 You've got to have time for The Black Crowes' Chris Robinson. After marrying actress Kate Hudson, he now has Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn as in-laws. Is it just me who finds this very cool indeed? Your father-in-law's Snake Pliskin and your mother-in-law's Private Benjamin . . . life could be worse.
Enough rambling. The Black Crowes' Shake Your Moneymaker: Very good. When they sounded more like the Rolling Stones that Led Zeppelin. Their supposed career-reviving CD Lions: A horrible album with few redeeming features. Now, chronicling the eleven year period between these two discs, comes this nineteen track 2CD live set spliced together from shows at unspecified venues on last year's tour.
Live's track listing is truly representative of the band's career, pulling songs from all of the Black Crowes' albums. A lot of the favourites are here: Sting Me, Wiser Time, High Head Blues, She Talks To Angels and Lickin', plus end of set crowd pleasers Hard To Handle and Remedy. No Jealous Again or Kickin' My Heart Around, but if you're looking for the definitive Crowes singles collection then A Tribute To A Work In Progress may be a better bet.
A for the delivery on this CD, The Black Crowes don't have the tight southern blues-rock sound of their early years, or the rambling hippy trappings of their mid-period. Instead they come across as a bit of a Led Zeppelin pastiche, and a fairly sloppy one at that. The music still has charm, but all signs point to a band very much in the twilight of its career. I'd suggest that Live is for the converted only. :: Rowan Shaeffer |
