The Black Crowes
By Your Side (Columbia)
by Martin Popoff
Well, can’t say I haven’t asked for it before, a knock-it-about rock record from these boys that would catch us croakin’ and crowin’ stadium anthems like skinny days of yore. But durn it if I wasn’t getting comfortable with a new type of godlike sweet justice the boys were exuding as of late, this heavenly drip into the soup of the new Dead (no one band could possibly attain, so we have Phish, Blues Traveller, Dave Matthews, and the Allmans). But that’s now gone, and what we have is a true back-to-the-roots record that, dare I say, marks a dumbing down, The Black Crowes (switched bassist, and only one guitarist: Chris) regressing into the space between Shake Your Money Maker and The Southern Harmony And Musical Companion. So it’s a complete sell-out-back, still a very good collection of songs by a unique l’il chemistry set, but I can’t help feeling the fix is on.
(www.blackcrowes.com)