Black Crowes Recommendations

Just got it a couple days ago

 

Just in your opinion but not his or mine.

 

Keep listening - your opinion will change.

 

I seriously doubt it, I've been listening all these years. The tracks just aren't as catchy. I like more tracks on By Your Side than on either Amorica or Three Snakes And One Charm.

 

I like all their albums but especially Southern Harmony and Amorica. Also be sure to check out their incredible version of The Velvet Underground's "Oh! Sweet Nuthin'" from the Cabin Fever DVD (also on youtube)

 

I do find it interesting that so many people say the first album is essential as well. Sure, that was the one that hooked us to begin with, and there are some great songs on there, but do old fans still listen to it with regularity? It's not just that the songs are played out by radio. Southern Harmony has its share of played out tracks. But Moneymaker just sounds so thin compared to what came after. I know it was a relief for rock fans when it came out in 1989, but it's production hasn't aged well to my ears. To each his own!

 

Another vote for Southern Harmony, easily one of the best rock and roll records of the 90's.

 

I hardly ever hear Southern Harmony stuff out in the wild. Granted, I haven't listened to the radio in decades, but even back when I did, in the late 90's there were probably 3 Moneymaker tracks played for every spin of "Remedy." I do hardly ever listen to that first album, but when I do I usually just remove the radio singles from my playlist. They're still great, just burned out on them.

 

I don't listen to SYMM much. It's SHAMC, amorica, TSAOC, Band - those right there. And live shows from 92-97.
SYMM was cool in 1989 because it bucked the sound of the hair bands of the time. I did enjoy the hair bands too but by 1989 the hair bands were becoming a bit cliche. Then SYMM descended and the production was different, guitars sounded gritty and more raw than the hair band production.
So I was really interested in this sound. In fact it sort of reminded me a bit of the sound of Danzig's first album. Drums seemed to be dry as opposed to the thunder drums heard on hair band CD's of this time period.

 

I still listen to the first album.

 

As I mentioned earlier, Shake Your Money Maker hasn't aged very well to my ears. Only "Jealous Again", "Sister Luck", and "Seeing Things" still rate highly for me. I prefer the single remix version of "Twice As Hard" to the rather muffled sounding LP version. The rest of the tracks are just kind of boring. By the way, the non-LP b-side "Waiting Guilty" is fantastic, and better than everything else on the album proper save the cuts I mention above.

For me, the band really started with The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion.

 

Mark Ford is Robben Ford’s brother and a fine harmonica player.

 

Couldn’t agree more!

The biggest shame was Band not being released in its original form. Maybe their best album. And instead… we got their worst!

Couldn’t disagree more!

Lions, flawed as it is, was a step back into the right direction.

2007 and beyond, for me, it only got better. Warpaint was a welcome return to form and BTF/UTF (the whole thing, vinyl tracklist) is right up there with their best work. Also, Croweology, though not essential, is a great listen.

I caught the 2010 Fillmore run and those were incredible shows, some of their best that I’ve seen. And yes, I’ve been on board since SYMM, travelled far and wide to see them, including the Ford lineup in ‘94, ‘95, ‘96 & ‘97.

 

Bob Dylan likes it!

 

Can someone tell me about the track "Bitter Bitter You"? I believe it originally comes from the Tall sessions, but it didn't end up on the Lost Crowes release. Where does the studio version of this come from, and is there a good source?

 

I made

I made a CDr of that CD many years ago and replaced Bad Luck with Sometimes Salvation.

 

I don't think any of the tracks are crappy, I think the track listing is crappy.

I'm not a 'greatest hits' sort of person & I don't think The Black Crowes are a 'greatest hits' type band. My top 10 favourite Crowes tracks are nowhere to be seen on that compilation. Just my opinion though.

 

Just some random thoughts on the albums post '97. By Your Side, for all intents, was an attempt at recreating and recapturing some of the early days' fire and spirit of Shake Your Money Maker as the band decided to eschew their "hippie/stoner" stigma that played itself out at the end of the Further Fest jaunt of '97. Well, outside of maybe a handful of songs, BYS was a huge misstep and, in my opinion, a backward step at that. American Recordings was sold to Sony music, John Kalodner stepped in as a "creative consultant" in retooling the band and brought in Kevin Shirley to restore a bit of "chop and change" within the band dynamic. As a longtime fan and after waiting for 3 years to hear some new product from them, when it first came out, I played it solid for about a month, but like a piece of chewing gum, after the initial burst of flavor, suddenly it became stale and generic. It was a complete opposite process as to what had come before in their previous albums, which were an organic and growing outcome and contained a much more lasting impression and power within the music. Don't get me wrong, cuts like Go Faster, Virtue and Vice, Horsehead and the title cut are excellent Crowes songs and recall some of their greatest material from the past within a certain continuity and consistency, but a large part of the record attempts to recapture the feel and vibe of the debut from a more seasoned perspective and comes up flat and uninspired.

Lions tries to recapture some of the flavor/vibe of the '92-'97 era with another seasoned, updated twist in the material and again, there are some great songs to be had, but the overall impression leaves a half-baked affair. I like about half of the album and songs like Midnight from the Inside Out, Cosmic Friend, Miracle to Me, Come On and Cypress Tree(which borrows a bit from "No Speak No Slave" in its chorus-chord progression) hit the mark within the relative Crowes sound, but most of the other songs just aren't that memorable or significant, imo. It's a notch better than BYS but not by much.

Warpaint- With the new crew of Luther Dickinson and Adam McDougal whom replaced Marc Ford and Eddie Harsh as well as having former Chris Robinson collaborator and fill in guitarist for the ensuing 2006-'07 touring run in Paul Stacey producing, the album marks a new chapter within the group's history. Because of the dysfunctional implosion of the '05/'06 reunion and the band having to make yet another line-up shift that made way for this overdue, comeback effort, Warpaint still comes up short in definitive material and although there ARE some good songs to come out of this record(Goodbye Daughters, Locust Street, Oh Josephine, Whoa Mule and God's Got It), the transitional feel within the new chemistry of the band, makes for an effort that again, is a half-baked affair that, likewise, dogged the previous Lions album from '01. The biggest travesty from my point of view is that we never got the potentially, fantastic and proper reunion comeback effort from the amazing '05 lineup reformation. Instead, what they offered was "The Lost Crowes" compilation of the scrapped "Tall" and "Band" tapes that had been in the vaults and touched them up with a few select overdubs during the mixing process. It was a nice gesture to give to some of us old school fans, but the fact that the band went through another series of changes and turned in a different kind of comeback album with less than thrilling results, chalks it all up to a missed opportunity. Warpaint's just o.k., which doesn't say much from my end of things and while it was noble of them to continue on, the chemistry just wasn't right.

Before the Frost, Until the Freeze- Perhaps reviving a bit of the spirit and interest that the '92-'97 and '05/'06 lineup flirted with in covering country-rock material such as songs from The Flying Burrito Brothers, Gram Parsons, The Byrds and Stephen Stills' Manassas, the band put forth a double set for the price of one in this curious release and again, like By Your Side previously, when I first acquired this album, I was excited and listened to it intently the first month or so of acquiring it and then, it fell out of favor and although the amount of material that was presented was the most prolific in terms of the quantity of songs presented, the album just doesn't have enough memorable songs and one could easily wade through the 20 song cycle and pair it down to a respectable single 14 track album. It's a respectable release, but again, there's a noticeable change in direction and it often feels like they're searching for a direction within the album cycle.

So there's my long winded take on the post '97 albums...

 

LOL. Thank you Sir!!

 

Eatin' drinkin' one night
On some Hollywood hill, there we were
I seen four other beings
Also getting their fill, yes they was

An average evening, meaning
There was nothing much to see
That was till I noticed they were off duty L.A.P.D. That's the po-lice

Listen
I had plenty to drink
It was not me who was drivin'
I mighta gotten a little high, alright
But it was guns they was hidin'

They're the ones who want to test my sobriety, why me?
They knew that if they bust me they get some notoriety
You know and I know they the ones who turned on morality, yes they do
I tell ya it was a little strange seein' them as drunk as me
Could ya believe

Well I had plenty to drink
Listen, I was not drivin, no
Well sometimes I might get a little high, babe
But it was guns they was hidin'

I have had plenty to drink
But I'm not the one drivin'
Yes I might have been high
But it was guns they was hidin'

*

"One Cop Story" was the original, I think, and the best.
Then, maybe to avoid po lease complications, they reworked it as "Bitter Bitter You".
But then they reworked it again and released it on "Lost" as "Never Forget This Song".

 

Some great songs on there., which makes me wonder, what is in your Top 10 Mook?[/QUOTE]

 

It's a good question -- longtime fan, saw them dozens of times through all time periods, but then separating that fandom from the OP question re creating a compilation....

SYMM -- someone earlier called it their most corporate album, which leaves me scratching my head. This album came relatively out of nowhere at the time, totally different from a lot of what was on the radio at the time and then what was to come a year or so later. Hits are overplayed, but these are IMO classic tracks and a good chance to then hear how other bands influenced their early sound (which they quickly evolved from). I rarely play this album, it sounds a bit dated and pedestrian compared to their later work, but when a song comes up on shuffle I never hit ffwd.

Southern Harmony -- I'm hard pressed not to include every track from this album in a comp, it's just that good. You're getting much more of that musical magic that happened with the core lineup.

Amorica -- took me awhile to appreciate this album, especially after Southern Harmony. In retrospect, I think this is where they really started to create more their own sound and it's less easy to pin down earlier musical influences. Every compilation should have Descending, Ballad, and Wiser Time at a minimum.

Three Snakes -- for an introduction to the Crowes, first three tracks would be a good fit. I love the album, but it's not an easy to digest for a casual fan compared to the earlier works.

BYS -- is Three Snakes is their dope album, this one is speed. After what I just called an more inaccessible album, I think BYS was a push from the record label to get back to the hits. Does it work? Not really. Are there good tracks for a compilation -- sure, By Your Side and Only a Fool are catchy, Horsehead and Virtue and Vice have some stomp, Welcome to the Goodtimes is a good song no matter what album it is on.

Lions -- continues the hit and miss pattern of BYS. When it's good it's really good -- Greasy Grass River, Cypress Tree, Lay It All On Me, Soul Singing (better live) -- but there's too much middling and forgettable IMO. Lions and BYS stand out, for me, as almost a sidetrack the band took in their career.

Warpaint -- I won't say a return to full form, but this is a pretty solid album when I really had no expectations. There are a few misses for sure, but Goodbye Daughters and Oh Josephine likely deserve to be on a compilation. Luther works well on the album, maybe not as a good a fit live for some older tracks.

The Lost Crowes -- have to add a few tracks from this on a compilation, Peace Anyway (likely should have replaced something on BYS), Another Roadside, Wyoming, Thunderstorm all good songs that got left behind

Before the Frost...After the Freeze -- a bit of a dividing album, but it really like it, possibly in part influenced by seeing one of the recording sessions in Woodstock. Sure there's some filler, and a few tracks I have to think hard about "how does that go" but Been a Long Time & The Last Place that love lived at a minimum should be a compilation to introduced that later day sounds of the band.

So what did a create, a triple album or so there? Possibly the really best way to appreciate the band is some of the live shows from the Southern Harmony and Amorica era.

 

Amorica and Southern Harmony are my two favorites, and should be the place to start. The first one, Warpaint, and Before the Frost... are the other high points for me in their catalog, although all of their albums have their moments.

 

My Top 10 would include:


Sting Me

Remedy

Hotel Illness

My Morning Song

A Conspiracy

She Gave Good Sunflower

Nebakanezer

Evil Eye

Grows A Rose

Greasy Grass River