Customer Reviews

Robbin the Hood

5 star:		(82)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

i must say, this album is by far the most hotly debated sublime album out of any of them, so i will say this before going on...if you are a fan of the sublime songs you hear on the radio, and think the rest of their music is a bit off the wall, then don't even bother looking into this album, you will be sorely disappointed by the lack of commercialism on this recording. even their debut album '40 oz. to freedom' sounds like a sellout disc when compared to this one. that being said, what you will find on this album is the most intensely personal recording that bradley and the boys put together. most of it was recorded in various living rooms around the long beach/south l.a. area, and you will notice a rather poor sound quality on many of the tracks, but after noticing this, and listening to them a few times, you realize how little the sound quality really matters. in fact, there are only a few songs that could be considered singles, such as 's.t.p.' (which stands for secret tweeker pad), 'greatest hits', where bradley pays homage to bert susanka and his punk outfit the ziggens, and 'saw red', a punk/ska track featuring gwen stefani from the band no doubt. a few of the songs are rough sketches of songs that would later be included on the self-titled album. 'lincoln highway dub' is a jazz inspired insturmental that was later completed and retitled 'santeria', and 'steady b loop dub' is another insturmental that was eventually reworked and went on to become 'garden grove'. (if you listen to the post-mortem album 'second hand smoke', you can hear a demo of what was to be the original 'garden grove' entitled 'garbage grove', but the boys wanted to wait for a chance to record it professionally, so it was stripped down to an insturmental for this release) the remainder of the disc is a collection extremely experimental fusion tracks, as well as several acoustic songs in which bradley lays down his heart and soul. 'pool shark', which has both an acoustic and fleshed out punk version, documents the conflict that bradley endured while fighting his losing battle with heroin addiction. most of the other songs are just fun to sing along with, like 'boss d.j.', 'mary', and the outstanding blues inspired track 'freeway time in l.a. county jail'. there are a few interludes which are provided by some weirdo named raliegh theodore sakers, and are extremely funny to hear, especially part 2, which is very obscene and has made me laugh out loud several times. everything being told, 'robbin the hood' is my favorite sublime disc, although it wasn't always my favorite one, it has certainly grown on me and i enjoy listening to it more and more every time i hear it. if you want to know the whole story of sublime, you can't miss this one. if you are looking for a much more reggae influenced sound, try '40 oz. to freedom', and if you want the somewhat homoginized, radio-friendly sound, go for the self-titled album instead.

I had the good fortune of being turned on to Sublime early on watching surf videos and listening to Kroq, and had the better fortune of checking them out live in Vta before Brad's untimely death. As great as their other albums are, this is the album that truly shows how diverse and talented this group was. They do an amazing dub cover of Tosh's Stepping Razor, a pop/punk/ska "Saw Red" featuring a young Gwen Stefani (when ND was actually a ska group), a hardcore punk version of "Pool Shark" and a dark, soulful acoustic version of the same song, an instrumental/dub of "Santaria" (which I like better than the vocal version), and a bunch of other great songs. In all, this is the only album to exhibit the full potential of the group, and is the closest thing to the mix of songs that you would have seen at a live Sublime show. Perhaps not the best album for the casual listener, but for those wanting a greater appreciation of what Sublime was about, I'd suggest you start here.

It is the exact same cd as the regular one exept it isnt all black on the front of the cd. It has Sublime written in white. And it has The origonal version of Date Rape at the end of the cd. Its just played at a little slower tempo

How could anyone that calls themself a Sublime fan rate this CD anything less than 5 stars or call it anything worse than their second best album (after 40 oz)?

I'll be honest, I did get into Sublime in '96 with the release of their S/T album and I thought it was a great album back then. After a few listens to 40 oz though, I realized it was a much better CD. People told me that Robbin the Hood was a bad album and that I should stay away from it, so I decided not to buy it. Finally I decided to get this album and listen for myself to see how good it was, and I'm damn glad I did! This CD is now my favorite Sublime CD, with 40 oz as a close second.

Unless you're 15 or something and just getting into Sublime, I might understand why you dont like this CD, because your used to all the crap that's on the radio these days and Sublime's S/T album is their most mainstream one. Get 40 oz though, and once you like that more than the S/T, get this and give it a few spins and you'll see what I mean.

Sublime has proven to their fans that they con rock with 40 oz. and the self titled album, but this on is my personal favorite for the variety. This album has Sublime scratching turntables on hip hop songs, brad alone with his acoustic on songs like boss d.j. and the county jail song(the only blues song on this CD), playing organs for marley-like reggae tunes, playing different versions of their radio hits, and duetting with every one fron too short to gwen stefani. Although it takes a while to get into, this is a great album.

this album may not be for everyone, but that doesnt meant it isn't good. repeat listens are necessary to fully appreciate the beauty of this album. for years i couldn't get into this album but eventually it clicked with me and my friends. "pool shark" is heartbreaking and beautiful, one of sublime's best acoustic songs. "saw red" is an upbeat punk-ska number that features gwen from no-doubt in their pre-"spiderwebs" days. there are a number of very good acoustic songs and some excellent dubs--check out "work that we do." "lincoln highway" is an instrumental dub of "santeria" and it is mesmerizing. it may take patience, but this has become by far my favorite sublime cd. as bradley sings on "boss dj": "it's so nice, i wanna hear the same song twice..."

It's easy to see why this album is either really well liked by fans or completely passed over by fans. It contains, with few exceptions, songs that dont quite fit into what most people see as the sublime mold. i think this album just shows how genius brad actually was in terms of both songwriting and technicality. he was able to put this whole album together on a 4 track, which is insane how much depth there are to these songs. my advice is just dont reject this CD because it doesnt have songs like 40 oz to freedom or santareia, but listen to it becuase of those reasons. songs like Steppin' razor or Waiting for Bud or Cisco Kid are perfect examples of how wide brad's musical ability stretched. give this album another open-minded listen and see if you dont chagen your mind

as a sublime fan, i was happily surprised by this album. it is a little something different and has a bit of everything on it from awesome acoustic songs to clips of the guys talking to some funky mixes. if you're a sublime lover, or just looking for something new to listen to, this is a great album to buy.

Reviews of Sublime albums often seem to find Robbin the Hood to be more of a throwaway album of sorts, or certainly argue that it exists on a much lower plane than the critically acclaimed favorite A 40 oz to Freedom. Initially, I agreed completely with these sentiments. Robbin the Hood is a very raw album which was (if I'm not mistaken) recorded mostly on a 4 track in Bradley's living room. Many songs are simplistic acoustic guitar numbers, or sample ridden nonsensical ramblings. However, the fact that this album contains 21 or so songs means that it is acceptable for a couple here or there to be less than phenomenal. For true reggae fans, this album represents a beautiful synthesis of the old samples and covers we know and love (like Stepping Razor), and Sublime's trademark style. Even better, in my opinion, are the aforementioned simplistic songs like Mary and Boss DJ which are surprisingly beautiful in their simplicity. This album also features the song Greatest Hits which I think may be (ironically)Sublime's greatest hit. However, the thing that I really seals this opinion for me is the song pool shark, a song about heroin addiction which has taken on new meaning in the wake of Bradley's untimely death. For those of you that don't have this album, you must buy it. For those that do have it, listen to it again in a new light. This album is fantastic.

if there is a song I hear on the radio by a band that I like, I usually go out and buy their CD. then I go and buy all the stuff that came before it, as a way to appreciate the band back before they were studio produced. sublime is no different. I started with self-titled and worked my way backwards, and then I found robbin' the hood. this album is real. likewise, you'd have to be a real fan of sublime to like it because poseurs would get turned off by it's raw sound. I think it's brilliant. the lack of studio makes it what it is. a testimonial to D.I.Y.