Customer Reviews

Amorica

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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!

I 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

the black crowes released amorica in 1994.amorica was the black crowes third album.after the excellent first two crowes albums;money maker and southern harmony it,s safe to say amorica is a bit of a departure.amorica may or may not satisfy as much as the first two albums do, but their is much to like on this album.i would buy this album for 'high head blues' alone! in my opinion 'high head blues' is the finest track on the album and my favorite crowes tune next to remedy and sister luck.high head blues has what sounds like a santana influence going on with it.other great cuts on this somewhat overlooked album are;gone,wiser time,cursed diamond,ballad in urgency and conspiracy.the prices here at amazon are great.this cd is $7.98 a very good price if you are a collector!

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.

I remember greatly anticipating the release of this record when I had read a briefing in Rolling Stone magazine a good 4 months before this finally came out. Its no secret that the Brothers Robinson are notorious for not getting along and being musical siblings, this is nothing new. However, there was controversy surrounding the construction of this projected album from day one. At first, it was proported that this would be a double album and that there would also be an accompanying short film to be tied in with the release as Chris Robinson himself had made statements regarding it as such. At this point, Chris and lead guitarist Marc Ford had bonded very tightly and proceeded to work on material in connection with the Crowes, but also other projects as well. Chris and Rich were feuding quite a bit(in fact during the subsquent tour in support of Amorica, they rode in separate buses) and as with any successful rock band, all of the excessive trappings began to unravel on them. Rich and Chris continously fought over tracklisting and even the album cover art supposedly held up the release for a time period.

What was supposed to be known as TALL became Amorica and it was scaled down to a single disc as opposed to a double. However, the sounds that came out of this disc when played, totally showed a band that not only had progressed as a unit, but had leaped a bit forward in their musical style and identity. Gone is a vicious smack in the face opener that contains congas, a huge drum mix and a pulverising riff that rattles your insides. A Conspiracy jolts right in and has a bit of funk interlaid within its groovy rock tendencies. High Head Blues has some elements of latin flavor, set against a melody that rocks your socks off. The band continues to grow and flourish with the laid-back acoustic/electric number Nonfiction that has some tasty leads from Marc Ford. She Gave Good Sunflower has a psychedelic edge to it, backed with a melody that is intense and builds from strength to strength once again, courtesy of Ford's beautiful guitar lines within the bridge of the song.

P.25 London is a slinky rough blues jam that has some dirty slide guitar backed with Chris' harp lines and is a bit of an oddity within the wealth of the material presented so far, but a solid tune nonetheless. Next is Ballad in Urgency which is a melancholy song that has alot of emotion running thru its tones and gives way into the classic Wiser Time; the archetypal Crowes mini-anthem perhaps. This song has an uplifting melody that builds and builds into a powerful piece of music and has become a staple within the Crowes live shows over the years. Following Wiser is an acoustic ditty called Downtown Money Waster which has the feel of a late night impromptu jam in its simplicity and sparseness. Descending closes out Amorica and is a piano driven ballad of sorts that has a simple melody and a laid-back feel of comfort to it. Amorica's a great listen despite the eventual posthumous release of Tall in the Lost Crowes Collection,(which does offer some early roughs and unreleased tracks, save that for next review) it remains another peak performance and further showing deeper songwriting qualities to boot. This recording is a great slab of mid-nineties rock and roll. 4 and a half stars.

This album came out about the time Live Throwing Copper and Alanis Morisettes Jagged Little Pill came out. I liked both of which went on too sell 10 million and 30 million copies worldwide. I also bought Amorica around the same time which sold only 500,000 copies. Sorry but the difference in sales between the first 2 albums and Amorica is not the best way too judge this masterpiece. The other 2 caught lightning in a bottle. As they say timing is everything. Of which unfortunately; the crowes magnum opus, had bad timng and closed minded expectations. Most people would consider Lives Throwing Copper to be their first album. Hardly anyone ever heard of Live or Mental Jewelery until they became big from THrowing Copper. Jagged Little Pill was definitely Morrisettes first big U.S. release. So they had no expectations of prior albums to be judged by. Look were they`re follow albums went after these landmark sounding albums. Well amorica would have been a great first album just as throwing copper and jagged little pill were.

The first two albums essentially sabotaged their chance for growth that took place in this album. They became typecast and victims of their own genius. None of this recording would have sounded natural on the first album. I guess some narrow minded simpletons just want cookie cutter stuff. I love she gave good sunflower, wiser time and its transition into ballad in urgency. Most of these tracks though admittingly will have too grow on u. NOt as hook based, or radio friendly. But is listener friendly none the less.
I did not know these guys had a poigniant depth to their music. The first 2 were for the most part,str8 rock. This is more a well rounded effort with depth.
Worthy of at least the 4 million copies of the first album.

On their third album, Amorica, the Black Crowes continue to expand their musical palette even if the songs aren't as good as on their first two albums. This album is less about the soul stylings of The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion and more akin to both the laid-back feel and the jamming of the Allman Brothers Band and the Grateful Dead as witnessed on "Cursed Diamond", "Downtown Money Waster", and "Ballad in Urgency" among others. The first two tracks, "Gone", and "A Conspiracy", are not only the hardest but also the catchiest. "P.25 London" has a nasty riff that works well while "Wiser Time" mixes a country feel with a propulsive beat and a great chorus and is one of their better songs. The tunes "High Headed Blues" and "Nonfiction" are decent enough but seem incomplete with their abrupt endings (kind of like "Royal Orleans" from Led Zeppelin's Presence album). The album does end on a strong note with "Descending", a really cool tune that's heavy on piano and the slide guitars providing a lot of color. While not one of their best, Amorica is a good album that is certainly worth owning if you like the band's more popular works.

I have heard several of these songs live. It was enjoyable to hear the studio versions. This rocks and rolls. It was a great pruchase.

This is another strong release from a grossly underrated band. Great condition. I'm about to complete my Black Crowes collection... AAAAA+!

I had read that this was the one of their best yet. I say NOT. I find it rather boring. It is all journeyman work, but not inspired.