The Black Crowes

Alright, it’s time to cut the crap and get down to business. The Black Crowes are hands down the best f@*$%! Rock band in the U.S. today, got it? OK, then reading the rest of this will be easier. With all the irony present in today’s “rock” bands, and the lack of any real rock bands in the popular consciousness, The Black Crowes present something that is sorely lacking in most music today, which is a) soul b) musical talent c) songwriting. Let’s get down to it, eh? Caught the Crowes on Friday at Cleveland’s Tower City Amphitheater, and it had been a while since I’ve intersected my musical interests with the Robinson Brothers and co. Saw them play in ’96 and wasn’t too keen on the performance. They seemed tired, for one, and the jams they were trying to pull off seemed a little to high for them to reach. Not that the songs weren’t great, but it was not as good as ’92 when they were young, brash, and rocking like muther f*#%$s supporting (more than likely) their best album, The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion. Well, with G/A tix being $15, and it being summertime, I thought I’d go for it, considering that it was many years later, and their purposely achieved cult status appealed to me greatly. Plus, reviews of this tour, after a hiatus that saw solo LP’s from both brothers, were good. It seemed like some time off, some solo meandering, and a re-focus of their brand of rock had done them some good. Plus, Marc Ford, their gee-tar player on Southern Music, Amorica, and Three Snakes, was back. So on we go.

Friday, 7/28/06, Cleveland, Tower City Amphitheater

Don’t Do It

Good Friday

Soul Singing

Darling of the Underground

Twice as Hard

Magic Rooster Blues

Girl From a Pawnshop

Song of Love

Downtown Money Waster > jam > Thorn in My Pride

L.A.

A Conspiracy

Jealous Again

Remedy

Encore: Boomer’s Song

There are several things that made this show HOT. First thing of note is that Chris Robinson was SPOT ON, hitting all the notes, improvising when there was room to do so, and soulful as hell. If you’ve listened to the live album they put out before the hiatus, you can hear Chris meander and generally improvise too much on the tunes, but that night he was THE MAN, even playing some guitar, too. Nice beard, by the way. The other thing was amazing was that brother Rich and Marc Ford have become vocalists in their own right, and I don’t mean in the Keith Richards category of “just getting by” and getting kudos just ‘cause there’s a lot of good will in the crowd. I mean they can carry the tunes, and carry ‘em well. Another good thing is that you can here the keyboardist's work now, better than on record, or any other time I saw ‘em, so nice, cause he can play. What else made this show HOT? The cover tunes they did met the perfect criteria of being obscure songs by great artists. “Don’t Do It” is one of The Band’s best tunes, and the vocal turn by brother Rich was superb. The second tune, “L.A.” is from Neil Young’s “Time Fades Away”, and is one of NY’s best obscure tunes, and was sung with a lot of guts and soul by Marc Ford. Absolutely excellent. They also played most of their best known songs, which was much needed, as well as some deep album cuts and unreleased stuff. So you got a great synopsis of their catalog, as well as some excellent jams which incorporated 1972 Deadish psychedelic flourishes, whole new sections of tight jamming added to some of the better known songs, as well as extended, focused soloing that didn’t meander too much. Also, some of songs that I felt meandered too much and lacked focus or bite, such as "Good Friday" and "A Conspiracy" seemed to have matured on the road, and hit hard and clear. Superb at 2 hours. What else could you want from a ROCK SHOW? Bravo, boys. They’ve clearly gone beyond the obvious Stones/Faces/Allmans influences and have now incorporated everything from soul, psychedelia, blues, funk and country into a heady rock n roll stew that, although their template is not original, they take it beyond what their forbearers were able to do on sheer talent and guts and soul. And that’s the kicker, really. It is Rock N Roll, in your face and unashamed to be brash and rockin. It does make you think that really, maybe music was better in the 70’s.

As a special treat, they are selling copies of the show on 2 disc sets straight from their website, which is a great idea. As soon as I get a copy, I’ll put something up. In the meantine, here's something from "By Your Side" called Go Tell the Congregation. Otherwise, see if you can catch the band….