Anyway You Love, We Know How You Feel

Rating

Album: Anyway You Love, We Know How You Feel
#	Song Title		Time
1)	Narcissus Soaking Wet	More Info...
2)	Forever As the Moon	More Info...
3)	Ain't It Hard But Fair	More Info...
4)	Give Us Back Our Eleven Days	More Info...
5)	Some Gardens Green	More Info...
6)	Leave My Guitar Alone	More Info...
7)	Oak Apple Day	More Info...
8)	California Hymn	More Info...
2)	Forever As the Moon	More Info...
3)	Ain't It Hard But Fair	More Info...
4)	Give Us Back Eleven Days	More Info...
5)	Some Gardens Green	More Info...
6)	Leave My Guitar Alone	More Info...
7)	Oak Apple Day	More Info...
8)	California Hymn	More Info...

Album: Anyway You Love, We Know How You Feel
#	Song Title		Time
1)	Narcissus Soaking Wet	More Info...
2)	Forever As the Moon	More Info...
3)	Ain't It Hard But Fair	More Info...
4)	Give Us Back Our Eleven Days	More Info...
5)	Some Gardens Green	More Info...
6)	Leave My Guitar Alone	More Info...
7)	Oak Apple Day	More Info...
8)	California Hymn	More Info...
2)	Forever As the Moon	More Info...
3)	Ain't It Hard But Fair	More Info...
4)	Give Us Back Eleven Days	More Info...
5)	Some Gardens Green	More Info...
6)	Leave My Guitar Alone	More Info...
7)	Oak Apple Day	More Info...
8)	California Hymn	More Info...

Performer Notes

Personnel: Chris Robinson (vocals, guitar, harp); Neal Casal (vocals, guitar); Adam MacDougall (vocals, keyboards); Meg Baird (vocals); Barry Sless (pedal steel guitar); Tony Leone (mandolin, drums, percussion).
Audio Mixer: J.P. Hesser.
Recording information: The Brotherhood Arts Labs, California.
Illustrator: Alan Forbes.
Photographer: Neal Casal.
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. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Professional Reviews

Rolling Stone - 3 stars out of 5 -- "[The album] morphs between latter-day Grateful Dead and P-Funk, longer on vibes than songs but confirming their spot on the jam-band top tier. It's good-time music on an end-times mission..."

Uncut (magazine) - "[T]heir music is studious and specific, full of vivid details and inventive musical flourishes that demonstrate a deep knowledge of rock music and little reverence for the boundaries between genres."