Black Crowes' show flies, even if new album doesn't



By Nick Carter
of the Journal Sentinel staff 
October 11, 1996

Despite two decades of punk, new wave, rap and whatever, old-school blues-rock is still a popular and potent mix -- always was, is and probably will be. 

That elementary point was reinforced Wednesday night at the Eagles Ballroom, where Atlanta-bred rockers the Black Crowes performed. The band managed to draw a 3,000-plus crowd despite the trajectory of its recently released CD, "Three Snakes and One Charm," already plummeting on the charts. 

The Crowes made out best Wednesday when sticking to their derivative and rootsy rehashes, exemplified on their debut album, "Shake Your Moneymaker" (an Elmore James song) and its follow-up, "Southern Harmony and Musical Companion." 

Known for their no-frills live approach, the BCs came out simply and without pretension, attired in jeans and button-downs, with lead singer Chris Robinson dressed head-to-toe in black. 

Robinson, with his best scarecrow-limbed Mick Jagger imitation, had the packed ballroom under his thumb when sticking to the back catalog: "Twice As Hard," "Sometimes Salvation," "A Conspiracy," "Tied Up and Swallowed" -- all bluesy rock powerhouses that would have a similar effect regardless whether they were performed in 1972 or 1996. 

The BCs' litany of past, Stones-influenced hits contrasts with songs from the new release. The band misguidedly stretches the basic shells of the new songs into interminably long musical sagas, which wind up as more bluesy psychedabble than anything resembling a musical statement. 

But the ballroom crowd didn't seem to mind much, even during the new tracks or the long between-song pauses that had the band riffin', reminiscent of the Rolling Stones on "Midnight Rambler," with Robinson blowing away on harp.