A year ago it was announced that the Black Crowes, one of America’s greatest rock’n’roll bands, had permanently split. Meanwhile, the brothers who formed and led the band – singer Chris Robinson and guitarist Rich – continue to make fine music of their own.
Rich’s album Flux arrives while he’s playing with Bad Company as stand-in for the absent Mick Ralphs, and a month ahead of the new one from The Chris Robinson Brotherhood. As such, comparisons are inevitable. But while Rich describes Flux as “organically created”, with songs coming “out of nowhere”, his style is more straight-ahead than his brother’s cosmic rock voyaging.
In these 13 songs are echoes of old blues and Southern rock, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Crosby, Stills & Nash, and, of course, the Crowes. There’s a trippy vibe to Astral, and a trace of Hendrix in the haunted blues of Which Way Your Wind Blows. Even if the Crowes are finished, Rich Robinson is still growing.
