Julian Cope presents Head Heritage

Chris Robinson Brotherhood - Big Moon Ritual
Speaking of budget I am not sure if the pricing of this (under a fiver) is a mistake or a piece of marketing. Either way this is the first studio recording from CR's new country-psych-soul-ish combo. The influence of CR's many guest appearances with Phil Lesh is easy to spot. The songs are long and never really get to a point but it is much better than the live recordings that have filtered out over the last year might have suggested. The individual band members don't really have an identity yet (at least not on record) and it is kind of hard to listen to this without thinking "what would Rich be playing right now?" but there is a lot here for for lovers of "American Beauty" / "Workingman's Dead" / "Live In Europe" era GD or the last Robert Plant band and album. If your tastes swing that way or if you liked either the Crowes unplugged best of record from last year or the one recorded at Levon Helm's the year before then there are very many worse ways of spending a £4.49. All it lacks is the Crowes two-pronged guitar lift-off and a memorable chorus or two.