Customer Reviews

Southern Harmony & Musical Companion

5 star:		(75)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A friend bought this disc for me when I got my first cd player. Although I had only heard a handful of Black Crowes tunes before, I played the cd constantly since, well, it was my only one. Almost 10 years later, "Southern Harmony.." remains one of my favorite albums of all time.

This cd is what rock and roll is all about. It's gritty, it's bluesy and it grabs your attention and holds it until the very last song. My all-time favorite "Thorn in My Pride" starts out slow and ends up like a gospel choir coming at you full speed ahead. "Bad Luck Blue Eyes.." is the quintessential blues ballad, served up with a pack of smokes and some sloe gin. "My Morning Song" touches on every emotion you have and when you think that you just can't take any more, Chris Robinson leads you right into the soulful cover of Bob Marley's "Time Will Tell." In between, every single song does it's individual part to come together and make one of the most finely-tuned albums of the decade.

"Southern Harmony..." captures the true spirit of the Black Crowes and the true heart of rock music. This is a must-have album for anyone.

Sometimes i need a fix that only this album can provide. It also begs to be played loud. This album starts off like a great batting lineup with the incredible "Sting Me". Just when you didn't think there could be a better song we are reminded why "Remedy" was the single. Nice Rhodes piano and scatting by Chris. "Thorn In My Pride" is one of the great slower songs as well as the great riff in "Sometimes Salvation". Chris goes gospel as if pleading his case to St. Peter himself. Another favorite is "My Morning Song". This album is only enhanced by the Gospel singers and loosed-bearings endings. It's as inspired as the classic "Every Picture Tells a Story", and is the Crowes best.

Yes, that's RAWK, not just rock, but RAWK. From beginning to end, this album blew me away the first time I heard it, and about 1,000 listens later, now that I've heard and realized many of the album's intricacies that were inapparent on first listen, it blows me away even more now. Listen to the intro and through the first verse of Sting Me, the first song, and you'll swear you're listening to the Rolling Stones, with a different, more soulful singer (Chris Robinson). However, these guys can rock in more way than one, which they immediately prove in the next song, Remedy, which has to be my personal favorite Crowes song, with it's incredibly catchy, hard-driven guitar from Rich Robinson, and a great performance from the always superb Chris. The album then mellows down only slightly for the next four songs, but the volume drop only serves to enhance Chris's down-home Southern soul-filled singing, and some incredible lead guitar from Marc Ford, who isn't with the Crowes anymore, but proves here to be an awesome, underrated soloist with a very unique style. Then comes the 7-8-9 combo of Black Moon Creeping, No Speak No Slave, and My Morning Song, which, in my opinion is one of the best 1-2-3 punches for pure rock value in history; think Whole Lotta Love-What Is & What Should Never Be-Heartbreaker from Led Zeppelin II in terms of how hard these three songs rock. As one critic said, Black Moon Creeping features the dirtiest, nastiest guitar tone ever put on vinyl, with a bass-heavy, heavily distorted wah giving the song great grit. However, this tone compares nothing to the wah tone on the following song, No Speak No Slave, during the solo. I literally jumped out of my chair when I heard the wah section of the solo on this track for the first time; absolutely MUST be heard to be believed. The entire song, No Speak No Slave, in fact, NEEDS to be heard; sounds like Zeppelin in their prime. My Morning Song rocks just as hard, and after these three songs you need a break, so the low-key cover of Bob Marley's Time Will Tell will provide you with that to close off the album, reminding you that not only do these guys RAWK, but they make music you can FEEL, with Southern SOUL, which is what Marley had, and is what the Crowes add to not just this track but the whole album. This album, in my opinion, deserves to be right up there with the great rock albums of all time, i.e. Led Zeppelin IV, Pink Floyd's Dark Side of The Moon, etc.

Certainly a strong contender for their best. Not a bad apple in the bunch. But for me, "Sometime Salvation" alone is worth the price of admission. It`s gripping, powerful and incredibly soulful. I love the stop-start tug of the guitars. Chris Robinson is positively gut-wrenching when he sings lines like, "You can lead a horse to water/ But faith is another matter." This song just rips my soul.

In truth, I could gush about any of these songs and they fit together really well, too. There`s a running theme of dealing with addiction and related relationships. From the confusion of mixed feelings and the double-edged message in the opener "Sting Me" to the redemption of the Zeppelinesque electric slide of "My Morning Song," this is a completely cohesive, compelling album.
The last song is actually a faithful and soulful cover of Bob Marley`s "Time Will Tell" with its poignant lyric, "Think you`re in heaven but you`re living in hell."

This is ("was" I guess I should say?) a top-notch band that played old-school rock with their own modern sensibilities. Even the backup singers on this album are outstanding. I`m here to tell ya, these guys are very, very good.

The Black Crowes are so aggressively out of fashion in 2002 they may as well be obsolete. In fact they are defunct, having split recently due to myriad factors. Their brand of bluesy, decadent, gritty rock n' roll has never been commercially viable since Guns n Roses exploded onto an unsuspecting world in the late 80s, around the same time the Crowes did. The Crowes were a world aspart from the mighty GNR though: thoughtful where Guns' were vicious, soulful where they were brutal, tender when they were racous. That the Black Crowes have not received any notable media attention for near to a decade is a criminal act in itself, challenged by a string of wonderful, original albums, of which this recording is the true standout.
For their second effort, the Crowes spent time and took a more progressive approach than in their debut 'Shake your Money maker'. Touches of gospel choir and soul permeate the album, easily sliding in alongside their more traditional brand of heavily Stones/Faces influenced funky rock n' roll swagger.
Opening with the pummeling 'Sting Me' and 'Remedy', two back to back classics, the Crowes instantly set the tone for a wonderful hours work. 'Sting me' is a speedy, self effacing stream of consciousness, while 'Remedy' is a swooping plea for help. Both songs are given an interesting twist by the use of female backing singers.
Following this 'Thorn in my pride' is a masterful ballad, executed as only the Crowes can, while 'Sometimes salvation' is a stroke of Southern fried genius, introducing a jaunty tempo and massively emotive vocals into the mix.
Later on, 'No speak no slave' and 'My morning song' round of the album in triumphant fashion: these are two of the Crowes best recordings. 'No Speak No Slave' is a bile infused, stomping rock tune, while 'My morning song' is more melodic and lengthy, with an ambitious instrumental interlude accounting for much of this length. A loving rendition of Bob Marley's 'Time Will Tell' closes the album finally on a reflective, low key note.
I have owned this album for many years now, and still listen to it regularly. The Crowes may be derivative yet there is no doubt they are hugely talented: every player on this album is world class.
Buy this album if you want a breath of fresh air from today's radically different music scene, if you want to be temporarily transported back to another, purer time, or if you merely enjoy great rock music. Buy this album if you are new to the band, if you have heard other material, or even if you despise this type of music.
A wonderfully varied, polished and thoughtful album, recommended to all.

After the 80's ended its decade of nearly 100% trash, I thought I would have to listen to 60's & 70's music forever to get that fist clenching "pump" of true classic rock. Then this album came around in '92 -- a "classic" in its own right -- and I don't use this term lightly. While I love the Crowes, I feel that this album is their finest by far. In the context of classic rock overall, I feel that Southern Harmony is the best album (chronologically speaking) since Pink Floyd's, "The Wall" in 1979, and there has been no album since to touch it. "Sometimes Salvation" is intense -- or "heavy" (as the Crowes might describe it) and "My Morning Song"are two standouts -- but all songs on the album are fantastic. Last two Crowes albums are fair -- I hope they can duplicate the genius of Southern Harmony once again. Buy it!

Not enough can be said about the Southern Harmony and Musical Companion (an apt title). But I'll try. This is the album the Rolling Stones wish they could have made, during their Southern/Country excursions -- not to knock the Stones at all, this album just rocks. Somewhere on the Family Tree of Rock, there's a branch that ends with this exquisite flower of an album. Any time I see a magazine or whatever with the "Top 100" rock albums, if the SHaMC isn't in the Top 20, that list is garbage.

Throughout the tracks, the Crowes reach full groove -- filling all the sonic space. The musicianship is awesome and it's clear the band was enjoying this time in the studio. Chris Robinson's energy is at typical peak, and I find his singing is filled with immense warmth and passion, ironic considering almost all of the lyrics appear to be bitter jabs (a' la Dylan) against a former lover. After years of returning to this one, it's clear it meets the ultimate test of Album Rock, which is improvement over time, like a fine wine.

Wow! That is the first word that comes to mind when describing The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion. The Crowes, along with Cry Of Love and Brother Cane were such a welcome alternative in the grunge-soaked 90's. Every track on this album is a ball buster! "Remedy" and "My Morning Song" are amazing. The guitar riffs in those songs alone make TSHAMC worth owning. Check out the dobro in "Hotel Illness". Each song kind of blends into the next, making this album one big jam fest. I bought this on tape when it was originally released, and it became my soundtrack for the summer of '92. That was back in the days of real music made by talented musicains. This was by far the best Crowes album ever made! It is also one of the best rock albums period! If I ever get stranded on a desert island, I hope TSHAMC is with me. I'm sure this work of art makes other late twenty-somethings, like myself, wonder how we went from rock masterpieces like TSHAMC to shameful crap like American Idol. Buy this, it will change how you think about music. And if the Crowes ever reunite, for the love of God see them live!

I hate to beat a dead horse, but this album truly is one of the greatest rock and roll records of *all time*. If you liked "Layla" and "Sticky Fingers" and "Fillmore East" and you have not heard "The Southern Harmony" buy it right now before you change your mind. Every single tune on here is staggering. It's amazing how much difference a year on the road made for these guys. It almost sounds like a completely different band from "Moneymaker". The songwriting, arrangements and playing all matured leaps and bounds from their debut album. This is truly the Black Crowes in their heyday, at their best, playing *REAL AMERICAN ROCK AND ROLL*, something that is decidely absent from today's soul-less airwaves. From the black choir and the roar of the Hammond B-3 to Robinson's screaming vocals and the overdriven Fender amps, this album will have you in church and it will have you "drunk on Sunday" all at the same time. Buy it, buy it, buy it! get it?!

Breaking into the limelight at a time when rock music needed a serious shot in the arm, the Black Crowes, with their second release, beat the Stones, Aerosmith, and Faces, at their own game some twenty-odd years after the fact with "The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion". The most disappointing thing about this album was that it was not released between 1972-74, for, had it surfaced during this time period, it would be regarded as one of rock's great albums along with "Exile On Main Street", "Led Zeppelin II", and "Abbey Road". The second most disappointing point concerning the record is that it represents the band's zenith so early in their career. Ten years later, though still an excellent group with a ton of integrity, the Crowes have yet to match the near-perfection of this raw, raucos release.

When the Black Crowes emerged on the scene (thanks to MTV) around 1990, the best blues-based rock music had to offer was Guns 'n' Roses and a bunch of androgynous "hair-bands". Living Colour was great, but admittedly a bit too technical, and Guns was good, as well (though they still wore a bit too much hair spray at this time), but the Crowes harkened back to a distant era--when bands thought less about hygiene and their wardrobe, and more about plugging into their Marshall, Fender, or Vox amps and playing from the gut.

Their first album "Shake Your Moneymaker", appropriately plucked from a Led Zep title, paved the way for their breath-taking second album. Written and recorded in a ridiculously short time frame, the album is low on polish and high on grit. The forced ejection of guitarist Jeff Cease, and subsequent substitution of southern rock guitar god Marc Ford added a looser, but more talented musician to the mix. Ford's playing (especially his lead parts) on this album dwarf any guitar work Rich Robinson managed on any of the Crowes' releases (though Rich is admittedly the songwriting force behind the band). Tracks such as "My Morning Song" and "No Speak No Slave" provide some delicious, oddly-timed solos that can't be found on any other Crowes' album. Even the simple, open-G tuned descending riff of "Remedy" comes across as a classic rock staple.

In addition, lead singer Chris Robinson's vocals and lyrics are amongst his best here. Each song provides a painful, but soulful expression of a vocalist who kept the best of Rod Stewart and Greg Allman (at least in his emotional tones), and ignored the obnoxious posturing of his peers. Each song on the album begs listening--even the seemingly out of place Bob Marley ballad "Time Will Tell", which actually fits perfectly as a closer to a high energy, highly emotional record.

As rock music sits and atrophies here in the year 2002, the genre begs for a follow-up revival that even the Crowes couldn't produce with their latest effort "Lions". But how heartening it is to know we need travel back in time only ten years for a true testimony to simple balls-out rock--"The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion" is today's rock fountain of youth.