THE BLACK CROWES: FREAK 'N' ROLL... INTO THE FOG (2006)
1) (Only) Halfway To
Everything; 2) Sting Me; 3) No Speak No Slave; 4) Soul Singing; 5) Welcome To
The Goodtimes; 6) Jealous Again; 7) Space Captain; 8) My Morning Song; 9)
Sunday Night Buttermilk Waltz; 10) Cursed Diamond; 11) She Talks To Angels; 12)
Wiser Time; 13) Nonfiction; 14) Seeing Things; 15) Hard To Handle; 16) Let Me
Share The Ride; 17) Mellow Down Easy; 18) Remedy; 19) The Night They Drove Ol'
Dixie Down.
Two live albums in a row is usually either a
sign of arrogant overkill or a sign of old age, but in this particular case the
situation is different: the Crowes had pretty much fallen apart in 2001, with
the Robinson brothers embarking on solo careers, and it took about half a
decade for them to properly get back together, also bringing back Marc Ford on second
guitar and founding member Steve Gorman on drums. To commemorate this most
exciting reunion, a video and audio
were released at the same time, capturing a complete performance from San
Francisco's Fillmore auditorium in 2005 — more than two hours of red-hot
Crowes, and this is not actually counting several «official bootlegs» in the Instant Live series, also made
available throughout 2005.
One thing I do have to say is that Freak'n'Roll is a significant
improvement over Live in just about
every aspect I can think of. First, stage banter is kept to a reasonable minimum,
cutting down on both the platitudes and
the lame jokes. Second, the setlist is more representative and less
predictable, dragging out some forgotten highlights and including covers of
classics such as ʽSpace Captainʼ and ʽThe Night They Drove Ol' Dixie Downʼ. Third,
they bring in a brass section (The Left Coast Horns) to thicken the sound on
some of the songs, and offer some
rejuvenations and reincarnations — ʽCursed Diamondʼ, for instance, works a
little better in an unplugged version than it used to (because the only thing worse
than a slow, draggy, repetitive ballad is a slow, draggy, repetitive ballad
drowned in sludge and distortion).
An obvious criticism of the performance would
be the length of the songs — the average length of each track is around 7
minutes, with ʽMy Morning Songʼ taking the big prize (almost 14 minutes!) and
ʽNonfictionʼ seconding it at the ten-minute mark. However, this extension is
not completely «empty»: the idea is indeed to add some «freakout» spirit to
the proceedings, and so ʽNonfictionʼ is transformed from a relatively simple
country ballad into a trippy voyage, with psychedelic guitars and keyboards
leading the way and avantgarde jazz brass parts joining them halfway through. Maybe
this is not as inspired as your average Grateful Dead show, but it is at least
an attempt to capture a more elusive, less instantaneously obvious vibe, and it
shows a new side to the comeback-Crowes that was not present (or, at least, not
so evident) in their early career.
Other songs are extended mostly for the purpose
of throwing in some extra solos and jamming around, but there is no crime in
that. I cannot call the guitar duet between Rich and Marc at the end of ʽHard
To Handleʼ particularly evocative or emotional, but yes, it is better than
simply having them reproduce the original parts — they are trying to show that
the Black Crowes can make history happen here and now, not simply repeat
history, and even if that history is not all that exciting, I still applaud the
decision to explore uncharted waters. ʽLet Me Share The Rideʼ extended with six
extra minutes of jamming, as the Left Coast Horns add big-band jazz support to
accompany the slide guitar madness? ʽSoul Singingʼ adorned with a huge wah-wah
solo, turning its middle section into Hendrix-ey space-rock? None of that may
be new for music listeners in 2006, but it is great to see a band as formerly
limited as the Crowes to blindly push forward in all these directions, and
sometimes, if not always, striking out the right sparks.
Even the cover versions fit the mood and are
done with total understanding of the source material: of course, brother Chris
could never outdo Joe Cocker with the "learning to live together..."
bit from ʽSpace Captainʼ, but the song was most likely selected as a symbol of
the band's reunion, and feels totally at home. The decision to put ʽOl' Dixieʼ
at the end is a bit more questionable, since the song's anthemic nature and
straightforward lyrics seems to pigeonhole the Crowes as generic «Southern Rock»,
but they totally nail its emotional complexity, and even Chris's vocal delivery
is technically and spiritually every bit as good as Levon Helm's.
Keeping all this in mind, I believe the record
deserves a respectful thumbs up, and would probably recommend it as the
best official introduction to the Crowes' live sound, or, more accurately, to
what the Crowes are capable of as a live band. Despite the two-hour-plus
running length, despite the obligatory inclusion of bad hits like ʽShe Talks To
Angelsʼ, despite the occasional loss of direction, the bottomline is that the
five-year break actually did the guys some good — in this particular here and
now, they sound looser and freer on stage than they ever did.
I think the best live record of The Black Crowes is the one where they play with Jimmy Page. Many of the songs, in my opinion, sounds better than the original. And the drumming, perhaps the greatest thing about the album, is superb. Steve Gorman is the great drummer.
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