The Black Crowes

Warpaint

April 12, 2008

By Mr. Marlowe

*** 1/2 / ****

Released 2008

The Black Crowes have never been a band to chase musical trends. Instead, they’ve always seemed content churning out soulful blues and classic rock jams despite what radio or MTV deems their flavor of the month. Ironically, with this insistence on being true to themselves, popularity be damned, The Crowes have slowly emerged as mantle bearers of that great tradition of southern rock jam bands in the vein of The Allman Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd. So why quit now? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right? The only problem: The Black Crowes haven’t been good let alone relevant in nearly fourteen years, even if the modern hippies and classic rock enthusiasts fail to admit this truth. They’ve had their moments, with a single here or there breaking through the clouds, but a consistent album was not in the cards. With the Crowes’ latest, Warpaint, all bets are off. This is the return of The Black Crowes, that awesome early ‘90s band that balanced jam odysseys with pop bliss, southern rock grittiness with soulful melodrama, and didn’t meander in the process.

From their early success in 1990 with Shake Your Money Maker’s Hard to Handle and She Talks to Angels to their awesome follow-ups The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion and Amorica, in the early ‘90s The Black Crowes were on a roll. Those three albums showed progress, innovation, and were each top-notch records in their own right. Unfortunately, from 1994 to today, between their uneven and uneventful late ‘90s albums to Chris Robinson’s 2000 marriage to Kate Hudson (The Yoko Ono syndrome), The Black Crowes have teetered the line of former genius and present tedium better than anyone. Warpaint, however, breaks the mold of their late ‘90s and post-millennium failures, focusing instead on the best of their work while unburdening itself with namby-pamby jam for jam’s sake indulgence and blandness, emerging as by far their most focused effort since their 1994 opus, Amorica.

Over the years there are three ways The Black Crowes have proven their musical mastery: lived in Southern rock n’ roll storytelling, light the doobie style modified psychadelica, and heartfelt, bittersweet balladry. These three takes on classic rock are their bread and butter and when The Crowes cut through their tangential whimsy they do all three as well as anyone. Their first single, Goodbye Daughters of the Revolution, and Movin’ On Down the Line nail the Southern rock storytelling with rolling guitar lines, catchy lyrics, clever hooks, and outstanding choruses. These are muscular songs steeped in blues and potent examples of The Crowes nailing the rock side of the rock n’ roll coin. The other side of the coin, psychadelica, is performed admirably on Wounded Bird and Wee Who See the Deep, the latter strangely resembling Green Day’s Brain Stew. Bizarre, indeed, but played with conviction and purpose a telling example of The Crowes making a standard riff their own. And my favorite Black Crowes keystone, the bittersweet balladry, returns in full force with Locust Street, Whoa Mule, and Oh Josephine, in a heartbeat bringing me back to The Southern Harmony’s and Amorica’s splendor and grandiosity, a feeling that has been terribly absent from the music scene in general the past ten years. Just when I thought Bad Luck Blue Eyes Goodbye, Sometimes Salvation, and Cursed Diamond were the last time The Black Crowes would raise goose bumps on my forearms, Whoa Mule arrives and completely blows me away. Quite simply, Whoa Mule is pure genius and could very well end up being the best single of the year. All these songs combine with a few other interesting tales to form a complete and engaging album from beginning to end and one that happily fits right beside The Crowes’ very best efforts.

With harmonica, mandolin, steady guitar, and a re-energized Chris Robinson warbling his heart out, War Paint is a fine classic rock album that will stand the test of time. Enjoy it now, enjoy it 10 years from now, and give it to your kids to enjoy when they’re ready because this is timeless music done right. It’s been a while since I’ve enjoyed anything new from The Black Crowes but I’m proud to admit War Paint is a pleasant surprise that fills the holes in the current classic rock landscape to a “T.”

Best Songs: Whoa Mule, Locust Street, Oh Josephine, Wounded Bird, Goodbye Daughters of the Revolution, Wee Who See the Deep