The Black Crowes

The Black Crowes were never more in your face than they were on By Your Side. The R&B influences from Three Snakes and One Charm are still here and there's still a ton of slide guitar. However, the songs focus more on the riff here more than they had before. One thing you can count on with the Black Crowes is their albums always start and finish strong and By Your Side is no exception. "Go Faster" and "Kickin' My Heart Around" are the best songs here and are played with conviction and vigor. The last two tracks; the catchy "Then She Said My Name" and "Virtue and Vice", are nearly as good. In between the songs range in quality as the title track is a mid-paced rocker that goes gospel in the chorus that works well and "Heavy" has a killer groove while "Diamond Ring" and "Go Tell the Congregation" don't grab you. "HorseHead" is heavy as sin while "Only a Fool" is a cool soul tune. There are no classic tunes but nothing falls flat. All told, By Your Side is not among the band's best but if you're a fan you'll like it.

This is a great CD from a band that simply does not run out of steam! A mixture of the Stones-ish rock and roll as featured on their first two albums, with some gospel-tinged numbers as well--great stuff! Chris and Rich robinson are amazing songwriters! Any Black Crowes fan should not be without this disc in their collection!This album did not sell well back when it was released, and their label subsequently dropped them--a shame, because were it not for the general public's downspiraling of musical tastes back in the late nineties, the album would have done much better. Korn, Limp Bizkit, and other crap were ruling the charts. Mainstream rock wasn't as bad back then as it is now, but starting to get there...the last 20 years or so of the general decline in quality of what the public considers good music just makes my stomach turn.So let's not let the tanking of mainstream rock music ruin our OWN individual tastes! Buy this CD, and support quality blues-rock music! Hang in there!

So, where do you go when you've released 2 commercially viable albums, and 2 artistically viable albums? Why, downhill, of course! After the Black Crowes released their underrated 1996 masterpiece, Three Snakes and One Charm, the band went on tour for a year, and came back to Atlanta to record some songs for their next album, simply called Band. (That's worth another review, for another time.) The album was pretty much more of the same for the Crowes. Jammed out southern rock with hints of psychedelia and soul. However, their record company disaproved of the album, since there was no obvious hit singles (Although, If It Ever Stops Raining became By Your Side, which DID do well on the charts), and told the band they wanted more 'safe' material.The band then scrapped most of the material off of Band, and went to work on their 5th album, By Your Side. Unfortuantly, Marc Ford was fired due to his increasing heroin habit, and Johnny Colt left the band to become a yoga instructor, of all things. The band then hired Sven Pipien to play bass, and Rich took all guitar parts. The band then started writing 'safer' material, harking back to the Shake Your Moneymaker days.Ok, now that that's out of the way, here's what I have to say about this album:Some of it is great. Some of it DOWNRIGHT SUCKS. Sure, there's plenty of kickin' rock and roll on here, but by this point, the Black Crowes were more of a jam band than a pure rock and roll band. What were they doing trying to act like they were 22 again?Also, the production on here is a bit too much. It's way too loud, and there are certain instruments that seem to be drowned out by Rich's guitar playing. I'm glad they got over this weird phase, though there are some gems on this album.To be fair, most of it is good. Go Faster and Kickin' My Heart Around are just good, dirty rock and roll songs with great choruses. By Your Side, however, is Jealous Again Pt.2, and Only A Fool is By Your Side Pt.2. Running out of steam, fellas?However, songs like Horsehead and Welcome To The Goodtimes (the latter reminding me of late 60's The Band) really redeem the record, with some wonderful vocalization and unique choice of instruments.And let's not forget Virtue and Vice, the best song that was never on Southern Harmony. One of the most powerful songs the boys have ever written, it is a great closer and a live staple from the Crowes. Totally redeems the album.All in all, yeah, it's a bit dissapointing. But it's not bad. Just a bit of a downer compared to their earlier work. But if you loved SYM, by all means, get it today. I'll just be listening to Amorica instead.

Product is not new. Case is full of cracks. In fact, the case fell apart into two pieces when I opened it because the hinge was cracked. CD has scratches. Not original manufacturer's wrapping. CD booklet with lyrics was wrinkled and old. Don't buy "new" from Bridge_Media.

There arent many albums that are more fun than this for turning up the volume and testing your eardrums. But the "youre the girl for me...i hope we stay together forever" lyrics get tired really fast. Not all the songs have connect the dot lyrics. "Virtue and Vice" and "Horsehead" are bonafide Crowe's classics. But what about "Heavy"? Perhaps they were intending to be funny with this, but it doesnt work. With lyrics like "The way you put on your clothes, the way you wiggle your toes, the way you scratch your nose" this song , after the cool guitar riff wears off, becomes a skipper and perhaps the most embarrassing song in the Crowes catalogue. But its forgivable because on their next release, they got back to the tortured soul search for enlightenment type lyrics on Lions and again on Warpaint. I guess one trip down the cheeseball highway in a bands career wont taint their legacy.

Great music!

Good CD

this might, along with their debut release, be my favorite Black Crowes album. Chris Robinsons voice is at it's best, the band is rocking, the production is the best of any of their CD's. I couldn't ask for a better Black Crowes CD, the songwriting is the best since the 1st CD. I give it an A

The Black Crowes are a class act; phenomenal musicianship and songwriting and one of the best live bands there is. Live is where these songs would shine. 'By Your Side', the Crowes fifth album, contains some great songs; upbeat, rocking, soulful, but for me, there is something missing from this album. I can't quite put my finger on it but I think it might be Marc Ford, the guitar legend from the previous three albums. Rich Robinson does a grand job playing most, if not all of the guitars, but as a whole, it feels a bit slap-dash, and I miss the slightly sleazy stoned shades of 'The Southern Harmony...' and 'Amorica'. But at least they tried to do something a bit different and hats off to them for that. I'm glad I have it in my collection and let's face it, it kicks the arse off most bands out there today.

Yes

Quick, reliable, scratchless! First cd of Amazon in a while that didn' t cime with broken jewel case. Highly recommended!Album - pure classic. Black Crowes at their best, personally, I am a fan and this might be my favorite TBC album, despite mixed reviews.

Excellent crows album, sounds most like their earlier rock period.

Very good songs well performed - what else can you say? The Black Crowes are still going strong & giving us great laid-back rhythm & blues in their usual style.