Disco de The Black Crowes: “The Southern Harmony And Musical Companion”

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.

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.

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!

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!

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.