The Black Crowes & Wilco – Willin’ *VIDEO*

The Black Crowes & Wilco, featuring John Popper

Back in the days of Napster (probably about 1999) I was just getting into the Black Crowes & downloaded (via a friend’s computer running AOL ) a ton of stuff including a cover of some song I never heard and assumed was a Crowes original, “Willin.” It was live and featured some other band I also had never heard at the time, Wilco. I listened to this song many, many times from a cd that I burned of Crowes songs that I had downloaded. It got embedded in my brain. Eventually I looked up Wilco and thereby found Uncle Tupelo and a plethora of great music not heard by the masses. I even got into Little Feat some, as Willin’ is their song but to me, no version (and I’ve listened to quite a few) can compare to the Crowes/Wilco versions from the Horde Tour of 1995. Now I don’t know if what I downloaded that day was the exact same version shown here (sounds pretty close, don’t remember a John Popper harp solo), but one could say that on that fateful day I was shown the door to the world of “music they don’t play on the radio.” All of the music I listen to now I have come to, one way or another, from finding this song on Napster.

And who says downloading music has to a bad thing?

LiveBlackCrowes.com *FREE DOWNLOAD*

The Black Crowes, probably one of (if not) the best live bands of the past 18 years or so, have started a webservice for downloading the band’s shows. Both current shows will be offered as available, and archive shows will be added from time to time, all from soundboard sources. Shows are avaible in mp3 format ($9.95) and flac format ($14.95), current shows will be also available on cd ($23.00) in the future. If you are one of the first 10,000 to register for the site you’ll get a FREE download of a compilation of the recent “One Night Only” shows featuring songs from the new album Warpaint, old classics and outstanding covers. Check it out, if only for the free offer, it’s well worth it.

Tracklisting for One Night Only FREE EP:

disc one
01. Goodbye Daughters Of The Revolution
02. Poor Elijah – Tribute To Johnson
03. Good Friday
04. Another Roadside Tragedy
05. Rockin’ Chair
06. Darling Of The Underground Press
07. Bad Luck Blue Eyes Goodbye
08. Girl From The North Country
09. Don’t Do It
10. Hey Grandma
11. Torn N Frayed

disc two
01. Sometimes Salvation
02. Sting Me
03. Wounded Bird
04. I Don’t Know Why
05. Sister Luck
06. Oh Josephine
07. Waiting Guilty
08. Nonfiction
09. Seeing Things
10. Lets Go Get Stoned

Live Black Crowes (Free Download)

T.D.R. Review for Warpaint

Review: The Black Crowes – Warpaint

With news of The Black Crowes recording a new album, Warpaint (out March 4th), one knew that this album would either signal the end of the band or signal a new beginning. If Warpaint turned out to an an album of the Crowes trying to make more “Black Crowes songs” (much like By Your Side turned out to be) the band would likely lose what’s left of their devoted fan-base and fade in to rock and roll history. However, if the band could come together and make an honest, mature record reflecting on where they are today and not try to recreate their masterpieces of 10-15 years ago, Warpaint would signal the ushering in a new era of The Black Crowes.

With the release of Warpaint, today is the first day of a new era of The Black Crowes. Warpaint is an explosion of the blues, country, and the rock ‘n’ roll sounds the Crowes have forged their way into music history making. Diverse and dense, the tunes exude a confidence and attitude of a band who knows who they are and where they want to go, “It’s too late to play it safe/So let’s let it all ride” (Oh Josephine). Whether you’re along for the ride is up to you as the opening track (Goodbye Daughters of the Revolution) asks “… don’t you wanna see the ship go down with me?” Warpaint shines on tracks such as “Walk Beleiver Walk”, “Moving On Down the Line”, “Evergreen”, and cover of Reverend Charlie Jackson’s “God’s Got It” which will fit well with the Crowes’ live classics. While the album falters slightly with “Wounded Bird” and “There’s Gold In Them Hills”, songs which would be better suited for an album by Chris Robinson’s New Earth Mud, the album as a whole is the best thing the Black Crowes have done in ten years.

Only time will tell how Warpaint will stack up to the quintessential trio of Black Crowes’ albums (Southern Harmony and Musical Companion, Amorica, and Three Snakes and One Charm) but the fact that it’ll be in the conversation is a sign that the band is moving in the right direction.

Standout Track: Moving On Down the Line

++RECOMMENDED++

 

Chris & Rich in the AT&T Blue Room performing acoustic & talking about the new album.

Blue Room

The Black Crowes – Warpaint (Preview)

As I’ve said before, week from today The Black Crowes release Warpaint to the world. I haven’t been this anxious for an album for as long as I can remember. I’ve been a fan of the Crowes since they played some shows with Jimmy Page back in the fall of 1999 (huge Zeppelin fan back then), and can pretty much say that almost all of the music I listen to these days I came to thru the Crowes. I remember the release day for Lions, the only Crowes release of all new material since I joined the society of Crowe fandom. Worked all day for the DOT (summer internship) and went to Walmart on my way home to pick up the album. I of course had heard and had a copy via napster for weeks prior. Hearing it prior to the official release made getting the actual album less exciting, as the anticipation was gone. Admittedly, I had hoped that the downloaded copy was an alt version and the store bought copy would be different (read better) but it wasn’t and Lions got played a number of times and then went on the shelf to be played at irregular and few and far between intervals. That was a disappointing drive home. It’s not that Lions is a bad album per say, it’s just not the best Black Crowes album. They’re held to a higher standard as they’ve proven that they are arguably the best band of the last 20 years. A ‘bad” Crowes album is still better than 95% of all other albums released in said year.

I tried not to get my hopes up for Warpaint, Eddie and Marc are gone, the band hasn’t put out a great new song in almost 10 years let alone a great album. But after hearing the first song (and only one I’ve heard) I started getting hope that this album wouldn’t be a let down. Add to that Luther Dickinson in the lead guitar slot, expectations rise further. The band then says that they will be playing shows where they will play the new album in it’s entirety before playing a set of older songs. One reads that as the band must really like the new album and have confidence in it to do that. Expectations rise even further. Then I started reading articles such as this one on Jambase by Dennis Cook. I’d say Dennis is probably the best rock writer in the business today (and the only one I read on a regular basis) but I try to temper Dennis’s flowery prose by reminding myself that I’ve never read a disparaging word on the band by him. He has written the liner notes for the Into The Fog DVD and the Lost Crowes archive release. His opinions might have some bias but you have to like what he and the band have to say in the article. Then late last week word gets out that Maxim gave the album 2.5 stars without even hearing the album. And the Crowes call them on it and they admit that they haven’t heard it and made an educated guess of a review. I’m not going to get into the journalistic ethics of what Maxin did, I’m going to say that if Maxim gave a good review of the album I’d be wary. The fact that they rated it poorly, expectations rose further. It’s not like Maxim is known for anything more than mostly naked pretty girls (not that there’s anything wrong with that). Needless to say, I’m back on the Crowes bandwagon and loving every minute of it.

Reviews/Articles/Videos concerning Warpaint

Goodbye Daughters of the Revolution

Chris Robinson’s Song By Song Breakdown

Billboard

Rolling Stone

Special Editions

So a week from now one of my favorite bands, The Black Crowes, will drop on the public their first album in seven years, Warpaint. No, I won’t be posting a review of the album right now as I haven’t heard more then the first song thats posted on their homepage. I’m not a writer for Maxim. I plan on going to Best Buy to purchase the album on cd during my lunch and I have a vinyl copy pre-ordered that comes with a 7″with two bonus songs. Warpaint is also offered in iTunes as many albums these days are. I never understood the point in buying mp3s of an album without getting an actual copy that you hold and look at and read the liner notes while listening to the album. Not that there’s anything wrong with doing that, it’s just not my style. I do have an issue with offering bonus songs as an iTunes pre-order and not making them available to those who buy the actual cd seems wrong. The last Son Volt album had an additional 8 tracks for iTuners. 8 songs, that’s almost an extra album.

Another thing on a similar subject is “Special” or “Deluxe” Editions of albums. Especially albums that are less than say 10 years old. I’m tired of an album coming out and them six months later a “special edition” is put out with additional tracks making the fans of the band who bought the album early to have to choose to buy the album again. The people who would buy the album again are probably the big fans who support said artist by seeing shows and buying other merch from said artist. It seems like the fans are being bilked, likely by the label, for their fandom. And it’s not right. Gotta say that bands such as Wilco do the right thing by putting the bonus tracks/features on their website and require the cd to be loaded in one’s computer to access the bonus features.

Federale – (Repost)

Any fans of Marc Ford (The Black Crowes)? How about Luther Russell (The Freewheelers)? Bassist Fred Trujillo? Blues drummer Jimi Bott? Anyone? In the last year of the previous century these guys played in a band together. Seriously, then did. They, Federale, even recorded a demo for Interscope Records only to be passed over because the label was looking for the next Limp Bizkit. You can’t make this stuff up, nobody would believe you. Oh, one could only wonder what mark this band would have made to the musical landscape had they been given a chance.

Well, wonder no more for the results of those forgotten demo sessions are available for your listening pleasure. Both Russell and Ford take turns with the vocal duties here and the results are a very strong album which if released today would likely do well and could gain some radio airplay, on satalite radio anyways.

For fans of Marc Ford some of these songs may sound familiar. “Hell or Highwater” appears on Ford’s debut It’s About Time, “(It’ll) Be Over Soon” makes an appearance on Ford’s second album Weary and Wired, whose title comes from this song, and “This Ride” was a live staple in early aughts (2000’s) when he played with his backing band The Sinners. I’ll take the versions here to any of those, well maybe not some of those live versions with the The Sinner’s, Marc should give those guys a call, the studio versions for sure.

Federale – The Ventura Sessions – Demos
Recorded in Ventura, CA for Interscope Records
June 1999

01. Getting Bad
02. Mexican Passport
03. This Ride
04. Sandman
05. Back In Our Old Town
06. Be Over Soon
07. Way Past You
08. Kiss The Toad
09. Hell Or Highwater
10. Bajar
11. Landing Gear

Marc Ford – Guitar, Vocals
Luther Russell – Vocals, Guitar
Fred Trujillo – Bass, Vocals
Jimi Bott – Drums

MP3 Link Updated. Also flac files of these demos can be found here: T’s Southern Confort Road House*
*registration required