 |  | One of the greatest southern rock albums ever. A must have. |  |
The Black Crowes weren't taken too nicely by critics during their heyday. A lot of critics at the time (and still today) called them mediocre hacks and a "retro band," unfamiliar with the works of modern rock bands and ripping off nearly every great band of the late 1960's to early 1970's. This criticism must've affected the Crowes dearly, becuase a lot of anger, tension, and frustration can be felt in their 1994 masterpiece, Amorica. This, my friends, is the peak. Gone is the Stones-Faces-drunk swagger of Moneymaker and Southern Harmony, replaced by a tougher, syncopated sound that results in the heaviest album the Black Crowes have ever done. The guitars are louder, the vocals are angrier, the songs are tighter in arrangement, it's the best album they ever did. Right from the get-go, Amorica grabs you by the ears and never lets go during it's fifty-minute duration. Gone gets things started with a rough grungy riff that feels contemporary and old at the same time. A Conspiracy also continues the balls-to-the-wall rock and roll feel of the record, with Chris Robinson spitting out his most venomous lyrics to date (Say try your adam's apple/You talk it try it bite it right?/So now you want to fight?/Ok/Let's step outside). What's really interesting about this record is that it feels new while still having one step in the past. For all the talk about The Black Crowes sounding like an old band, there are definetly moments on this album where the grunge scene in Seattle seemed to affect them. The Zeppelin-drenched Cursed Diamond, with it's ascending chorus, comes to mind. It sounds like something Soundgarden would've wrote, had Chris Cornell not wrote so many Sabbath riffs in his time. Also, the band gets a little more psychedelic in their arrangements, with Santana (High Head Blues) and the Allman Brothers (She Gave Good Sunflower) influences coming out of their personality. Marc Ford's guitar playing has never been better. The psychedelic Middle-eastern guitar solos he throws throughout the whole record give the album a very 'acidy' feel, resulting in a strange and exotic world that Amorica brings to the listener. P.25 London seems to be a little influenced by modern rock bands at the time (Could they've possibly been listening to Stone Temple Pilots or Tool for the talk box vocals? Who knows.). Also, the band seems to pull out some unpredictable brilliance on this album, starting with the gorgeous Ballad In Urgency, with it's psychdelic keyboard-and-bass coda with birds chirping, and segueing into Wiser Time. (A brilliant segue too. The slowly cascading guitar chords and bent southern leads really does put to mind a tired band getting burnt out on the road.) Downtown Money Waster is another wow moment, as the band invokes the low down dirty blues of Taj Mahal. Finally, Descending is a gorgous ballad with incredible keyboard playing by Ed Harsch. This is the Crowes at their absolute best. Reccomended to music lovers everywhere, it's one of the best albums of the 90's, and one of the last 30 years.
August 15, 2008| | | The Best Crowes Album And Maybe The Best Album of the 1990s | |
It's often been said that a talented band usually hits its stride around its second or third album. The Black Crowes perfectly exemplify this theory with Amorica, their immortal third album from 1994. Until 2008's Warpaint, this was the Crowes' most creative, inspired and dreamy period. Every composition on this album is a winner, from start to finish. Standout tracks? Every one! The "Ballad of Urgency/Wiser Time" sequence is IMHO the Crowes' masterpiece. This is the Sticky Fingers or What's Going On of the 1990s, a well-constructed and tightly-played collection of songs with varying intensity but underlying common ground. If you are new to the Black Crowes, start here!
March 10, 2008I was working in a music store when this was released. I knew who this group was and had seen them on SNL many times. I became an instant fan with this cd. While I like many genres of music, I am not a typical rock fan. This cd made a real Black Crowes Fan out of me. They are funky, edgy and just all around naughty on this one. They would probably give one helluva party on the road. LOL
February 27, 2008More reviews at Amazon.com ...
