The Black Crowes

The departure (via fax) of guitarist Mark Ford, whose work over the years has helped the Crowes avoid boilerplate southern rock, makes Warpaint a somewhat transitional affair, seven long years in the making. Faced with all the personal and professional turbulence, the band retreats into a well-trod comfort zone: blues-heavy rockers ("Wounded Bird") and power ballads ("There's Gold in Them Hills"). Overall, it isn't their best, but when "Goodbye Daughters of the Revolution" opens with a tambourine groove and Exile guitars, it demonstrates how well they've aged.

Warpaint is the first studio album from the Black Crowes in seven years — not that you can
really tell. The Crowes still bang out that old-school boogie that might be three or four
decades old if it wasn't brand-new. All the obvious ingredients that fueled their 1990 debut,
Shake Your Money Maker, are still in place, from singer Chris Robinson's Jagger swagger to
the band's Faces-style barroom juking. Even Robinson's battles with his brother/... More >