Earlier this year, a friend of mine and I went to see Guns N’ Roses in Pasadena and on the tour poster, there were several bands including Pierce The Veil, Ice Cube and The Black Crowes. Now of those three aforementioned bands, the one that we got was Ice Cube and I mentioned in my review that The Black Crowes should’ve been the opener. That’s who’s on the Chopping Block so let’s take a look….
Shake Your Money Maker- so this is definitely one of those albums where several songs made me go “oh so that’s who sang that song.” This album had a very blues/bar band sound to it and that makes for a very fun listening experience. Fun fact, the album is named after the classic blues song written by Elmore James and while they have played that song live, there isn’t a cover version on the album. A great way to start and I’m giving this one 8.5/10
Standouts: Jealous Again, Twice As Hard, Thick N’ Thin
The Southern Harmony And Musical Companion- this one has a bit more rock to it and looking into it, both Chris and Rich Robinson really delved into the southern rock roots aspect including American musical heritage, church gospel traditions, and the foundational roots of the South. It’s a really good just straightforward rock album and unlike their peers at the time, they just wanted to rock. I’ll give this album 9/10
Standouts: Hotel Illness, Remedy, My Morning Song
Amorica- I would say compared to the previous album this one is less southern/blues rock, inspired and more straightforward rock. In fact, it’s more of like a jam band album yet has the same vibe as the previous albums. Interestingly, this one was originally going to be called Tall but the name was changed to Amorica. Another fun fact is that the album was banned from stores like Walmart and Kmart because of the album cover. In order to sell it at said stores, the album was rereleased with a censored album cover. I’ll give this one 9/10
Standouts: Gone, A Conspiracy, Wiser Time
Three Snakes And One Charm- so according to Rich and Chris Robinson, there was a lot of tension between everybody in the band. In fact, there was so much tension that the band was considering breaking up yet they put all of that aside and realized that every band goes through these sorts of things and decided to focus on making this record. The end result is a sort of southern rock inspired album and what also makes this one stand out is the inclusion of horns. To me there are some parts that tend to drag, but as a whole this album is pretty solid. I’ll give this 8/10
Standouts: One Mirror Too Many, Let Me Share The Ride, (Only) Halfway To Everywhere
By Your Side- so for this record, they seemed to have dropped the southern rock sound and go for just a straight up rock record. Of course as it goes, there would be personnel changes and at one point, it was just Chris and Rich Robinson. But as it goes, new life was created within the band and the result is a great sounding rock record. You can kind of tell that there’s a sort of refreshed energy and they toured like crazy for this record. This is definitely one that I would revisit and I’ll give it 9/10
Standouts: Go Faster, Heavy, Go Tell The Congregation
Lions- for this one, the band left their label Columbia. Why is this significant?? Well that’s because the label told the band that By Your Side wasn’t going to be successful and that they were wasting time and money. They were also frustrated with the label wanting Lions to sound too much like their first album so through a loophole in their contract, they left. During this time, the band would also record the live album At The Greek with Jimmy Page which consisted of both performing songs from each other’s catalogues. There are some that say that this album is a Led Zeppelin rip off, but to me it just sounds like a band that inspired by Led Zeppelin. But then again, who wouldn’t be inspired after playing with someone like Jimmy Page?? There’s almost a sort of grittiness to this record that’s really cool and I definitely enjoyed this one because of it. I’ll give it 9.5/10
Standouts: Midnight From The Inside Out, Soul Singing, Ozone Mama
Warpaint- one thing I didn’t realize about this band is that they broke up a few times so this is the first album after a seven year gap. If you ask me a seven year gap isn’t really a super long time to put out new material however there is a sort of freshness about this album which has a very blues-y/hard rock sound. Even Rich Robinson said when making the album “when we got into the studio, it just flowed so easily. We were on top of this mountain, and we were all living in the same place. There were no city distractions or people coming by. We were up there to work. A lot of that made it onto the record. Nature—and harmony.” I’ll give this one 8/10
Standouts: Walk Believer Walk, Locust Street, Goodbye Daughters Of The Revolution
Before The Frost…..Until The Freeze- I feel like with this one you can tell that they were influenced by bands like The Allman Brothers, Grateful Dead, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and The Band. There’s still that jam band/blues rock sound and while I did enjoy this one, it’s not really anything new. In fact I’d say it’s more of the same but this was recorded live due to hearing the audience clapping and cheering at the end of the songs. So this would be a live album with a studio production. Either way it’s worth a listen and I’ll give it 8/10
Standouts: Good Morning Captain, Kept My Soul, Make Glad
Croweology- I suppose at some point bands like this have to put out the obligatory acoustic based album and well here we are. Now this isn’t an album that’s made up entirely of these songs but rather newly recorded songs from Shake Your Moneymaker to Lions. Now I am all for re-recording older songs however I found this album to be incredibly boring after a while. It was one of those that I found myself checking to see how many songs were left. Personally, I would say skip this one, but if you are a hard-core fan or at least curious then maybe give this a listen. I’m giving this one 2/10.
Standouts:
Happiness Bastards- one thing I do have to say that I really liked about this album is that it takes more of a hard rock approach rather than the usual blues/Country/Rock inspired sound that was on so many of these other albums. Honestly, this is one that I could probably see myself going back to more often than some of these other albums. This album only came out in 2024 and has that classic rock/modern rock sound. I’ll give this one 9.5/10
Standouts: Rats And Clowns, Bedside Manners, Follow The Moon
A Pound Of Feathers- so on this day, March 13, 2026, we have a brand new album from The Black Crowes. This is kind of one of those albums where you get a little bit of everything however, I wasn’t expecting there to be so many acoustic driven songs. I’m not saying that that’s a bad thing or anything like that but personally, it’s just not for me. That said at least they’re good songs and the non-acoustic songs are also quite good as well. When it comes to the album, Chris Robinson said this “I’m always looking at the angle of, ‘Look, we’ve made a lot of records. We’ve been doing this a long time. What can we do with this one?’ It comes down to loving what you’re doing, and there’s joy in creation that we always get involved with and tap into…It forces you to be instinctual instead of thinking about it.” I’ll give this one 8/10
Standouts: Cruel Streak, Eros Blues, It’s Like That
I would say if you’re looking for a really good blues inspired hard rock band with a touch of Country then this is probably the band for you. To be honest, I hadn’t really heard much of this band beyond say one or two singles, but they actually have some really good material and I would definitely encourage anyone to give any of these albums a listen. Of course, going back to seeing Guns N’ Roses in 2026, I don’t understand why they weren’t with them the whole tour. To me, it would’ve been the perfect tour. But that said, if they were opening for another band, I wouldn’t be disappointed.
Final Grade: A-
Album Rankings:
- Happiness Bastards
- The Southern Harmony And Musical Companion
- Lions
- By Your Side
- Amorica
- Shake Your Moneymaker
- Three Snakes And One Charm
- A Pound Of Feathers
- Before The Frost….Until The Freeze
- Warpaint
- Croweology
