This Magnificent Distance

Chris Robinson is an infuriating guy. Since his Black Crowes days, he's occasionally made music that was soulful and inspired. Too often, though, he's seemed content with mediocrity. So it goes with his second solo album. The potent opener, "40 Days," charges from the gate behind a hard-driving guitar and an uneasy wash of organ, but from there the album takes a long, slow boat to nowhere all that interesting. The hippie-dippy "Girl on the Mountain" is a blues trifle that never gets out of park; too many other tunes adhere to predictable classic rock formulas. Robinson can still sing his ass off, though. His bluesy snarl saves the familiar-sounding soul ballad "Train Robbers" and injects some blood into "When the Cold Wind Blows at the Dark Edge of Night," a tune which still proves most memorable for jamming more clichés into its title than previously thought possible. Stoners will obviously find untold stores of genius in the meandering guitar solos and monotonous percussion, but unaltered minds should approach This Magnificent Distance with caution.