As on 1994's Music for the Native Americans, Contact from the Underworld of Redboy finds former Band leader Robbie Robertson incorporating Native American musical textures into ultramodern soundscapes. Once again, Robertson fares best when he turns the microphone over to his guests. Verdell Primeaux and Johnny Mike's "Peyote Healing" is almost otherworldly in its beauty, and political prisoner Leonard Peltier's guest rap on "Sacrifice" lends the record some legitimate political weight. In comparison, Robertson's mannered, overly processed vocals make songs like "In the Blood" sound like Don Henley attempting a Native American version of Paul Simon's album Graceland; one hopes that this wasn't exactly what he was trying for. --Dan Epstein
