One of my favorite albums in 2003 was Unclassified by Robert Randolph. It's sort of gospelly-bluesy, a bit of a throwback to early 70s Stones-esque Derek and the Dominos-esque music with a few big Stevie Wonder overtones.

Yet...I haven't seen this album on a single year end best-of list, and it's not even *on* metacritic. I did see a 4 1/2-star review of it on allmusic, but basically the only way I even know they exist is that they opened for Clapton.

Has anyone else heard this album/does anyone else know *why* this album seems overlooked?

Don't start new threads until you're well established around here. We've been hit by a rash of spammers in that past month.

Nothing against trying to turn people on to stuff, but it looks awful suspicious, and we're very weary.

EDIT: I see you've been posting elsewhere, which is a good sign. But still, we watch for people who come on here just to plug something and we hope you take that into consideration.

Ahh...well, I see how you could get that, but I was just trying to hear other opinions about an album that I like and discern why this album didn't get any critical attention.

Maybe I'm just so enthused at the rare find of a message board where everybody knows what the heck they're talking about and nobody uses aolese that I'm jumping the gun a little as far as starting threads.

It's good of you to be so understanding of Sweetie's concerns, Bob. Thanks for your enthusiasm for the forums. I've enjoyed reading your posts so far today and look forward to hearing more from you in the future.

A friend of mine suggested Robert Randolph to me last year. I checked out Live at Wetlands and Unclassified and liked both of them, but frankly I didn't really come to appreciate him until I saw a performance on television (though I'm sorry to say I cannot recall which program).

As for why Randolph is so overlooked, my kneejerk reaction is to suggest that instrumental virtuosos aren't really in vogue right now. He's also closely identified with Jam Bands, which I think carries something of a stigma in both the traditional and emerging online music press.

Randoph was in Bloomington this week, but I'm sorry to say I skipped the show. He played a club that doesn't attract a crowd that much into the music and who needs that?

Now Playing: "Leaders" Archer Prewitt Wilderness (Thrill Jockey)

Robert Randolph is awesome. He's coming to my school next month to play. If you're in New Hampshire/Vermont/Massachussets, you should take advantage of this. It's at Dartmouth College, featuring Robert Randolph and Talib Kweli

http://www.dartmouth.edu/~sao/prgboard/events.html