Cinderella

The Black Crowes' 1990 debut is a quality slab of classic rock revivalism, but Heartbreak Station, released the same year, is way cooler. Where the Crowes cut Sticky Fingers with tender Rod Stewart, Cinderella injected Beggars Banquet full of AC/DC's manic virility and need to drill grooves straight into our noggins. Rattling with congas, densely layered horns and cowbells as big as the Liberty Bell, beer jammers like "Love's Got Me Doing Time" and "Sick for the Cure" are prime blues rock.

Like too many hard-rock albums in the last year or so, the latest by the mall-metal stalwarts
in Cinderella is a blatant bid for the respect of the non-MTV cognoscenti – a dubious
distinction for a genre that thrives on upsetting parents and rock critics rather than
begging their approval. The mode is classic hippie-era (i.e., premetal) white blues, and as
with the equally reverent roots moves so many New Wave garage bands made a... More >