Raphael Saadiq has never really been of his own time. Even as a member of Tony! Toni! Toné! Saadiq helped establish 90s R&B with 70s funk and soul. So it makes sense that Saadiq's fourth solo album Stone Rollin' is where he belongs-somewhere in 50s rock n' roll and late 60s soul. On this musical journey, Saadiq takes to the influences of Little Walter, Ray Charles, Howlin' Wolf, and as the album title invokes, the Rolling Stones. The lead single, "Radio", is a fun rock n' roll romp about a wild girl-or this wild music. True rock n' roll abounds on "Day Dreams" about going broke for love. The title track, "Stone Rollin'", evokes the spirit of Little Walter as a harmonica wails behind Saadiq's musing about a brickhouse of a woman. Listeners will be thankful the album is not on wax and they don't have to move the needle because on "Good Man", a sultry 70s ballad (featuring singer/songwriter Taura Stinson), listeners will want to play the track on repeat-over and over-again. Lyrically, the track is as relevant to 1970 as it is in 2011. The recording techniques Saadiq uses make his voice melodically unpolished and the instrumentation raw and full. Stone Rollin' is not simply an homage but a spot-on version of timeless music from a time when you actually had to know how to sing and play an instrument (which Saadiq does on most of the tracks on the album). While Stone Rollin' travels from 50s rock n' roll on the title track to 60s soul on "Movin' Down The Line" to 70s funk on "Heart Attack", the album is cohesive to how the genres built upon themselves. Nostalgic is not Saadiq's take on Stone Rollin', it is what it is-authentic.