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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
not for fans with no patience, August 17, 2004
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.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Pure Sublime - Not over-produced, February 5, 2006
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.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sublime's definitive CD! Very underrated!, June 1, 2004
A Kid's Review
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.
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