the band’s ability to bare proper creativity.
Throughout the album there are lots of musical lines that vary across many musical instruments and prove that Chris Robinson Brotherhood can hold their own against even the most talented of bands.
Most importantly though, they have the rare ability to transfer proper emotion into their tracks. You can respect their musical styling but it’s difficult to look past the fact that one day you’d be in a car on the way to a family gathering and Chris Robinson Brotherhood would begin on the radio to which a parent beside you would say “I remember them” and you would groan as the song played on and on.
If anything The Magic Door is a little bit of a relic. It feels like it belongs in an attic rather than your CD rack for so, so many obvious and drawn out reasons.
Jack White