eMusic

Start Your Trial

The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion

by

The Black Crowes

 
  • Pick
The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion
view larger image View Larger

Rate it!

Avg: 4.5 (264 ratings)

The swaggering debauchery of early '70s Rolling Stones blended with Southern-rock bravado

  • We Say...

    Call it neoclassic rock. Formed in the mid '80s, Atlanta's Black Crowes have become erstwhile British blues-rock revivalists of a convincingly high order. On their excellent second album, released in 1992, the Crowes blend the swaggering, intoxicated debauchery of early '70s Rolling Stones, Rod Stewart and the Faces with the Southern-rock bravado of groups like Delaney & Bonnie and the Allman Brothers. The ten tunes on The Southern Harmony And Musical Companion (the title references a popular shape-note vocal anthology) average out to about five minutes each, lending even more of a loose-limbed nonchalance to the proceedings.

    Guitarist Rich Robinson delivers Keith Richards economy and Ron Wood expressionism in a single package. And what brother Chris lacks in vocal originality ("It's hard to talk with a Novocaine tongue," he notes in "Hotel Illness") is augmented by a hot female backing trio. The Crowes break no new ground either lyrically or musically — but that's beside the point when you're slinging timeless rock troof on the order on "Remedy," "Sting Me," "Black Moon Creeping," and, well, pretty much everything else on the album. The album wraps up with a dusty acoustic version of Bob Marley's "Time Will Tell," as perfectly ambivalent a way to wrap up a supersolid ode to rock's timeless mysteries as these master reenacters might have devised.

  • They Say...

    The addition of the more technically gifted guitarist Marc Ford and a full-time organist gives the Black Crowes room to stretch out on The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion, perhaps the band's finest moment. Using Rich Robinson's descending chord progressions as a base, the band grooves its way through a remarkably fresh-sounding collection of Faces-like rockers and ballads, tearing into the material with flair and confidence and really coming into its own as a top-notch rock & roll outfit. But while the focus is undeniably on the band's musical chemistry, Southern Harmony also boasts a strong collection of songs, striking a perfect balance between the concise Shake Your Money Maker and their later, more jam-oriented records. While there aren't as many obvious singles as on their debut album, The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion is the best expression of the Crowes' ability to take a classic, tried-and-true sound and make it their own. [The CD reissue appended a pair of bonus tracks: a "Slow" version of "Sting Me," and "99 Lbs."]

  • You Say...

    Write a Review

    I would like to say...

    Artist: The Black Crowes

    Album: The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion

    Review Title: (maximum 50 characters)

    Your Review: (maximum 1,000 characters)

    Cancel

    Please keep your comments to the recordings themselves, and be courteous and respectful. Thanks! For further info, read our Community Guidelines.

The indie iTunes — Hardcore music fans are migrating to eMusic, the iTunes Music Store's cheaper, cooler cousin.


Rolling Stone
Start Your Trial

© 1998-2009 eMusic.com Inc. eMusic and the eMusic logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks in the USA or other countries. All rights reserved.

All Music Guide © 1992 - 2009 All Media Guide, LLC
Portions of content provided by All Music Guide, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC

Facebook®, YouTube, Flickr™ and Wikipedia® are registered trademarks of their respective owners, Facebook Inc., Google, Inc., Yahoo! Inc. and Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Neither Facebook Inc., Google, Inc., Yahoo! Inc. nor Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. are partners or sponsors of eMusic. eMusic uses the Facebook, Flickr, YouTube and Wikipedia API but is not endorsed or certified by Facebook, Flickr, YouTube and Wikipedia. eMusic does not pre-screen, monitor, endorse nor assume any liability for websites, contents, products, services or claims made by Facebook, YouTube, Flickr™ and Wikipedia®.