Home > Cleveland Music > CD Review > G. Love & Special Sauce, 'Superhero Brother'

Backstory: When G. Love and Special Sauce dropped their blues-and-hip-hop-influenced first album in 1994, you'd have been hard-pressed to find anyone who thought they'd still have a career a decade and a half later. Here they are, though, on album number ten, still finding inspiration in harmonica solos and laid-back lyrics.

Why you should care: G. Love can take credit for discovering Jack Johnson: the superstar slacker guested on G. Love's “Philadelphonic” before going on to fame, fortune and running his own label (which G. Love is now signed to). If you've been grooving to Johnson's reggae-tinged acoustic rock and are looking to branch out, just a bit, now may be your chance.

Verdict: G. Love has always been frustratingly inconsistent, and “Superhero Brother” is no exception. The opening tracks' one-two punch of the almost Stonesy “Communication” and the noodly jaunt “City Livin’” give hope that maybe the whole album will be on par with the band's mid-'90s glory days, until “Wiggle Worm” (with its clichéd “Say peace in the Middle East/Peace in the Middle East” call-and-response) brings that hope to a complete halt. The album never recovers, but G. Love's career probably won't suffer, thanks mostly to the future stoner anthem, “Who's Got the Weed.”

X-Factor: In addition to taking killer bong rips, G. Love also makes killer duck: he's slated to be featured in an upcoming issue of Bon Appetit.

Add a comment