"You're not watching TV now. This is Rock'n'Roll,
and there's not going to be any commercials. Except this one: here's my
three-minute commercial for the album." -Chris Robinson
"Shake Your Money Maker",
first of the crowes albums.
I recommend: Jealous Again/Hard to Handle/She Talks to Angels
Song Listing:
1. Twice as Hard
2. Jealous Again
3. Sister Luck
4. Could I've Been so Blind
5. Seeing Things
6. Hard to Handle
7. Thick n' Thin
8. She Talks to Angels
9. Struttin' Blues
10. Stare it Cold
-BLACK CROWES
Shake Your Moneymaker
From the pages of the CMJ New Music Report, Issue: 188 - Feb 2, 1990
When the two biggest musical trends of the late `80s-sampling and
classic rock-merge into one technique, the result is something we
like to call "organic sampling." (Y'know how The Cult can steal an
AC/DC or Zep riff and still collect songwriting royalties?) Well, the
debut album from this Atlanta band, formerly known as Mr.
Crowes' Garden (leaders/brothers Chris and Rich Robinson grew
up in Kevin's neighborhood-as proof, he says "Richie was a shitty
bike racer!"), finds the process reaching a new peak. Their sound is
completely rooted in late `60s-early `70s blues-derived rock, mixing
Humble Pie and Let It Bleedera Stones with a healthy dose of
AC/DC power-chord-worship, but like Little Caesar and Badlands,
the Crowes put songwriting first, and while their sound is blatantly
derivative, most of their songs aren't. Sometimes the lifts are too
much-"???" is a hollow rewrite of the Stones' "Sway," and "Seeing
Things" blatantly steals the chorus from Joe Cocker's 1968 version
of "With A Little Help From My Friends" (which featured
then-session-gun Jimmy Page on guitar, trivia buffs)-but rock `n' roll
was built on imitation, and to this day it's a cyclical food chain.
While the Crowes (and producer George Drakoulias, who
co-produced The Cult's Electric) might have studied their sonic
textbooks a little too closely, if the Crowes have more songs like
these in store, they could be one of the biggest bands of the new
decade. Shake Your Moneymaker is an AOR album for people
who hate AOR, and no album has made us smile with a mix of
nostalgia and excitement over a band's future since Appetite For
Destruction.
"Southern Harmony and Musical Companion",
my personal FAV!
Song Listing:
1. Sting Me
2. Remedy
3. Thorn in my Pride
4. Badluck Blueyes
5. Sometimes Salvation
6. Hotel Illness
7. Black Moon Creeping
8. No Speak No Slave
9. My Morning Song
10. Time will Tell
-BLACK CROWES
The Southern Harmony And Musical Companion
From the pages of the CMJ New Music Report, Issue: 286 - May 29, 1992
After selling more than four million copies of their debut effort and
playing enough gigs to rival B.B. King, the Black Crowes come
barreling back with the same intensity of Shake Your Money
Maker, but also with a more mature attitude and some darker
emotions. Despite the band's success, pain is clearly at the forefront
here, as Chris Robinson moans and cries with full-throttle sincerity,
spewing forth seriously maudlin lyrics with a haunting beauty that is
rarely heard these days. The retro comparisons that plagued them in
the past have been largely put to rest-this album sounds more like
the Black Crowes than any of their influences-and altho' Southern
Harmony isn't as catchy as their debut, its simplistic integrity puts
them into superstar status. Plug "Sting Me," "Thorn in my Pride" and the single,
"Remedy."
-Robert John
"Amorica" A Fine album,
some fans say the Crowes finest!
I recommend: Cursed Diamond/Nonfiction/WiserTime and Descending
Song Listing
1. Gone
2. Conspiracy
3. High Head Blues
4. Cursed Diamond
5. Nonfiction
6. She Gave Good Sunflower
7. P.25 London
8. Ballad in Urgency
9. Wiser Time
10. Downtown Money Waster
11. Descending
-BLACK CROWES
Amorica -
From the pages of the CMJ New Music Report, Issue: 404 - Nov 21, 1994
There may come a day when the Black Crowes will simply have to
become the Faces. Chris Robinson's warmly hoarse voice and his
easy improvisational inflection are a dead ringer for Rod Stewart in
his prime, and the complex rhythmical dynamics bursting out of the
decadent yet purist rock of Amorica are toe-to-toe with the Faces'
best on every song. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but the
Black Crowes are a far cry from retro-puppetry; instead, their
records are genuine tributes that, on their own merit, threaten to roar
past the milestones built by their forefathers. Shake Your
Moneymaker, their 1990 debut, was crisp, clean, foot-stomping,
country-rock, but their sophomore CD two years later showed
pleasing development by hanging on to their natural sense for great
hooks and wisely leaving behind the commercially poppy
undertones. Their third record, Amorica, is a huge leap ahead with
its unapologetic assault of every last one of their influences that's as
raw and spontaneous as it is carefully schooled. Liberal doses of
harmonica, warm pedal steel guitar and organ mixed in with acoustic
blues, soul and country pepper Amorica from start to finish, and the
Black Crowes have masterfully freed the hooks from their melodies
by weaving them into apparently cockeyed, yet ultimately natural
rhythmical schemes. The CD is chock full of hits, of course, but take
a quick shot at citizenship with: "Gone," "P. 25 London,"
"Downtown Money Waster" and "A Conspiracy."
-CHERYL BOTCHICK
"Three Snakes and One Charm",
I used to hate this album,
but its quite a masterpiece really.
Songs like "Girl from a Pawnshop" and "Blackberry"
just plain kick ass!
Song Listing:
1. Under a Mountain
2. Good Friday
3. Nebakanezer
4. One Mirror Too Many
5. Blackberry
6. Girl from a Pawnshop
7. Halfway to Everywhere
8. Bring on,Bring on
9. How Much for Your Wings
10. Let me Share the Ride
11. Better When You're Not Alone
12. Evil Eye
(bonus tracks off Rerelease cd)
13. Just say Your Sorry
14. Mellow Down Easy
-BLACK CROWES
Three Snakes And One Charm -
From the pages of the CMJ New Music Report, Issue: 485 - Aug 5, 1996
The Black Crowes symbolize the modern face of Southern rock:
You can't help but picture them laying about in a palatial mansion in
the Georgia woods, Marshall stacks admidst antique furniture,
surrounded by exotic carpets, candelabras, guns and big dogs. On
Three Snakes And One Charm, they want to be a soul band, and
although skinny, scrawny Chris Robinson may be the most unlikely
soul man we've ever seen, there's something endearing about the
band's sweat-soaked Southern rock `n' boogie. Tracks like
"Halfway To Everywhere" and "Let Me Share The Ride" are
peppered by horns (courtesy members of the Dirty Dozen, picked
up on a soulful swing through New Orleans), while Marc Ford's
impeccably-tasteful slide guitar has really come into its own as the
band's strongest suits. One of the most interesting songs is "How
Much For Your Wings," which builds unexpectedly from a late-night
acoustic jam by the fireplace to Allman-esque twin-guitar heights in
the middle, only to lapse back to campfire mode at the end. Like a
lot of things in life, Three Snakes... sounds better the louder it gets,
and like a fine wine, an old, hand-crafted musket or a vintage amp,
the Black Crowes keep getting better with time.
-JAMES LIEN
"By Your Side",
I like some of the songs on this album,
they have finely tuned their
songcrafting to a Tee this time,
but just not as Rocking
(Axe the producer).By Your Side/Only a Fool,are great!
Song Listing:
1. Go Faster
2. Kicking my Heart Around
3. By Your Side
4. Horsehead
5. Only a Fool
6. Heavy
7. Welcome to the Goodtimes
8. Go Tell the Congregation
9. Diamond Ring
10. Then she Said my Name
11. Virtue and Vice
-BLACK CROWES
By Your Side - COLUMBIA-CRG
From the pages of the CMJ New Music Report, Issue: 602 - Jan 25, 1999
The soul of rock 'n' roll is alive, kicking and
currently possessing the bodies of the
Robinson brothers. Since 1990, the sibling
songwriting duo of Chris and Rich Robinson
has been causing a ruckus with their mix of
Southern-fried rock, whiskey-soaked blues
and soulful gospel. While the Georgia-based
band's two previous albums found them experimenting with more
complex rhythms and long, winding, cannabis-fueled jams, By Your
Side, the band's fifth full-length, is a return to the driving rock 'n' roll
the Crowes championed on their early recordings. The album is an
ass-kicking rock rodeo of gravelly guitar riffs and bluesy chord
progressions, repaving paths previously tread by the Stones and the
Faces. Lazy slide-guitar textures, harmonica moans and choirs of
soulful singers litter the background, but Chris Robinson's gritty,
cocksure vocals blaze the trail, whether the band is kicking up dust
with a down-home, groin-grabbing jam (as on "HorseHead" and the
title track), or letting all the dogs loose in a flurry of hell-raising,
honky-tonk fury ("Kicking My Heart Around").
-M. Tye Comer
-Jimmy Page and The Black Crowes Live at The Greek!
Disc One:
1. Heartbreaker
2.In My Time Of Dying
3.What Is And What Should Never Be
4.Custard Pie
5.Celebration Day
6.Out On The Tiles/Whole Lotta Love
7.Nobody's Fault But Mine
8.You Shook Me
Disc Two:
1.The Lemon Song
2.Your Time Is Gonna Come
3.Ten Years Gone
4.Sick Again
5.Hey Hey What Can I Do
6.Shake Your Money Maker
7.Woke Up This Morning
8.Shape Of Things To Come
9.Sloppy Drunk
10.Oh Well
Live at the Greek, recorded during the
final two nights of the outing at the L.A.
amphitheater, provides a solid souvenir
for those who were there and a wholly
worthwhile consolation for those who
weren't. An Internet endeavor available
for download in several configurations at
www.musicmaker.com, Live at the
Greek is mandatory listening for anyone
whose tastes run to blues-based guitar
assaults — in this case not only by Page
but also by the Crowes' able team of
Rich Robinson and Audley Freed, whose
contributions add an onstage majesty to
Zep favorites such as "Ten Years Gone,"
"Your Time Is Gonna Come," and "What
Is and What Should Never Be" that could
never be replicated by Page alone. A
rendition of "Shape of Things to Come"
veers between the Yardbirds and Jeff
Beck Group treatments, while a bit of
extra mojo lends crunch to tracks such
as "Heartbreaker" and "Whole Lotta
Love."
And though it's the guitars, twisting and
spiraling through lengthy jams and
improvisations, that provide Live at the
Greek's calling card, Crowes frontman
Chris Robinson should not be
overlooked; he more than holds his own
on songs defined by Robert Plant,
staying generally true to the familiar
melodies but finding plenty of room to
inject his own licks — which, of course,
don't stray too far from the beaten path;
Plant was one of Robinson's most
significant influences. Though it's
missing any of the Crowes' own songs
— withheld for contractual reasons by
the group's former label,
American/Columbia — Live at the
Greek's assortment of Zeppelin numbers
and blues chestnuts provides ample
evidence of how powerful this
combination is, and can only make us
pine for more dates in the (near) future.
— Gary Graff
A Work In Progress 1990-1999: The Black Crowes Greatest Hits(Bullshit it is! Where is Sometimes Salvation?)
1. "Jealous Again"
2. "Twice As Hard"
3. "Hard To Handle"
4. "She Talks to Angels"
5. "Remedy"
6. "Sting Me"
7. "Thorn in My Pride"
8. "Bad Luck Blue Eyes Goodbye"
9. "A Conspiracy"
10. "Wiser Time"
11. "Good Friday"
12. "Blackberry"
13. "Kickin' My Heart Around"
14. "Go Faster"
15. "Only a Fool"
16. "By Your Side"
Well Seeing as my Web building skills arent up to par.
I would give you a better description of the albums, in due time my friend.
But your better off to take the Crowes Journey yourself. Dont listen to me!
Check em out! LIVE Crowes is even better! Ill try and post more when I can!
Mark