This debut album by The Black Crowes was released in 1990. Perhaps this is further back than I realize as it pre-dates the Grunge movement. Still, I thought it a good idea to change it up and listen to an album created before the mid-90s, so I stuck with this one.
The first track starts off with a straight up rock sound and just a tinge of country. The lead vocals are well suited for this style of music. The voice is recognizable and possesses that bar room quality that suggests this group maybe decent as a live band. The song itself, however, is fairly bland and unmemorable. The group could have certainly chosen a better opener. Second, is a song called Jealous Again. This tune is not only more up-tempo than the first, it is more enjoyable as well. This group’s sound is no-frills rock, which is perfectly fine. The problem is, they’re songs seem to fade out leaving me wanting more. Track three shows a bit more of the southern crossover sound. As I listen to the slower song unfold, I can’t help but think that a five-member band should be capable of creating a more complex (or even interesting) sound. Though track four is a little bit faster, it’s the same predominant sound. Simple, verse-chorus-verse rock. None of the sounds build or change dynamically. Rather, they maintain the same style (timbre, dynamic, tempo) from beginning to end. Up to this point, I have yet to even focus on production nuances, as the songs themselves have been so weak. Five, Seeing Things, is the biggest change I’ve heard throughout the album thus far and a welcome one at that! It utilizes a slower shuffle and just a bit of organ. It is far from anything ground breaking but at least it’s a decent change of pace. The chorus sounds (a bit too much if you ask me) like it’s right off of a Joe Cocker record.
The second half starts off with a well-known single, Hard to Handle. This is actually a cover of an old tune co-written by Ottis Redding. Unlike Redding, however, this song lacks soul. Again the vocals are probably my favorite instrument in this tune. The first guitar solo is fairly typical, but the more improvised playing right before the fade-out starts is more interesting. Track seven is Thick N’ Thin. With it’s country, barroom feel, this crossover tune definitely falls into the country-rock category. Indeed, since before the Eagles it has been hard to determine where one genre ends and another other begins. This is a pretty decent tune, and as such sees the album picking up, especially as it leads into the next song, She Talks to Angles. Probably the bands best known song, this single is track number eight. I know it well as it is regularly (over)played on the radio. In listening to the verses, I would say this song contains the albums strongest lyrics. The chorus, unfortunately, is far too repetitive. Again, I liked the singer’s voice and think that it is well-suited for this type of song. As always, the dynamic is the same throughout, missing a key opportunity to build. This results in the song being less exciting, instead seeming to drag on for too long. Track number nine has a harder rock sound. This again provides a change of pace which is good. The problem is, this group only has one type of bland, redundant, rock sound. Only the guitar part before the fade out provides the slightest bit of interest in the song. The final track showcases their typical honky-tonk flavored rock. Like the majority of the album it is redundant and repetitive providing nothing new. Though the group ends in a double-time rock-out, the track never becomes intriguing. Rather than sum up, or conclude the album the track sounds like just another one of their songs, tacked on the end to add length and take up space.
I would NOT buy this album and don’t really consider it adequate even as background music. Simply put, nothing about this album is impressive. The songwriting, playing ability, and production are all bland and quite average sounding. Because an album is only as strong as it’s songs, this album is at a disadvantage to begin with. As a result of the songs being weak, there is not much that can be done when putting together the album as a whole. For example, when determining the track order there is little that can be done, because there is little to work with dynamically. The album is not able to start off at a certain point and take off or evolve. It instead sounds like ten average tracks thrown together with no real cohesiveness or order and in the end, life is just too short to waste on mediocre rock.
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