The Black Crowes

By Your Side

Not MONEY or HARMONY, but a welcome return to the old days

Review Score:

(8/10)
After the highly experimental AMORICA (1994) and THREE SNAKES & ONE CHARM (1996), the Black Crowes were at a musical and emotional crossroads. Chris & Rich Robinson were at each other's throats, and the band's already small fan base was beginning to disappear. So what does a band do about this: return to the sound that made them so popular in the first place. And that they do with BY YOUR SIDE. By this time, I'll guess that the Crowes were never going to come up with another masterpiece like SHAKE YOUR MONEY MAKER (1990) and SOUTHERN HARMONY & MUSICAL COMPANION (1992). But since the sound of those albums was what kickstarted their careers, there's no reason not to go back to it. "Kickin' My Heart Around" showed their old fans they still could turn a good musical trick, and for the first time in half a decade, Rich Robinson's guitar is in the forefront. It's that instrument that anchors such highlights as "HorseHead", "Only A Fool", and "By Your Side" which are also successfully augmented by a female chorus. The only thing really missing from BY YOUR SIDE is the cleverly conceived song titles which often stole the show on their previous albums. But, I guess with a return to a simpler, rootsier sound, the song titles should be just as simple. The drugs and alcohol may be out of their systems for good, but BY YOUR SIDE shows that the Black Crowes still have a lot of life left in them. And those skeptical critics should probably keep those gravestones hidden away for a little while.

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