Black Crowes Recommendations

Don't know Mark Ford - is he any good?

I do love Marc Ford with the Crowes. That guy smokes on the guitar with Rich Robinson. Awesome stuff.

I'll look up this Mark guy you're talking about.

 

I prefer By Your Side to Amorica and Three Snakes and One Charm.

 

No it's not. You must be thinking of some other band in another thread.

 

I know you do but the songwriting isn't as good as amorica and Three Snakes. The songwriting got comprimised and sounds corporate. Like a 90's Aerosmith album. This wasn't the Black Crowes as fans knew them before. This was the Black Crowes on corporate speed. Kevin Shirley's production was huge and loud - like Aersomith. Wrong producer for the band.

 

I can't believe you omitted Three Snakes?!? Great album too! Better than BYS for sure!

 

The songs are catchier on By Your Side.

 

Right there with ya!

 

By Your Side is very underrated.

 

It's a different beast for sure. I don't think of The Crowes as trying to write radio friendly hits. That is what BYS sounds like. There's decent songs but it's not a solid album. I did enjoy the b-sides from BYS more than the tracks on the album!

 

I believe you're over rating it.

 

And I believe you are underrating it and overrating Amorica and Three Snakes And One Charm which just aren't that tuneful. By Your Side was a return to form in my opinion.

The Allmusic review of By Your Side says this.

The problem was, their loose-limbed grooves tended to connect better in concert than on record, especially since they were sacrificing songs for the sake of sound, which in turn was decreasing their audience. Aware of the situation, the Crowes went back to their roots with By Your Side. Armed with a string of concise, energetic rockers, the Crowes hit harder than they had since their debut, yet they retain the sonic detail that reared its head on Amorica, adding pianos, choirs, and scores of other flourishes throughout the record. It's a back-to-basics set performed with all of the knowledge they have gained over the years, and the result is a thoroughly enjoyable record, their most satisfying and accessible effort since The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion.

 

To me Shake Your Money Maker was the most "corporate" sounding album.

 

Of the more recent stuff. I really enjoyed Before The Frost...Until The Freeze

 

Take it from a fanatical, obsessed, long-time Crowes fan since Day 1: Southern Harmony and Amorica are their two best and the place to begin your "research". Their first album is great, but almost every song (or at least the hit singles) has been played to death on the radio, so you don't need to start there.

 

I'll echo the general consensus of Amorica and Southern Harmony, but Money Maker offers the basis of what the band were about in general, even though personally, I'd rank it fourth in a top 5 list. I'm first and foremost a fan of the '92-97 lineup with Ford involved and that lineup was magic, unbeatable. The short lived '05/'06 reunion was equally on par, even though they never got a chance to record a studio album proper, some fantastic shows and moments happened. Their output post '97 was spotty with parts of BYS, Lions, Warpaint and Before the Frost containing some great, some good and not so good songs. I'm biased, I admit it and not to downplay other guitarists in Audley Freed and Luther Dickinson, as I think they're great players in their own way, but just didn't have the natural feel that Ford connected with in the overall chemistry and interplay with Rich as well as Eddie, Steve, Chris and/or Johnny and Sven. The first 4 are essential along with "Freak "N Roll: Into the Fog" taken from the Fillmore on the '05 reunion tour. Can't go wrong with that, IMO.

 

I certainly don't agree with that review and I'm not under rating BYS.
My stance on BYS is consistent/typical with fans who have been there from the get go. If you were one of those fans - your view on BYS would be atypical for that group.

My starting point with the Crowes began in 1990. For me, the band grew & became sweeter with every release. Then 1998 showed up with a fractured band (no lead guitarist - Rich did double duty) and a new record label giving birth to By Your Side. Some good songs but the consistency is not there from their past albums for this fan.

Lions the same thing as By Your Side - fractured band and different label (this time no bass player - Rich again does double duty). Some fine songs on Lions but again the consistency isn't there as had been in the past.

2007 and beyond Crowes? For me it gets worse. Warpaint was forgettable. BTF/ATF - same thing, some ok stuff but most of it was meh.

When was your starting point with the Crowes?

 

How's that?
It really wasn't at the time.
Not production-wise.
It's the only Crowes album that sees Hard To Handle and She Talks To Angels get played to death on classic rock radio stations these days. If you listened to classic rock stations one would think the Crowes only released one album.

 

Southern Harmony & Amorica are definitely the best places to start.

 

Lions has become a favorite for me.

 

I find it patchy but the highs on that album are about as good as anything they've done.

 

Their debut album Shake Your Money Maker.

We just have differing opinions about which albums are the best. I get it, in your opinion all the albums with Marc Ford are better than any of their other albums. I am sure there are others that agree with you here.

Stephen Thomas Erlewine who wrote the review from Allmusic agrees with my point of view. I was personally disappointed when I purchased both Amorica and even more by Three Snakes And One Charm. They seemed to lose more of their Stones/Faces/Humble Pie influences which was the reason that I enjoyed them in the first place.

 

More like Rich pulling triple duty. Rhythm AND lead guitar plus bass. Audley only played on two songs on Lions.

 

By Your Side isn't a bad album, but it's far from great. I'm not a huge fan of Kevin "Caveman" Shirley's production on it and while I think there are some great musical moments and some nice melodies, Chris' lyrics on the majority of the material are incredibly weak. Stuff like Only a Fool, Heavy, and especially Diamond Ring are so far below him lyrically. I'm a longtime Crowes fan and I remember at the time being pretty disappointed. It just seemed like a major step backwards on all counts.

 

Taking snarky to a whole new level. Well played sir.

 

Amorica I have probably listened to more times than any other album. I’d throw in the suggestion of streaming some live shows. The Crowes were a live band at heart I think