Rhythmunderground is the sort of album that would scare a lot of marketing people to death -- at least at major labels in the United States. From a marketing standpoint, the thing that would make this CD such a challenge is the fact that
Ric Sandler is so eclectic and far-reaching. Essentially,
Rhythmunderground is a pop/rock album, but it's a pop/rock album that draws on a wide variety of influences -- everything from soul and disco on the title track to reggae on "Big Boy" and Celtic music on "Rubies."
Sandler (who produced and arranged the album in addition to writing or co-writing all of the material) brings a strong zydeco influence to "Later," while "Back2tharhythm" finds the singer/songwriter incorporating hip-hop as well as funk and dancehall. And through it all, the New Jersey resident doesn't sound confused, unfocused, or disoriented -- he comes across as a pop/rocker who knows exactly what he is doing and just happens to like many different types of music. From a creative standpoint, that is admirable. But from a marketing person's standpoint -- an American marketing person, anyway --
Sandler's eclectic outlook could be intimidating. One can only imagine the sort of reaction that a major-label marketing person would have if he/she had to push
Rhythmunderground. The reaction would probably be as follows: "How in the world am I supposed to market this album?
Sandler has a lot of talent, but he's too diverse for his own good." Of course,
Sandler obviously knew how major-label marketing people would respond to
Rhythmunderground, which is why he put the CD out on his own Rich Id label. It is also obvious that
Sandler recorded exactly the type of album he wanted to record, and one hopes that
Rhythmunderground will receive the attention that it deserves. ~ Alex Henderson