The Black Crowes, a name that is strangely familiar to nearly everyone these days, have been one of the biggest names in post-Allman Brothers Southern rock for some time now, having released seven albums (and seven live albums) over their 20-year career. The band's future was in serious jeopardy in 2001 when lead singer Chris Robinson and his guitarist brother Rich Robinson butted heads (? la the Gallagher brothers of Oasis) and, for the sake of their sanity, decided to take a break.
The group's first new album since the hiatus, "Warpaint," is a somewhat triumphant return to the throne for the Georgia boys. While none of the tracks have the same catchiness or shimmer that their previous hits "She Talks to Angels" and "Hard to Handle" had, none of them are repetitious, and the album flows well as a whole from beginning to end.
The first track, "Goodbye Daughters of the Revolution," starts off with a lazy, marching drumbeat from Steve Gorman, adding instruments one by one and building into a full-blown Southern-style chorus, with Chris Robinson crooning in classic blues fashion, "I've been restless, baby, I've been wild/ Caught up in a fever dream/ Well, come on and save me, child."
"Walk Believer Walk," the second cut from "Warpaint," slows down the tempo and cranks up the soul. The tune builds, much like "Daughters of the Revolution," this time starting with a chunking, discordant guitar riff from Rich Robinson. The song crawls along at the perfect gait, reminding the listener that the song is a judgmental take on the tormented trudge any "believer" is forced to take. The lyrics only further this point, reading, "So walk believer walk/ Straight into the sun/ Walk believer walk/ Your word ain't ever done."
By the third song, the law of averages would predict a less-than-stellar tune, and gosh darn it, it's right again. When "Oh Josephine" rolls around, the audience is already in a lull from "Walk Believer Walk," and a good upbeat track would fit perfectly to raise us back to fever pitch, but instead the listener is offered another slow, uninspired Southern ballad. While lead guitarist Luther Dickinson, formerly of the North Mississippi All Stars, can usually hold his own in the mix of the band, he takes far too large a share in "Oh Josephine," leading his slightly clichéd slides to become incredibly trite and predictable by the two-minute mark.
Other notable tracks include "Movin' On Down the Line," one of the more jam-inspired takes on the album. While the verses and chorus are nothing too spectacular, the harmonica solos in the bridge make the first three minutes worthwhile. Chris Robinson's warbling voice is also particularly well suited to the semi-tone sliding that is highlighted throughout the piece.
"Wounded Bird" is a straightforward Southern rock onslaught, complete with Robinson's trademark half-talking, half-singing while bouncing between two notes for eight measures. The chorus of "Wounded Bird" is probably the most memorable of the album, but that said, it isn't likely that it will show up in the top 40 anytime soon.
The most old-timey and reverence-filled song, in the style of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, "There's Gold in Them Hills," is strangely the standout track of "Warpaint." The acoustic guitar- and piano-driven verses are well accented by Dickinson's slide guitar, and the storyline that Chris Robinson unfolds meshes extremely well with his grave yet youthful voice. Fittingly, the lyrics tell of a young man who goes to make his fortune in the West, saying, "There's gold in them hills/ I heard the man cry/ There's gold in them hills/ For the taking/ It's a one-way ticket down a river of lies/ There's gold in them hills/ If you make it."
In the end, "Warpaint" fits into the genre The Black Crowes have been assigned: revivalist rock. Nothing on the album is shockingly new or different, and none of the performers are extraordinarily good at their instruments, but on the whole, the Crowes have put together a solid blues/Southern/revivalist rock effort that is worthy of at least one listen.
