The Black Crowes

ShadowAngel wrote:

I only discovered them a few years back by buying blindly the Southern Harmony and Musical Companion album and i think it's a very awesome record. I also enjoy their first one, Amorica (i have to chuckle about the fact that even in the 90's they had to censore the cover in the USA, even though it was just some Playboy picture from the 70's )
Great band, a shame they are so unknown around here in europe

As far as I know, Amorica is not their first one; Shake Your Moneymaker is. I'm sure there are other demos or indy releases out there but I think their first "proper" release was Moneymaker.

And you're right; censorship in the US is out of control (and getting worse).

tohostudios wrote:

As far as I know, Amorica is not their first one; Shake Your Moneymaker is.

I know, i know...damn that stupid Comma, i hate that guy, works completely different in english than in my german language and i can't wrap my mind around it. I meant the first album and Amorica (in german it would've worked) i blame it on that evil, evil american whiskey

tohostudios wrote:

And you're right; censorship in the US is out of control (and getting worse).

Censorship is always out of control, everywhere. Americans have a problem with Sex, we have a problem with Violence that banned Cannibal Corpse records and forced Alice Cooper to trim down his stage shows. Music should be free from censorship unless it's racist crap (we have a lot of neo nazi bands in Germany, i have no problem with them being banned, that's the only censorship i support)

I really don't understand it with that cover (same as i don't understand the german censorship of the KISS logo) it's not offensive, it's not overly sexual.

This topic brought me to play some Black Crowes now, i'm thankful for that, they're really great

ShadowAngel wrote:

tohostudios wrote:

As far as I know, Amorica is not their first one; Shake Your Moneymaker is.

I know, i know...damn that stupid Comma, i hate that guy, works completely different in english than in my german language and i can't wrap my mind around it. I meant the first album and Amorica (in german it would've worked) i blame it on that evil, evil american whiskey

I have to remember that one. "I blame it on the evil, evil Belgian ale."

I have a problem at work with your German currency symbols. Every time I'm testing the application in German, I forget that you use commas for separators where we use decimal points. I get an error every time before I go "Oh yeah, I'm in freakin' Germany."

BTW, I've said it before but your English is better than the English of a lot of Americans I know.

tohostudios wrote:

I have a problem at work with your German currency symbols. Every time I'm testing the application in German, I forget that you use commas for separators where we use decimal points. I get an error every time before I go "Oh yeah, I'm in freakin' Germany."

Everything is different and difficult. MPH instead of KM/H, Feet and Inch instead of Meter, Centimeter (i hate the WWE wrestling games for that, everytime i have to look what my size is in that stupid Feet thing because i don't want to be bigger than the undertaker )
Even though we took over some stuff like RCA connectors and stuff, we still are too different and of course we're next to those 'cheese eating surrender monkeys" who try to be different, i hate the french and their own way of doing things, making everything even more complicated

Well i listened to some more Black Crowes, to go back on topic, just awesome. Even that 99lbs. Bonus track on Musical Companion... is a great song

While I pretty much ditched the Crowes after Moneymaker (except for By Your Side), their style opened my musical ears to a lot of groups I'd have never given the time of day before. Bands like Flies On Fire, The Quireboys, Dogs d'Amour, and even the Rolling Stones, etc; bands that trade in that whole honky tonk, rock n roll style Black Crowes had on Moneymaker.

And for that I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for the Crowes.

so shake your moneymaker and By Your Side are the best places to start?

exact33 wrote:

so shake your moneymaker and By Your Side are the best places to start?

They are in my opinion but I'm sure you'll get lots of dissenting opinions too. Definitely Moneymaker for me.

tohostudios wrote:

exact33 wrote:

so shake your moneymaker and By Your Side are the best places to start?

They are in my opinion but I'm sure you'll get lots of dissenting opinions too. Definitely Moneymaker for me.

I agree with toho, I would start with Moneymaker. I really didn't care about these guys until I heard "Struttin' Blues"(on the radio no less). That song sounded like some kinda Humble Pie outtake... I was hooked! Been a fan ever since!

Been a casual fan of these guys. I don't own any albums, but my best friend growing up was a big fan, so I was kinda stuck listening to some of their stuff. If I find their stuff used and cheap, I would definitely pick it up.

Amorica is the only one I really remember, that one got a lot of play when it first came out.

exact33 wrote:

so shake your moneymaker and By Your Side are the best places to start?

Moneymaker is a great album, but in hindsite, it sounds a little too "forced". They were trying too hard to sound like a combo of the Faces and 70's-era Stones. Not that there's anything wrong with it. They did it very well and the album still holds up today.

However, I'd say on their 2nd album (The Southern Harmony...), they seemed more relaxed and blended in other influences and found their own sound. Then they kinda took off from there. By Your Side was, in my opinion, the last great upbeat "rock" album they've done (Lions is ok too). After that one, they got more folky and laid-back, jam-band oriented. If that's your thing, more power to ya, but it bores me.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Moneymaker is a great album, but in hindsite, it sounds a little too "forced". They were trying too hard to sound like a combo of the Faces and 70's-era Stones. Not that there's anything wrong with it. They did it very well and the album still holds up today.

At the time it was released, it was kind of refreshing to hear someone tackle that particular sound because nobody else was...but it was definitely a calculated sound. They even went so far as to duplicate the Stones guitar sound having one guitarist play in standard tuning and the other play in open tuning.

Then the big single was a cover of an R&B hit by Otis Redding...this is another homage to the Stones who also liked to dip into the blues and R&B catalogs for covers.

I agree that they started to really develop their own sound later and I don't begrudge them the Stones worship, they did it well.

S.D. wrote:

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Moneymaker is a great album, but in hindsite, it sounds a little too "forced". They were trying too hard to sound like a combo of the Faces and 70's-era Stones. Not that there's anything wrong with it. They did it very well and the album still holds up today.

At the time it was released, it was kind of refreshing to hear someone tackle that particular sound because nobody else was...but it was definitely a calculated sound. They even went so far as to duplicate the Stones guitar sound having one guitarist play in standard tuning and the other play in open tuning.

Then the big single was a cover of an R&B hit by Otis Redding...this is another homage to the Stones who also liked to dip into the blues and R&B catalogs for covers.

I agree that they started to really develop their own sound later and I don't begrudge them the Stones worship, they did it well.

Absolutley. When LA glam/hair metal was all the rage, hearing someone doing the 70's Stones music was so refreshing and out of left field. It wasn't until years later that I also realized how much of the Faces they blended in there too. But yea, they did it so well, it didn't matter to me then or now. I bought it hook, line & sinker.

S.D. wrote:

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Moneymaker is a great album, but in hindsite, it sounds a little too "forced". They were trying too hard to sound like a combo of the Faces and 70's-era Stones. Not that there's anything wrong with it. They did it very well and the album still holds up today.

At the time it was released, it was kind of refreshing to hear someone tackle that particular sound because nobody else was...but it was definitely a calculated sound. They even went so far as to duplicate the Stones guitar sound having one guitarist play in standard tuning and the other play in open tuning.

Then the big single was a cover of an R&B hit by Otis Redding...this is another homage to the Stones who also liked to dip into the blues and R&B catalogs for covers.

I agree that they started to really develop their own sound later and I don't begrudge them the Stones worship, they did it well.

.... and that would be open G-tuning sir, Rich wrote some REALLY GREAT rhythm parts. I spent a lot of time playing songs from the first two albums just for the fun of it.

In fact, The Black Crowes and Kings X were the last two bands that I learned to played on guitar before I switched to Drums.

Open "G", thanks for the reminder. I used to play around with open tunings a good bit, primarily open E and open D.

My favorite alternate tunings are DADGAD (Zep) and EBEEBE (CSNY).

do you use a can or bottle opener to open tunings ?

I absolutely dig the Crowes, their first 4 albums are classics but especially "Southern Harmony" but you won't go wrong w/any of their albums. Chewie passed me some serious boots as well...

akeldama wrote:

I absolutely dig the Crowes, their first 4 albums are classics but especially "Southern Harmony" but you won't go wrong w/any of their albums. Chewie passed me some serious boots as well...

Here is an excellent unreleased song! I think they are saving a bunch of these for some kinda box set or something. There's no reason that this should remain a bootleg:



.......and NO!!! This is not on the Lost Crowes. It is on the Tall bootleg album, the album was supposed to be released after Southern Harmony And Musical Companion.

LOVE the organ in this tune!!! Sucha great mood setter!

They have tons of kick-ass unreleased material. It's a shame a lot of it has never officially been released.

I finally bought Amorica on vinyl. I wish that they had done a good job with the reissue of Southern Harmony so that they could have released all of their other albums on vinyl!

The Jellyfish reissues sound great, btw!!!!

I know these cats have taken breaks before, but I don't think there's ever any drama there. Well, now there is.

Quote :

Said Rich in his statement: "It is with great disappointment and regret that after having the privilege of writing and performing the music of THE BLACK CROWES over the last 24 years, I find myself in the position of saying that the band has broken up."

He continued: "I hold my time with THE BLACK CROWES with the utmost respect and sincerest appreciation. It is a huge swath of my life's body of work. I couldn't be more proud of what we accomplished and deeply moved by the relationships people created and maintained with my music. That alone is the greatest honor of being a musician.

"I love my brother and respect his talent, but his present demand that I must give up my equal share of the band, and that our drummer for 28 years and original partner, Steve Gorman, relinquish 100% of his share, reducing him to a salaried employee, is not something I could agree to."

Robinson concluded: "There are so many people who have helped and supported us along the way.

"I want to give a heartfelt thank you to all of our fans, our friends behind the scenes, and to everyone who was a part of THE BLACK CROWES."

This is happening with bands more and more these days, with one member requesting or trying to steal more than their deserved share. Shame, really.

That's too bad. RIP Crowes

Eyesore wrote:

This is happening with bands more and more these days, with one member requesting or trying to steal more than their deserved share. Shame, really.

It's because the money is drying up and it causes one to evaluate what is truly deserved.

Could they tour with a new drummer (who gets paid only a salary) and make just as much money? Yes.

Temple of Blood wrote:

Eyesore wrote:

This is happening with bands more and more these days, with one member requesting or trying to steal more than their deserved share. Shame, really.

It's because the money is drying up and it causes one to evaluate what is truly deserved.

Could they tour with a new drummer (who gets paid only a salary) and make just as much money?  Yes.

Oh, definitely. But Chris Robinson doesn't deserve more than Rich. I don't know how much the drummer contributed musically, but Rich wrote just as much as Chris.

Still, the drummer has been in the band for 28 years; kind of shitty to try to take away from that.

I thought Rich had taken a break at some point, like there was a squabble going on, our my memory is corrupt. Anyway I love these guys but their unified longevity has been outstanding and it's surprising this hasn't already happened.