The Black Crowes

The Black Crowes

Warpaint

(Silver Arrow)

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For years, the Black Crowes have sounded like a band riding on past glories, said Alan Light in Rolling Stone. Now they seem, “for the first time in a long time, like a band with a future.” The Crowes have compiled more than their share of Behind the Music moments since their 1990 debut, Shake Your Money Maker. Their first studio album in seven years, Warpaint finds Chris and Rich Robinson ragged but fully rejuvenated. “Battle-scarred believers,” the Crowes have been “saved by rock ’n’ roll.” This album testifies to their musical devotion. Like all of their records, Warpaint revels in nostalgia, but its bluesy, gut-busting tone is “pretty ambitious stuff for a crew often dismissed as a bunch of throwback stoners.” The band still “mines the same Allmans-to-Zappa synthesis of influences that’s been the Crowes’ stock in trade,” said Gary Graff in Billboard. But a weakness for classic rock is redeemed by “sharp songwriting and lace-tight, live-sounding performances.” “Oh Josephine” is a bittersweet tale of loss and regret. “Goodbye Daughters of the Revolution” is a jangly call to a jubilee—an invite fans will rejoice in. The Crowes haven’t just “picked up right where they left off,” said Darryl Sterdan in The Toronto Sun. Warpaint reveals a newfound “confidence and freshness” that’s entirely unexpected.